A Bernhard & Co Victorian Hair Jewelry – 1870

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A. Bernhard
&
Co. Catalogue, 1870
Manufacturers of
Diamond Work & Ornamental Hair Jewelry
importers of German Jewelry,
Watches, Diamonds, etc.
169 Broadway, Gilsey Building, Rm. 3
New York

Whether fashioned by a home crafter professionally by a hair weaver or a jewelry maker, hair
jewelry was the height of the romanticism and sentiment that characterized
the Victorian era. Some pieces were done as mourning pieces or "momento mori"
("remember you must die").

While some may find this morbid, for
the Victorians death was a common and accepted part of everyday life
especially due to
the higher infant mortality rate of the time and the devastation of the Civil War.

Hair jewelry was not always mourning jewelry, however, as it was also
crafted as love tokens from sweethearts, family members and cherished
friends. Rings might be engraved with loving messages and memorials
either on the face or inside the band, and might also have hidden
compartments for the hair.

Brooches came in all sizes from the
daintiest lace pin to a larger 3" oval meant to be worn at the neck. Watch
chains and bracelets often show the most ingenious hair weaving techniques with more
than one color of hair often used, as perhaps a chain given by three
daughters to their father.

PAGE 2 of Victorian hair jewelry:
bracelets, brooches and earrings.
A. Bernhard & Co. Catalogue, 1870

PAGE 3 of
Victorian hair jewelry: brooches and earrings.

PAGE 42 of
Victorian hair bracelets, brooches and earrings.

VICTORIAN palette work hair flower bouquet in
gold with black enameling lover’s knot brooch, 2".
View
View
View #V29441

PAGE 48 of
Victorian hair bracelets, brooches, stickpins and earrings.

VICTORIAN hair woven on
gold cross pendant, 1-1/4" cross on 1/3" loop. See Bell’s
"Collector’s Encyclopedia of Hairwork Jewelry" page 124.
View
View #V31361

PAGE 21 of
Victorian hair jewelry: bracelets of intricate design.

VICTORIAN HAIR bracelet with a faceted purple stone in a cannetille
work clasp. Four colors of hair made up this bracelet, which makes me
wonder if it might have been made by four daughters for their mother. It
is 7" long and 1-1/4" wide. #V1957

VICTORIAN gold and black
enamel palette worked hair plumes, seed pearls and golden wire memorial brooch with engraving
on back, "Alex McDonald, obt. 23rd Dec, 1850, Agnes Sanderson, 14th Nov.
1871. Note that each side of the curled hair is a different color, one for
each of the people memorialized in the engraving on the back. View
View
View #V31130

PAGE 49 of
Victorian hair bracelets, brooches, stickpins and earrings.

VICTORIAN hair pin with
orange cabochons center stone, hair frame set in gold, monogrammed "MBF",
1". View
View #V31356

PAGE 7 of Victorian hair jewelry:
stickpins, brooches, earrings and pendants.

PAGE 46 of
Victorian hair bracelets, brooches and earrings.

PAGE 61 of Victorian hair rings.
A. Bernhard
&
Co. Catalogue, 1870

VICTORIAN puffy heart
padlock charm with hair enclosure, 1". A similar piece can be seen
on page 36 of Bell’s "Collecting Victorian Jewelry".
View #V31587

PAGE 30 of
Victorian hair jewelry: necklaces and bracelets.

VICTORIAN hair jewelry, a
14k yellow gold framed bracelet of fifteen tubular hollow links, each a
beautifully woven memento with varying tones of hair, and each link
inscribed with the source monogram, 6 3/4" x 1 1/2". This is probably
the loveliest token of friendship I have ever seen, and one of the most unusual.
View
View
View
View
View #V32065

VICTORIAN hair bracelet
with gold stations and clasp, two broken portions on back, 7-1/4" by 3/4".
This bracelet can be seen on page 28 of the A.
Bernhard & Co 1870 catalogue of hair jewelry.
View
View
View #V31353

PAGE 23 of Victorian hair jewelry:
brooches, bracelets and earrings.

VICTORIAN yellow gold filled mourning brooch with curled hair in
three
shades accented with tiny seed pearls against a pale pink background, 2-1/4" by 1-7/8".
View #V31345

VICTORIAN
hair bracelet, engraved inside "CLVR", 6" by 1/2", hair as is and
delicate in one place where it joins the clasp.
View #V25845

LADY wearing gold earrings and
a woven hair necklace with a photograph pendant. Carte de viste marked
"Robertson & Brooks, Franklin, KY."

VICTORIAN sentimental
woven hair watch chain, 14".
View #V16355

PAGE of Victorian hair jewelry:
necklaces and bracelets.

