Victorian 15ct Gold Stafford Knot Tie Pin Set With A Diamond

An unusual 15ct62.5% pure gold (or 625 parts pure gold and 375 parts other metals). Popular during the Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco eras but was discontinued in the mid-1930s. gold tie pin featuring a Stafford Knot. It has a diamondA precious, lustrous gemstone made of highly compressed carbon. Diamonds are one of the hardest materials known to mankind. Colours of diamonds range from colourless, yellow, orange and brown to almost black. Natural coloured (or ‘fancy’) diamonds can be extremely rare. The cut, colour, clarity and carat weight of a diamond are the criteria jewellers use… in the centre. The upside down knot design is known as a “Stafford knot”. The knot was the badge of the Stafford family. One legend of its origin is that three convicted criminals who had committed a crime together were due to be executed in Stafford gaol. There was an argument over who should be hanged first but the hangman solved the problem by devising this knot and hanging the three simultaneously. However, the knot can be seen on a carved Anglo-Saxon cross in a churchyard in Stoke-upon-Trent, and also on a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon object from the Staffordshire hoard. This strongly suggests it pre-dates the Norman and medieval period, being probably either a heraldic symbol of early Mercia or a Celtic Christian symbol brought to Staffordshire by missionary monks from Lindisfarne. All our tie pins come with a stopper at the end of the pin.