Gold ring with open shaped shoulders, center set with small braid of hair under glass and surrounded by a circle of faceted jet beads.
mourning rings
rings (jewelry)
glass (material)
RING
"[first letter not legible] C C / to / ML" (Engraved)
1313
Unknown
3/8 in (W), 7/8 in (diameter) (inches)
Museum Accession
2007.15.154
For more information on jet jewelry and imitations see Bury, Shirley, "Jewellery, 1789-1910" v. 2 (1991): 657-709; Cooper, Diana and Norman Battershill, "Victorian Sentimental Jewellery," (1972): 19-30; Dawes, Ginny Reddington and Corinne Davidov, "Victorian Jewelry: Unexplored Treasures," (1991): 125-130; Fales, Martha Gandy, "Jewelry in America, 1600-1900," (1995): 125-126, 254-256; Phillips, Clare, "Jewels and Jewelry," (2000): 94-95. For more information on hair jewelry see Bell, C. Jeanenne, "Collector's Encyclopedia of Hairwork Jewelry," (1998); Bury, Shirley, "Jewellery, 1789-1910," v. 2 (1991): 680-698; Campbell, Mark, "The Art of Hair Work: Hair Braiding and Jewelry of Sentiment with Catalog of Hair Jewelry," Eds. Jules & Kaethe Kliot (facsimile of 1875 printing, 1996); Dawes, Ginny Reddington & Corinne Davidov, "Victorian Jewelry: Unexplored Treasures," (1991): 139-143; Fales, Martha Gandy, "Jewelry in America, 1600-1900," (1995): 98-107, 214-219.
Historic New England is committed to implementing reparative language description for existing collections and creating respectful and inclusive language description for new collections. If you encounter language in Historic England's Collections Access Portal that is harmful or offensive, or you find materials that would benefit from a content warning, please contact [email protected].