Antique Victorian 1887 Sterling Silver Horseshoe Paste Flower Brooch Pin

Description

Details
Excellent condition.
Fresh looking, soft wear is noticeable only on close inspection.
Silver setting has a bright patina with minor surface wear.
One tiny break to the silver at the tip of one of the petals noticeable on close inspection.
No other dents or imperfections to the shape or signs of repair.
Paste stone is smooth and gleaming with no chips or surface wear, faceting is crisp and refractive.
Foiling at the back of the glass is bright without any darkening or discoloration.
Clasp is secure and original.
Era                Victorian
Length           1 1/4
”
Width             1
”
Mark              See photo (English silver mark shows the brooch was made in 1887)
Weight           3 grams
Material          Tests for sterling silver, glass
Collector Note
Made by hand or in small groups of similar styles, vintage jewelry is individualistic with its own special history.
Good luck horseshoe design accented with a dimensional flower - a special combination.
Flower has domed, brilliant cut, paste stone that shimmers brightly jutting outward from the setting.
Nicely sized this piece is striking looking, yet its construction is hollow with a feather-light feel.
BackStory
On Symbolism In Jewelry.
Symbolism in antique and vintage jewelry is common, yet it can be hard to spot if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Often, specific natural gemstones, flowers, birds, and motifs like stars and anchors were imbued with meanings that have fallen out of present-day society’s collective memory. To appreciate the power of symbols in antique jewelry is to imagine what it would have been like to wear the piece and step back into history.
On Victorian.
A young Queen Victoria assumed her role in 1837 and her taste in jewelry quickly became culturally influential, within England and beyond. Her relationship to jewelry was enmeshed with her husband, Prince Albert, who gifted the Queen for their engagement, a snake ring, embedded with an emerald (her birthstone) in its head. Continuing from the Georgian era and intensified by Queen Victoria
’
s
taste, sentimental and figural jewelry was a major trend throughout the Victorian era. When certain ideas and words were deemed too forward or improper to be spoken, jewelry and symbolic meaning was used to communicate what was left unsaid.
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_gsrx_vers_1292 (GS 8.3.6 (1292))