General Information:
- Total Carat Weight: 4.56 ctw
- Precious Metal Weight: Estimated to be 3.50 to 4.00 dwt
- Precious Metal Material: 14k yellow gold with base metal pin stem
- Dimensions: 26.16 mm long (east to west) x 19.73 mm wide (north to south) x ~4.02 deep (not including the pin)
- Weight: A nicely hefty 7.21 grams
- Markings: Hand inscribed to read as follows:
Anne Cartwright
George Ob 1 Ap’l
1825 Æ 15.
Sam’l George Ob
10 Feb’ry 1825 Æ... [either “22” or “27”? Perhaps “2” followed by “Ys”]”
- Era: Georgian, c. 1825-1830
- Buyer Notes: This brooch is a rarity in that it commemorates, what appears to be, a very young married couple. The hair featured is from both of their heads, a sweet visual of their loving affection. The woman’s maiden name was Cartwright, and their shared married name is George. They passed within months of each other, possibly signifying deadly disease, or something less natural. The use of black enamel and signifies that these two were not virgins, also alluding to their coupled status. Even so, extensive research by the shop has proven surprisingly uninformative of their lives and therefore their deaths. Even so, the couple’s legacy continues without omission.
Specifications:
- Center Stone Type: Pearl
- Center Stone Count: Twenty-Four (24)
- Center Stone Carat Weight: 4.56 ctw; 0.19 ct ea.
- Center Stone Dimensions: Approximately 3.5 x 3.7 mm on average, and though well-matched, their exact dimensions somewhat vary throughout
- Center Stone Shape: Split, cultured and ovular,
- Center Stone Color & Clarity: Cream with warm pinkish undertone
The Story:
A loving memento of the late Georgian period, this mourning brooch is a unique specimen for its kind: in solemn commemoration to two young people, the face of the brooch centers an intertwined braid made of both of their locks. As such, both blonde and brunette locks are present and produce a contrasted stripe pattern. These show a bit of loosening and have therefore lost the original tautness that it would have had when it was produced around 1825. Even still, the hairwork is striking and inspiring, carefully topped with a bezel-set beveled glass component for protection.
Radiating from this central feature is a hand-stippled design in the scalloped gold face, which is beautifully offset with rich black enameling-- a show of grief and loss. An outer perimeter of black enamel shows wear and loss within its channel, indeed commensurate with age and affectionate use, but evident nonetheless. A capstone of the craftsmanship displayed within this relic is a 24-pearl halo, captivating for their ovular shapes and warm creamy-pink undertones. All angles were considered, as the tightly collet-set mounting for the pearls offers a tedious complexity to such a small jewel. And yet, the thoughtful make of the piece continues to its reverse:
The back of the pin is hand-inscribed in beautiful script. It immortalizes the memories of the two lost honorees and reads, ““Anne Cartwright George Ob 1 Ap’l 1825 Æ 15. Sam’l George Ob 10 Feb’ry 1825 Æ... [either “22” or “27”? Perhaps “2” followed by “Ys”]”. The abbreviation “Ob” comes from the Latin word ‘obiit’ and means ‘he or she died’. Likewise, the character Æ is short for ‘Aetatis’, which is Latinized Greek in origin and means ‘years of life’. The conclusion of this inscription is difficult to make out, not because the incised lettering is not crisp, but because it is unclear what the lettering is supposed to express: either Samuel died at age “2 Ys”, “22” or “29”. Though similar in curvatures, it is not believed that the final number is a “9”.
What is unusual about this piece is that the enameling is black; when children, the young or any unmarried person passed, white enameling was the traditional choice, denoting their pure, innocent and virgin lives. Anne passed at 15 and Samuel either as a toddler or very young man. Perhaps these two were not siblings but a young married couple, lamentably passing within several months of each other. While we have researched the pair using their exact and similar names, combination of names, death years and approximate birth years, our efforts have not yielded viable results or insights into their lives according to historical records and genealogies. This being so, Anne and Samuel remain something of a mystery, yet their bond and their importance evident for all of time in this palm-sized heirloom.
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