Large Victorian White Onyx And Hair Pinchbeck Mourning Pin Brooch, England, Ca 1860.

The oval brooch is made with a large ornamented frame of curved scrolls and four side balls.
At the center of the brooch there is an oval framed plaited hair decoration also framed with engraved ornamented pinchbeck and mounted on a large oval white onyx stone.
Human hair was widely used in sentimental jewellery since late 17^th century and early 18^th century.
Good condition, some professional authentic repairs in the frame due to age.

Pinchbeck: An alloy of Zinc and Copper that looks like gold, invented by Christopher Pinchbeck a well known clockmaker born in London in the early eighteenth century.
Jewelers in the nineteenth century used this alloy as a less expensive alternative to gold.

$550