Antique Wishbone Brooch with Seed Pearls in Gold, British, c. 1900

In the English-speaking world there is a custom: at a festive meal – often at Thanksgiving or Christmas – two people pull apart the fork-shaped fused clavicle of the turkey until it breaks. Whoever ends up with the larger piece may make a wish; hence the bone is called the “wishbone” or “merrythought”. The tradition can be traced back to the 17th century and soon made the wishbone a popular good-luck symbol – comparable to horseshoes or four-leaf clovers. In the Victorian era, the motif found its way into brooches, pendants and rings as part of the so-called “novelty jewellery”. In this piece of jewellery, too, we encounter such a wishbone – albeit in a refined form! The brooch is made of 15-carat yellow gold and set with 29 finely lustrous natural pearls. In this way, the piece combines a charming folk tradition with English goldsmithing – a talisman that might just make wishes come true in elegant style, without ever having to be broken! We date the brooch to around 1900. For comparison, we include a page from a 1904 catalogue of B. & H. B. Kent, Diamond Merchants and Jewellers of Toronto. This can also be viewed online and offered numerous variations on this theme to interested customers. Browse through the pages and you will find it fascinating to see how many different yet similar interpretations of this design idea were available at the time. We discovered this delightful brooch in the south of England.

Estimate:$1,000.84

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