Victorian Hairwork Watch Chain with Gilt Brass Cross Pendant and Slide

Europe or North America, Victorian era. A double-strand watch chain made from finely woven hair, mounted with gilt brass fittings. Each strand alternates between hollow tubular mesh and tightly twisted rope sections, and the strands meet at the ends in engraved scrollwork caps. One end carries a short link chain and a T-bar for the waistcoat buttonhole. The other ends in a swivel clasp for the watch. A rectangular engraved slide sits at the center, set with two small red glass stones and a white bead, and from it hangs a small foliate-tipped cross with a white bead at its crossing. Hair chains like this were usually made to keep a loved one close, often after a death, so this one was likely a mourning or sentimental keepsake. The cross gives that remembrance a devotional note. Hairwork was among the most personal of nineteenth-century jewelry arts. Hair resists decay, so it served as a lasting physical token of a living or departed person. Chains like this one were made by "table work": strands of prepared hair, weighted with small bobbins, were braided over a round worktable with a central hole, often around a removable core. Removing the core afterward left the hollow, springy tubes seen here. Professional hairworkers advertised widely, and home craft manuals spread the technique to amateurs, among them Mark Campbell's "Self-Instructor in the Art of Hair Work," published in New York in 1867. The double-strand form with a T-bar at one end and a swivel clasp at the other is the classic gentleman's "Albert" chain, named for Prince Albert. After his death in 1861, Queen Victoria's long and very public mourning helped make mourning jewelry fashionable throughout the British world and in America. Hair watch chains were often worn by men in memory of a wife, parent, or child, and the gilt mounts were frequently bought separately and fitted by a jeweler. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206003

Estimate:$250

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