All is Not What It Seems

In a past post, I wrote about how the 1854 gold standard was lowered. As a result of this change in the amount of gold required for jewelry to be officially 'gold', gold items became easier to make. Before that govenment issue however, jewelers creatively developed a way to make gold jewelry appear to have more gold than it did:

The following is from this site:http://antiquesshop.org/victorianjewlery.htm

The Romantic period (1837-1860) in Victorian jewelry was sparked by the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840. Since the supply of gold was inadequate at that time, thin sheets of gold were worked upon to impart the illusion of mass and size to the jewels of the early Romantic period.

It seems more research must be gathered in order to make a full understanding of what happened then. Time will tell!

A Wonderful and Insightful Overview Of Victorian Jewels

I found this to be an interesting and very informative Victorian jewelry site. It also deals with some other aspects of the Victorian Era, as well as including information on the eras pre and post.

Click Here to Enjoy!