Victorian Gutta Percha Floral Locket Necklace

Jewelry : Antique : Locket, Victorian, Gutta Percha

 

This locket is made of a black/dark smoky hard rubber material. The material founded in the 1840’s came from the sap of Malayan trees. It was not unusual to find jewelry made of this gutta-percha material. It was popular to make lockets from it, as well as mourning jewelry. It was also quite fashionable to wear general jewelry pieces that were made from this material

The piece that we have in our store is a locket. The locket has carved poppy flowers enhancing the top of the locket. On the inside there are amazing etchings that adorn the outside of the compartments for the photographs. They are designed with a delicate scalloped edging and trimmed with radiating trimmed lines and dimple dots. The inside of the photograph compartments are embellished with floral designs much like star flowers.

The locket is slip knotted to old ribbon, most likely not original to the piece, but in keeping with the trends of that time. The clasp is a spring lock, which is marked : "1/20 12K GF"

There are two flaws that are not noticed when one wears the locket There is a small pin-hole on one petal of the Poppy-flower design, and a 1/8" chip on back/side of locket's hinge. I actually have not yet found the pin hole on the petal, but trust it is there. The hinge and opening are tight on the locket and I can see the chip, but I did have to actively look for it.

The ribbon measures 1/4” in width and 15 3/4” in length. The locket measures 1” in width and 1 1/4” in length.

This exquisite piece

Item ID: lim 417