Antique Victorian Carved Jet and Vulcanite Bellflower Day to Night Earrings

These earrings simply cannot be described without a brief lesson in Victorian era fashion! While almost all black jewelry of the 19th century mistakenly gets labeled as "Victorian mourning" jewelry, the truth is that most of it simply would not have been appropriate for an actual Victorian era woman in mourning. Take, for example, these charming and whimsical earrings- made sometime between the 1860s and 1880s, they are composed of a mix of French jet (molded glass), true jet (fossilized wood), and molded vulcanite (a treated, hardened rubber that can be thought of as an early plastic). Though these earrings are black, which would be appropriate for mourning jewelry, the rules dictating what a woman could wear during a mourning period strictly forbade anything reflective or shiny. With the high luster and sparkle of the French jet flowers and vulcanite spheres, these earrings would not have passed muster, and would have been considered inappropriate, frivolous, and dare I say offensive, for a Victorian era woman in mourning. These could, however, have been worn for half-mourning, generally beginning a year and nine months after the initial mourning period started, and lasting three to six months. 

It is easy to discount the fact that black clothing and accessories were, much like today, incredibly fashionable during the 1800s. In a bit of an ironic twist, black was fashionable precisely because of a woman in mourning- Queen Victoria, famously, remained in mourning after Prince Albert died, until her death. Being the trendsetter that she was, her black mourning clothes and jewelry translated to black becoming a very trendy, fashionable color to wear. These wonderful earrings are an excellent example of "high Victorian" fashion, made of a combination of materials that would have been both "modern" and affordable at the time. The dangles, composed of carved and fluted jet with vulcanite spheres, can be removed, and the small, sparkling French jet flowers can be worn on their own. The hooks, once enameled in black but now showing their gold fill and silver colors, fasten from the back to the front. 

These earrings are in excellent condition. Most of the enamel that once covered the silver portion of the hooks has since worn, but they are otherwise sturdy. There are two tiny "flea bites" (chips) to the edge of one of the smaller jet components, as shown in the last photo. The hinged portion of the hook that passes through the earlobe is made of low karat rose gold, testing just under 10k (most likely 9k). These earrings measure 2.5" long from top of hook to bottom of dangle.