A brooch no bigger than a thumbnail, a coil of pale brown hair beneath a sheet of glass, and on the reverse an engraved line: a name, an age, a date. Pieces like this surface in house clearances, junk boxes and auction lots all over the country, and most people who find one feel torn between fascination and a faint unease.

That reaction is worth sitting with. Mourning jewellery was not a gothic whim. For much of the nineteenth century it was mainstream fashion, worn in public, discussed in etiquette books and sold in every decent jeweller's window. Knowing what you are looking at turns an oddity into what it was always meant to be: a keepsake.

Why the Victorians Wore Their Dead

Queen Victoria lost Prince Albert in 1861 and wore black for the rest of her life. Court mourning filtered downwards through society, and the etiquette grew elaborate: deep mourning first, then second mourning, then half mourning, when grey, lilac and white crept back into a wardrobe. Widows might stay in black for a year or more. Brooches, rings, lockets and bracelets were part of the uniform, and families of modest means bought pinchbeck, rolled gold and black glass rather than the real thing.

The fashion predates Albert by a long way, though. Earlier centuries produced memento mori rings set with skulls and skeletons, and mourning rings distributed at funerals. Nor is every hair brooch a memorial: a lock of hair exchanged between friends, sweethearts or sisters was a love token, made with exactly the same techniques.

Reading the Symbols

Victorian jewellery speaks in shorthand. Once you can read it, a plain black brooch starts telling you who died and how the family wanted them remembered.

  • Weeping willow — grief, often draped over a tomb or urn.
  • Urn — the body as a vessel, the soul released.
  • Clasped hands — a parting, or a bond death cannot break.
  • Ivy — fidelity and enduring attachment.
  • Forget-me-nots — remembrance, plainly stated.
  • Laurel — victory and honour paid to the dead.
  • Wheat — a life harvested, common on pieces for the elderly.
  • Seed pearls — tears, usually set on a black enamel band.
  • Dove, anchor, snake with its tail in its mouth — peace, hope and eternity.

The reverse often carries the real information: In Memory Of, a full name, an age, a date of death. On mourning rings and brooches, that inscription is frequently hidden at the back where only the wearer would see it.

Hairwork: The Craft Behind the Curls

Hair was chosen because it does not decay quickly, it is intensely personal, and it can be worked like fine thread. Three broad types turn up most often.

Palette work

Flat arrangements under glass: a single curl, initials, a spray of flowers, glued and sometimes stitched onto a pale opaline or ivory-coloured backing. These are the brooches most commonly found in Britain, and the simplest to date from the shape of the frame.

Tablework

Hair woven on a round frame with bobbins into plaits, chains, baskets and flowers. The finest pieces — a domed glass case holding a woven hair flower, a watch chain, a wreath built up over years from the hair of several family members — are genuinely skilled work. Stationers and jewellers sold patterns, frames and instructions by post, and some women made their own while others paid a professional hairworker.

Hair pictures

Sepia painting with hair used for the details: a willow, a monument, a landscape. Look closely and the texture of individual strands is unmistakable.

Jet, French Jet and the Black Alternatives

Whitby jet is fossilised wood, found on the Yorkshire coast, warm to the touch, surprisingly light and capable of taking a mirror polish. Whitby workshops boomed in the second half of the nineteenth century, and imitations followed quickly.

  • French jet — black glass. Heavier, colder, with a harder shine.
  • Vulcanite and gutta-percha — moulded rubber-based materials, duller in finish, sometimes with a brownish cast and a faint rubbery smell when warmed.
  • Bog oak — Irish, brown-black, carved, and usually showing wood grain.
  • Onyx, black enamel, and mourning jewels set with garnet, amethyst or seed pearls.

Warm and light usually means jet; cold and heavy usually means glass. Nothing beats handling a known piece before you trust your eye.

Care matters here. Jet cracks and crazes with heat, dryness and perfume, so keep it out of direct sunlight and off radiators, and never put it near an ultrasonic cleaner. Hair dislikes water, oils and moth, so handle pieces with clean, dry hands and no hand cream, and store them cool and dark in acid-free tissue.

Before You Buy: A Quick Inspection

  1. Turn the piece over first. Look for inscriptions, maker's marks and old repairs.
  2. Examine the hair with a loupe: intact, or lifting and loose? Loose hair rarely improves.
  3. Check the glass for chips, cracks and replacements, and for glue where glue should not be.
  4. Test

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