The listing, Antique Victorian Mourning Brooch with Tintype Photo of Young Child Gold Filled & Sterling Silver has ended.
No GIN-Good luck bidding!
Here is a beautiful Victorian mourning brooch. It contains a tintype photo of a child. The child is wearing a dress, but because young boys often wore dresses back then, I'm not sure if it's a boy or a girl. The tintype is housed under glass--there is a window that opens, but the glass is not in the window bur rather on top of the photo. With this brooch, it should be fairly easy to change the photo and put one of yours in.
The brooch is made from at least three different metals. The main body is gold filled, and is done with wonderful repousse metalwork. Repousse is when the metal is hammered into relief from the reverse side. This repousse work on this brooch is just beautiful, lovingly hand made. The back is made from sterling silver, and it is engraved with the initials SRP. I am sot sure what the window frame is made of. It appears to be silver in color, but I don't think it's silver. The frame is also plated with a gold-colored metal, and I'm not sure what it is.
The condition of this piece is very good considering it's age. There is a bit of corrosion, and the plating on the frame has come off in a few places. The back is somewhat dented. The brooch has an early hand-made locking closure dating it to the 1890s. There is a mark on the upper left side of the glass--I can't feel anything on the top of glass so I don't think it's a crack. There may be a scratch on the underside of the glass, but I didn't want to remove it from the photo. The photo compartment pops out fairly easily--I have added some pictures of it. It's 1.75x1.25 inches.
This brooch was made with love. Perhaps someone took an existing brooch and altered it to hold a picture locket. All I know is that it's truly a one-of-a-kind piece of mourning jewelry.
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