Victorian Jewelry

Discover exceptional antique Victorian jewelry from the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). The period's distinctive designs include snake motifs, en tremblant settings and elaborate cameos reflecting the romanticism of her long reign. Authentic vintage Victorian jewelry includes  mourning pieces enclosing a lock of hair or portrait miniature in black onyx and diamond, as well as various memento mori such as skulls, skeletons, extinguished candles and other dark motifs that honor the departed. Victorian jewelry styles encompass both the era's sentimentality and  innovation including Etruscan revival designs and naturalistic floral motifs in patinated silver over yellow gold mountings. Every jewel we sell is vetted for quality, condition and authenticity. We stand behind every piece with complete documentation, relevant GIA certification, and the best return policy in the industry, a full money-back guarantee, no exceptions. 

44 products

FAQs

What is Victorian jewelry?

Victorian jewelry roughly spans the years from 1837 to 1901, concurrent with the reign of Queen Victoria. The period was heavily influenced by history as well as technological innovations arising from the Industrial Revolution. The period featured Gothic and Renaissance motifs, with serpents becoming especially popular symbols of eternal love when Prince Albert gave Queen Victoria an engagement ring designed as a snake. European goldsmiths created fine yellow gold Etruscan and Egyptian revival designs during this time. Following Prince Albert's death in 1861, mourning jewelry composed of black materials such as jet, black glass and black onyx became fashionable.  Victorian designs are known for their strong emphasis on symbolism with plaited "hairwork" jewelry fashioned from human hair serving as fashionable expressions of devotion and affection.

The Industrial Revolution democratized jewelry production through mass-scale metalworking, making jewelry popular with and more accessible to the general population during the Victorian age.

How does Beladora verify the authenticity of a piece?

Authenticating pieces of jewelry requires more nuanced expertise. Many thousands of pieces of jewelry have passed through our hands for over 40 years from every era and every maker. This familiarity enables us to know what a piece should look and feel like and if it has the expected quality of material and workmanship, the accurate makers marks and the correct signature in all the right places. Indeed, one of the easiest ways non-experts can be fooled is to assume a designer piece of jewelry is truly by that maker as pieces by commercial manufacturers are often outright fakes or signed fraudulently by a third party. 

In practice, we first look at the front and back of a bracelet, ring or brooch, turning it over in our hands to see​ that the workmanship on ​the reverse is just ​as ​fine as the detail on the front. Using the jeweler’s important tool, the loupe, we look carefully at many different touchpoints including the precision with which the ​diamonds are mounted in their settings, the manner in which gold or platinum links are connected to each other, the quality of the azuring, a most difficult and refined aspect of metalwork, the fineness of the material and we look for ​flawless ​polish.

If we have any doubts whatsoever as to authenticity, we submit the piece to the firm itself, be it Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Verdura, David Webb and others. We also request the original bill of sale, box and papers for those items most commonly faked such as Cartier Love brackets and VCA Alhambra pieces. And just as banks know their customers, we, too, ensure we know enough about our clients to assure ourselves of their ownership and provenance. 

Our team of GIA-certified jewelry experts has such a well-regarded reputation in the international jewelry industry that we are frequently called upon to advise auction houses, appraisers and other dealers in matters of authenticity and value.