Antique Locket Pendant of the Years Around 1870

In the 19th century, lockets were among the most popular jewellery gifts. No wonder, these brooches and pendants with a hidden compartment are extremely well suited to commemorate both joyful and sorrowful events and, above all, dear people. Most often, they were used to store pictures of loved ones, as well as sentimentally charged locks of hair or the like. So ubiquitous were lockets of all shapes that in 1870 the magazine "London Society" published a humorous cartoon by Alfred Thomas under the appropriate title "The Locketomanic". We see here a fashionably dressed lady wearing and adorning herself with more than thirty different lockets on every part of her clothing. This small drawing illustrates how popular these pieces of jewellery were - and how much they liked to be worn. The present pendant comes from this tradition and shows itself in an elaborate form. Made of warmly gleaming gold over a tombac core, the jewellery features applied decoration on its front cover, accented with a small pearl. On the back, we see a guilloche engraving on the back lid. This can be opened to then insert a cherished memento. The design is typical for the years around 1870 - the pendant has survived very well until today and found its way to us from Minden.

Estimate:$888.38

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