This scrap card is friendship greetings
"Friends will meet and friends will sever,
But true friendship lives forever."

"Life bear for you it's sweetest flowers"
The rose and dove symbolize peace and love.

"May true friends be around you"

  VICTORIAN pressed horn hand brooch, 2-7/8", holding roses and forget-me-nots wreath laurel sheaf symbolizing love victorious. English registry mark on the back for August 18, 1870.   View   View   #V8502

  VICTORIAN vulcanite hand holding sheath and flowers brooch, 3". See hand brooches in Luthi's Sentimental Jewelry on page 20.  View   #V25275

     VICTORIAN pressed horn hand holding sheaf and flowers pin, 2-7/8". May 18, 1880 English registry mark on back. For a similar brooch see page 26 in Helen Muller's "Jet Jewellery and Ornaments" and "Warman's Jewelry, Ed. 3" page 51.  View   View   #V25278

      VICTORIAN hand holding flowers, a piece that was originally part of a bracelet.   View   #V25195  

 VICTORIAN vulcanite hand holding wheat wreath and roses pin, 1-5/8".   View   #V26088

 VICTORIAN 2" vulcanite  hand brooch holding sheaf and wreath of roses, symbolic of hope and love.   View   #V13204 

   VICTORIAN vulcanite hand holding sheaves pin, 2-7/8", small chip on back.    View   #V25346

    VICTORIAN vulcanite hand holding wreath of roses brooch.   View   #V27296

    VICTORIAN vulcanite hand brooch, 2-7/8".   View   #V27211 

 VICTORIAN creamy plastic hand holding fan pin, 1-7/8".   View   #V27251

    VICTORIAN mother-of-pearl hand pin, 1-3/4".  View   #V25274

  MOTHER-OF-PEARL 1-3/4" hand brooch holding a pearl and wearing a gold wire ring and bracelet.   View    #V8500 

 
During part of the Victorian period from about 1860 to 1890, this jewelry was the height of fashion and black was a stylish color, not just an ornament of mourning. Made of jet, vulcanite, bog oak or pressed horn, each carried special meaning as a memento of a loved one. A brooch in the shape of a hand carrying a bouquet conveyed a message symbolized by the flowers. Photos might be housed inside lockets and watch fobs, and portraits hand painted on pendants and earrings. While some black jewelry was meant to be worn during mourning, black jewelry was fashionable as well, and worn for its beauty and sentiment.

  JET is the black fossilized wood of a particular tree that grew millions of years ago. It is particularly associated with the English town of Whitby where much of it was fashioned into jewelry and accessories. While jet was made into jewelry throughout the 1800's, it was especially fashionable between 1860 and 1890. Like amber, it will pick up paper when static is created by rubbing it on wool or silk.

VULCANITE (also sometimes called "ebonite") was made by combining and heating sap of the Euphorbia or Ficus trees from Malaysia with sulphur. Invented in 1843 by Thomas Hancock, pieces made of vulcanite were almost always molded, not carved, and it was used mainly in making jewelry.

HORN is the natural horn of an animal, pressed into a mold to form jewelry.

BOG OAK is fossilized wood or peat found in Ireland. It is a brownish-black, and has a woody texture.

FRENCH JET and CREPE STONE are black glass, and not truly jet at all. Like all glass, they will be colder to the touch and heavier than jet or vulcanite.

BOIS DURCI was invented by Francois Charles Lepag in 1856. It is a composition of fine hardwood sawdust and blood which is pressed then highly polished.

GUTTA PERCHA is the sap of the Dichopsis tree also found in Malaysia. Invented by William Montgomerie in 1843, it was used mainly in technical articles, e.g. driving belts, stoppers, tubs, pails, cups, washing drums and cables. It was also used for household purposes such as mouthpieces for whistles, sticks and riding whips. It was very rarely used for jewelry.

Pieces like these, circa 1860-1890, can be seen in Helen Muller's book Jet and in Christie Romero's Warman's Jewelry, Ed. 3 on pages 51 and 52.

   VICTORIAN vulcanite hand with lacy cuff holding basket pin, 2-1/3".  View   #V25280

      VICTORIAN vulcanite hand holding basket of fruit brooch, 3".   View   #V25880

   VICTORIAN vulcanite hand with fluted cuff holding basket pin, 2-1/4". See page 127 of Helen Muller's book "Jet".  View   #V25279

  VICTORIAN  hand pins to show comparative sizes. See page 127 of Helen Muller's book "Jet".

     VICTORIAN vulcanite "Fede" or clasped hands pin signifying friendship, 2-5/8". English registry mark on back May 18, 1880.  View   View   #V25192

   VICTORIAN jet pendant with painted porcelain lady with a mirror portrait, 2".   View   #V25926