VICTORIAN hair bracelet
with etched design locket front, 6-5/8" by 7/8".
View
View
View #V31408

PAGE 22 of Victorian hair jewelry:
brooches and bracelets.

VICTORIAN hair brooch with cross
pendant and gold filled fittings.

VICTORIAN hair bow
bracelet with engraved initials "AVP" on center.
View
View
View #V31357

PAGE 6 of
Victorian hair jewelry: bracelets, brooches, earrings and pendants.

VICTORIAN table worked hair
set in etched and enameled gold pierced earrings with three pendants, 1-3/4"
top to bottom. Earrings like these, circa 1870, can be seen on page 45
of Romero’s Warman’s Jewelry, Ed. 3. Similar earrings are on page 143
of Davidov & Dawes "Victorian Jewelry".
View #V27335

PAGE 9 of
Victorian hair jewelry: brooches in fancy designs, including florals and
initials.

VICTORIAN gold, black enamel
and palette worked hair flowers in lover’s knot brooch, 2".
View
View
View #V29441

VICTORIAN blond
hair bow brooch of open table work with drops, 2" by 1-3/4". This
brooch, sadly, has major damage, but I am sure it was treasured and worn by
someone many years ago.
View
View
View #V31395

VICTORIAN
brown hollow table worked woven hair acorn earrings, 1-1/8". Earrings like
these, circa 1870, can be seen on page 45 of Romero’s Warman’s Jewelry,
Ed. 3. View
#V27607

PAGE 40 of
Victorian hair jewelry: clasps and bracelets.

View Victorian
hair ring as shown at right #V15258, and on page 13 of the catalogue. #V15458.

VICTORIAN hair ring with
shield front, size 9-1/4. #V21550

VICTORIAN hair
purse pocketbook charm, , 7/8". Bell’s "Collector’s Encyclopedia of Hairwork
Jewelry" page 197. A similar piece can also be seen in the book, "Warman’s
Jewelry" 2nd Edition by Christie Romero on page 26. View #V31399

PAGE 41 of Victorian hair jewelry:
clasps and bracelets.

PAGE 19 of Victorian hair
jewelry: bracelets, brooches, watch chains, earrings and pendants

VICTORIAN table work hair caged bead brooch, 1-1/2".
View #V5459

PAGE
32 of Victorian hair jewelry:
watch chains.

PAGE 33 of
Victorian hair jewelry: watch chains.

PAGE 34 of
Victorian hair jewelry: watch chains.

VICTORIAN 375
(9 ct) table worked hair 14" watch chain with fob engraved with initials and marked "WA
.375". View
#V21554

PAGE 26 of Victorian hair jewelry:
brooches, bracelets watch chains and earrings.

VICTORIAN hair brooch
with table worked open frame and palette worked woven hair center set in
yellow gold filled, 1-1/8".
View #V31468

PAGE 55 of Victorian hair
earrings.

VICTORIAN hair earrings with open
weave table work and gold fittings.

PAGE 14 of
Victorian hair jewelry: charms, initials and pendants.

PAGE 39 of
Victorian hair jewelry: watch chains.

Not everyone would have used a palette or table work to create jewelry from
a loved one’s hair. This locket appears to be hand lettered inside, with
crimped and hand-sewn hair work curls and hand written paper inset, both probably done by
an amateur.

This looks like a hand made amateur setting, although one with great charm,
and it is probably a one-of-a-kind piece.
The child’s photo on the front is combined with the lock of hair and tiny
baby ring on the back.

VICTORIAN gold hair
locket with black enameled "IMO’ on front, "Hannah Taylor, born June 23,
1872 died July 30, 1876, Rest in Jesus" and hair curls inside, 1-5/8" by
1-1/4". View
View
View #V29823

VICTORIAN hair brooch
with brown, blonde and red hair, brooch frame has lovely branches,
leaves and tendrils, 2" by 2-1/4".
View
View
View #V32449

VICTORIAN lady wearing a lovely
hair brooch with woven and braided hair. #Vpho1

VICTORIAN sentimental triple knot hair brooch in yellow gold
settinng, circa 1880, 1-5/8". Hair jewelry was a popular sentimental item
throughout the 1800s. This is an unusual design, and may have been done by
siblings in a family. A very similar brooch can be seen in this
Victorian-era photograph
View.
View
#V28119

REFERENCES:
A.
Bernhard & Co. Catalogue, 1870
Art of Mourning

Morbid Outlook: Fashion History
Collectors Encyclopedia of Hairwork Jewelry by
Jeanenne Bell