This week I looked down at my hand and realised that I wasn’t wearing my original wedding ring. I had taken it off to polish it and document it. In the meantime I have replaced it with a gold and ruby set ring I made years ago.

My replacement gold and ruby wedding ring with my eternity ring

I have always held great sentiment to jewellery in particular, really valuing the story that I have created behind a piece or fantasising about the history behind jewellery that has been handed down to me. If jewellery is a gift I am so grateful that someone has taken the time to choose a gift for me, no matter what the cost.

As a baby my parents had bought me a pair of stud teddy bear earrings as my first pair of earrings. I hadn’t got my ears pierced until I was eleven, but was always promised them. For what felt like an eternity I would look at them in my mother’s hide away jewellery box, admire them and dream of wearing them! Clearly I must have managed to get my hands on them at one point as when it came to the day I could finally wear them, one was missing! I was so disappointed! I also used to accumulate rings pre-teenage years. I won them in apple pies at Halloween (I know, random!) and my mum’s friend gave me one. They were always far too big, and I always lost them, or more accurately, if I’m going to honest, flushed them down the toilet! How annoying...

I also have one earring that I, let’s say coveted from my granny’s jewellery box. I wear it as a miss matched earring as there was only one. I love the thought of her wearing it; going to dances, cycling around Ireland as she did. I also craved to own a pendant that my dad gave my mum as teenagers. It’s silver with enamelled yellow and is of a girl and boy kissing. The figures are so tall, wearing their flares and mini skirt. I can just picture my parents in that era. I just love how it has survived decades and the story of it has been told to all of us. Maybe one day, if I become the keeper, I can pass it on to my daughter.

Yellow enamelled “kissing couple” pendant

I absolutely love my wedding bands and the story they tell of my relationship with my husband and family. I am also attached to the gold and ruby band I am wearing now as I made it before I was engaged. I was always so busy around this time in my career that I never made anything for myself. So I decided, during the crazy busy Christmas time that I would make myself a special Christmas present, which became this ring. A sign of strength and feminism it is a very wide, chunky gold ring with rubies set in it. A pinky reddish stone that I just love!

Anyway this got me thinking about the sentiment or the value we hold, as humans, to material objects of those we love and cherish. The stories that jewellery can carry through generations and the attachment we hold to them. I know some people just would refuse to take their wedding bands off due to superstition.

The notion of sentiment led me to consider the meaning behind mourning jewellery, specifically dated to the Victorian era. I thought I would share some of the history behind this particular style of sentimental jewellery. Some of you may actually own a piece, hidden away in the back of your jewellery box!

The tradition of wearing mourning jewellery goes back to at least the Middle Ages, when motifs like skulls and crossbones served as a tangible reminder of death. The exhortation memento mori, which literally translates to remember death, urged the wearer to live a moral life.

A memento mori pendant (circa 1540) found in England paints a vivid picture of mortality. The inscription, however, has a more solacing message: Christ’s resurrection redeems sins. Courtesy: Victoria and Albert Museum, London — A *memento mori* pendant (circa 1540) found in England paints a vivid picture of mortality. The inscription, however, has a more solacing message: Christ’s resurrection redeems sins. Courtesy: Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The popularity of mourning jewellery reached its peak during the Victorian era (1837-1901). Queen Victoria was deeply in love with her husband, Prince Albert, and when he died in 1861, she fell into a long depression. Queen Victoria spent much of the next four decades wearing black crepe dresses and mourning jewellery. She commissioned portraits, memorials, and busts of Prince Albert and other mementos that were reminders of her deceased spouse.

As Queen Victoria set the example for her court and was an admired public figure, wearing mourning jewellery became fashionable. Aristocrats and the wealthy commissioned lockets, bracelets, necklaces, and rings to memorialize their loved ones. Common materials included jet, onyx, pearls, dark tortoise shell, black enamel, bog oak, vulcanite, and gutta percha (natural rubber made from the Southeast Asian tree). White enamel was used in jewelry to memorialize unmarried women and children.

Gone were the skulls and crossbones of memento mori jewellery of the Middle Ages. Instead winged cherubs, clouds, mourners sobbing at tombs, urns, and weeping willows took their place. These new images reflected a change in philosophy: God was no longer envisioned as the exacting judge of the Middle Ages, but as a father watching his children at play in his world. This softer and more sentimental imagery was more appropriate to express these beliefs.

A pearl and black chalcedony Victorian mourning pin with a floral motif reflects a gentler view of death. Thirty-six natural pearls surround the pin and seed pearls adorn the flower petals and leaves. Photo: Robert Weldon/GIA. Courtesy: KCB Natural … — A pearl and black chalcedony Victorian mourning pin with a floral motif reflects a gentler view of death. Thirty-six natural pearls surround the pin and seed pearls adorn the flower petals and leaves. Photo: Robert Weldon/GIA. Courtesy: KCB Natural Pearls

Jewellery that contained locks of a loved one’s hair – was particularly popular during the Victorian era. The Victorians believed that hair had a sacred quality because it contained something of the essence of the person. And because it was somewhat imperishable, it also symbolized immortality.

This Victorian watch fob opens to reveal plaited locks of human hair. The stone on its base is very dark, almost black. These features are typical of mourning jewellery. Photo: Valerie Power/GIA. Courtesy: Jana Miyahira-Smith

Hair was used to make everything from exquisitely detailed miniature scenes in jewellery, to braided chains to hold watches and pendants, and even large framed pieces of memorial art. By the mid-1800s, England was importing 50 tons of hair a year to supplement that of the deceased due to the popularity of memorial jewellery and art. Mourning jewellery had now become a fashion accessory as to only that of sacred sentiment.

Although not Victorian, this late 18th Century, 18K gold memorial ring from the Georgian period incorporates small pieces of hair under the base of the urn and in the willow tree. The white enamel suggests the deceased was unmarried; the individual … — Although not Victorian, this late 18th Century, 18K gold memorial ring from the Georgian period incorporates small pieces of hair under the base of the urn and in the willow tree. The white enamel suggests the deceased was unmarried; the individual died on 19 January 1784 at the age of 51. Photo: Kevin Schumacher/GIA. Courtesy: Lowther Antiques, London, England

Mourning jewellery may seem dreary to our modern sensibilities, but understanding the times when it was worn lends a different perspective. The average lifespan during the Victorian era was 40 to 45 years. Europe was in a near constant state of war, and cholera, typhoid, smallpox, and scarlet fever were common killers. Approximately one in three children died before the age of five, and epidemics sometimes brought that number to one in two.

Simply put, death was a constant companion in the Victorian era. Mourning jewellery brought a little solace to the survivors who had to cope with frequent losses.

Today Victorian mourning jewellery is mainly confined to museums, or treasures in your jewellery box. However the fashion has ebbed it’s way into present jewellery trends. You will find skull jewellery in boutiques. The imagery of memento mori jewellery has become a symbol of rebellion and fearlessness – and probably a subconscious meditation on the inevitable. Mourning jewellery iconography is still with us, but in another incarnation.

These contemporary cufflinks by Deakin & Francis might be a meditation on the grave. But the pavé set diamonds and pink sapphire eyes make them indisputable fashion statements. Courtesy: Deakin & Francis

In the end, perhaps mourning jewellery can be thought of more as an expression of love than of grief. Its purpose was to keep a departed beloved one near to the heart. And that is a sentiment that transcends culture and time.

We never really let go of those whom we love.

Reference to https://4cs.gia.edu

Mourning Jewellery