18th Century

This brooch is made of cut steel and is seen as a precursor to marcasite.  Cut steel jewellery was popular during the 18th and 19th centuries and originated in Woodstock in Oxfordshire in the early 1700s where they specialised in making chatelaines.  A chatelaine is hung from the waist, made up of a series of…

The first thing to say about this brooch is that it is rather large, measuring 11 x 9 cm.  The second thing is that it really isn’t a brooch at all.  I found it tucked at the back of a dusty display cabinet in an antiques shop in Lewes.  Lewes is a small town in…

This brooch is dainty, measuring less than an inch (2 cm) and the central stone is a delicate colour. The name Citrine comes from its yellow colour, and the first recorded use of citrine as a colour in English was in 1386. Its Latin origin is ‘citrino’ meaning lemon.  Citrines can range in colour from pale yellow…

This brooch is from France. It is made of lead paste crystal & silver. During the 18th century the wearing of religious (Christian) symbols as jewellery was highly fashionable. The most common emblem was a cross, which was often richly encrusted with gems.  But in France peasant women wore crosses in the form of a…