Candice Hern | Romance Author

When there is no inscription, it is almost impossible to know if the pin is a mourning piece or a love token. Sometimes the surrounding stones give a clue. Jet, French jet (which is not true jet but black glass), onyx, or other black stones almost always represent mourning. (See Figures 1, 4 and 8.) Seed pearls often represent tears and garnets often symbolized romantic love.

Hair had been used in jewelry for centuries, and was thought to contain the "essence" of the person it came from. Because it is virtually imperishable, hair became symbolic of immortality, and keeping a lock of a loved one's hair was a way of preserving that essence. Bracelets woven of hair are mentioned as early as the 17th century. During the later decades of that century, woven hair or hair laid in straight strands was used as a background for sentimental motifs or initials in gold wire, primarily in slide and lockets. In the Georgian, Regency, and Victorian eras hair-work took on the qualities of a shrine to the loved one. As seen in the Georgian Sentimental Jewelry article, bits of chopped or dissolved hair were often incorporated into scenes or symbols. Lockets frequently included a back panel of glass under which a curled lock of hair was enclosed. Weaving hair into elaborate patterns came into vogue in the mid-18th century, when hair-woven bracelets and watch chains became increasingly popular, and reached its height of popularity in the mid-19th century when every sort of jewelry was made from woven hair, including earrings and necklaces.

Because hair was such an integral part of mourning jewelry, many people set aside a quantity of hair to be given to their loved ones. In 1793, as the elderly Lady Bute was having her hair cut, she said to her maid, "Keep this for my daughters. They will be glad of it, and very good hair it is for a woman of near seventy-seven." During the Victorian era, most ladies kept a hair receiver on their dressing table. Hair was removed from her brush and stored in the receiver, and could later be used for jewelry.

The flat-woven hair that had once served only as a background became the centerpiece of the small handkerchief pins, or lace pins, that became popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and which are represented here. Hair from a loved one could be taken to a jeweler to be woven and plaited in a manner similar to making bobbin lace, and it was then mounted under glass with a gold or gemstone surround. Some of the weaving in the lace pins in this collection is so fine and intricate that one must assume it was done professionally. (See especially Figures 2, 6, and 8.) But it was just as common for the hair to be home-woven and placed in pre-purchased brooch frames.

The little lace pins seen in this collection are of the early type most popular during the Regency. Similar pins continued to be worn, in various forms, through the end of the 19th century. During the Regency years, the pins were quite small and delicate, some no bigger than a half inch. They became larger and heavier during the Victorian years.

NOTE: All the images show the pins much enlarged in order to show the detail of the hair weaving. The actual dimensions are given in the captions.

Figure 2

Tiny lace pin set with paste stones in gold, and intricately woven brown hair under the glass. Approximately ½" across. c1815.

Figure 3

Tiny lace pin with chased gold frame, and basket-woven hair under the glass.
Approximately ½" across. c1820.

Figure 4

Tiny lace pin set with faceted jet stones in gold, and simply plaited blond hair under the glass. Approximately ¾"across.

The reverse inscribed:
Henry Fawcett
died 16 February 1816
aged 53

Figure 5

Figure 6

Tiny lace pin set with coral in gold, with very finely woven blond hair under the glass. Approximately ½" across. c1810.

Figure 7

Gold lace pin in the shape of a snake, the glass center enclosed by a beaded gold frame and holding basket-woven hair.
Approximately 1 ¼" across. c1815

Figure 8

Lace pin set with faceted jet stones, a simple gold frame, and a surround of seed pearls, with finely woven brown hair under the glass.
Approximately 1 ¼" across. c1820

The black jet stones and seed pearls indicate this was a mourning piece.

Figure 9

Lace pin set with garnets, the tiny glass center enclosed in a frame of seed pearls and holding tightly-woven dark hair.
Approximately 1" across. c1820

Though garnets often symbolize romantic love, the seed pearls generally indicate tears, so this could be a mourning piece for a spouse. The hair compartment is so small it is difficult to see the hair inside, but seen under a magnifying glass, it is very finely woven

Figure 10

Tiny lace pin set within a frame of alternating seed pearls and turquoise, with simply woven blond hair under the glass.
Approximately ½" across. c1810.

Turquoise was sometimes used in mourning jewelry, so the combination here with seed pearls surely indicates a mourning piece.

Figure 11

Shirley Bury, Jewellery, the International Era, Volume I: 1789-1861, Antique Collectors Club, 1991.

Robin Jaffe Frank, Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures, Yale University Press, 2000.

Ann Louise Luthi , Sentimental Jewellery: Antique Jewels of Love and Sorrow , Shire Books, 1998.

Geoffrey C. Munn, The Triumph of Love: Jewelry 1530-1930, Thames and Hudson, 1993.