#mourning jewelry

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Mourning ring, 1825.

[shakespearefreak]

I finally got all the pieces of Virginia's "Meet Outfit" and did a little photoshoot! (The indoor photos were taken at the historic Hotel Ruby Marie here in Madison WI, where they very kindly allow cosplayers and other photographers to use their beautiful vintage decor as a backdrop!)

Oh, and because I'm super proud of her jewelry, some closeups and info on each:

This is the pendant on her necklace; it was inspired by Victorian-era mourning jewelry, which often contained hair or other parts of the deceased loved one. If you look closely, you may notice her father's photo is actually Jim Beaver as Carter Cushing in Crimson Peak (Edith Cushing was one of my main inspirations for Virginia). I edited the photo for that "vintage" feel. The hair, which is meant to be from her father's beard, was actually taken from Captain's tail! 😅

I made her ring using a blank DIY ring from Etsy and a skull charm intended for nail art

Her bracelet is made from real Jet beads (I made it by taking apart a human-sized bracelet and restringing part of it). Jet was a very popular stone for mourning jewelry in the Victorian era.

[abybweisse]

@annoyinglyshinycherryblossom asked on this post what the hair colors were for the people on the lockets.

Locket hair colors

The locket designs are done with their hair, so here's an image from one of the design books (French translation):

Emile C. -- very yellow-blond

Oliver A. -- very pale, kind of platinum blond

Alex B. -- deep ginger/red

Cloudia/Claudia P. -- blue-black or blue-gray, which is apparently the typical Phantomhive hair color. The twins are supposed to have this color of hair, too.

Molly/Mally G. -- brown, perhaps a bright brown

Gilbert D. -- silver gray

Harry E. -- dark grey or possibly blue-black/blue-gray. Looks a lot like Phantomhive hair....

[buriedteen]

transparent version of an 18th century memorial locket

[sartorialadventure]

Memento Mori. Includes a discussion of early modern memento mori jewelry, beginning at 14:19. There’s an AMAZING memento mori wedding ring discussed:

A "gimmel” wedding ring (two interlocked rings worn as one) that opens to reveal the inscription, “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (quoted from the wedding service), as well as images of a baby and a skeleton. (image source)

[boylerpf]

Antique Victorian 14K Gold Turquoise Star Ring Band, Mourning Jewelry

Source - Boylerpf.com

[nuveau-deco]

A Selection of Black Glass Mourning Jewellery from the Rijksmuseum Collection. Dated ca. 1880-1900 from Schoonhoven, the Netherlands, designer/maker unknown.

(Object Links:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  )

[nerddivision]

I think my girlfriend was expecting a "I wear hot black makeup" goth and less of a "I made a necklace out of my friends hair" goth.

[roses--and--rue]

This enormous Victorian vulcanite cross is one of the nicest pieces of jewelry I’ve had in the shop.  Is it a mourning jewel? Maybe: 

Just because a piece of Victorian clothing or jewelry is black does NOT mean it was worn during mourning. Then, as now, people wore cross shaped jewelry & the color black all the time. That said, vulcanite was also a popular material for mourning jewelry as it offered a less expensive alternative to carved jet. This would be suitable jewel to wear, especially during a later stage of mourning when more elaborate embellishments were permissable.

[yassssifiedhistory]

✨️

[thevisualvamp]

Well clutch my pearls

[danielmiddeke]

[woodland-ghosts]

Ive been looking for Georgian & Victorian mourning brooches for under ~1k at flea markets and believe me when I say They Do Not Sell At A Reasonable Price-point so I bought these gorgeous little reproductions

[najiang]

[abybweisse]

in ch 133 p.10 the P Ring is decorated with fleur-de-lis , does that means that the P Family has ties with the french royality or simply because of the 100 year war ?

Phantomhive fleurs-de-lis?

Though the fleur-de-lis (lily... or probably iris, based on shape and an origin story about yellow irises along the River Lys) design is best known for a connection to the French royalty, it's also in the British and Scottish Crown Jewels. In fact, it's a very popular design to use across Great Britain, Europe and elsewhere.

We could glance at the ring and say they're fleurs-de-lis and claim it's another clue that the Phantomhives have a strong connection to the French, along with having some French names, like Vincent, Frances/Francis, and Ciel. (Claudia is rare in France and actually Italian in origin.) There's also the fact they are "Phantomhives", not "Ghosthives". 😆 And then there's Undertaker's mysterious mention of having business in France; he says that to Diedrich, even though he didn't really need to mention it... unless he hoped Diedrich would pass that along for our earl and Sebastian to investigate. Too bad that investigation hasn't happened (yet).

Anyway, like I said above, it's also used in Great Britain. An interesting use of the fleur-de-lis in British heraldry is as a cadency mark to signify a sixth son. We could come up with some wild scenario where a sixth son was the head of the family when this ring was originally made, and it has passed down through the generations without further changes, despite the fact it would no longer match the family position of the bearer; they are not all 6th sons, and at least one has been a daughter. (The English do not strictly follow cadency rules like the Scottish do.) This is the sort of idea I'd expect to find in a fanfic, where the author thinks they are being particularly clever... while forgetting or not realizing what the ring actually depicts.

Because it's not a fleur-de-lis on that ring at all. In the center of the shield in their family crest, there's the same-looking thing. Part of the shield and key looks a bit like a bisected fleur-de-lis but turned on its side and dotted, like the corners of the shield. Isn't that what's really on each side of the ring... the family shield?

Yes, it's the shield with the key and crown... and so that's not really a fleur-de-lis because it wouldn't be correctly oriented as a heraldic flower. Also, the top three petals of a fleur-de-lis should be larger than the three below, and this design looks quite equal on each half of the shield.

Sorry, but there are no fleurs-de-lis on the Phantomhive ring, that I can see. The Phantomhive family ring is typical in that it depicts the family crest/shield, which does not include a fleur-de-lis.

They might still have strong French ties, though....

Bonus: Undertaker has a flower on each side of his ring, but it's a true lily, like the lilies used for funerals. His ring is another piece of mourning jewelry, not a family ring, as the design sheet even includes hair embedded in resin or underneath a transparent yellow stone... and points to both the ring and his lockets, calling them “memory jewelry (accessory with hair of the deceased)”. My money is on a yellowish resin molded to appear like a gem at first glance. I agree with others who think the ring's hair design looks a lot like the hair design in the locket for Alex B., whoever that turns out to be.

[vysjewelry]

Black onyx and pearl earrings, c. 1875 (at Lang Antiques)