Victorian Scottish 15ct Gold, Jasper & Bloodstone Brooch & Earrings Set In Original Case

A stunning 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 Scottish brooch and earrings presented in the original tooled Moroccan leather case.
Also referred to as “pebble” jewellery, this colourful and exuberant jewellery originated in Scotland utilising traditional Highland themes employing native agateA variety of cryptocrystalline quartz (chalcedony), typically banded in appearance. The use of agate in jewellery dates back to the Stone Age. and granite to punctuate the popular designs. The stones were precisely cut to form designs conforming to the setting, often to such tight tolerances as to form a seemingly seamless mosaicAn object decorated with many small adjacent pieces of inlaid glass or stone arranged to form a design..
Much of Scotland’s Highland heritage was squelched after the 1745 Jacobite rebellion against the English and outward symbols of clan allegiance were forbidden. At the turn of the nineteenth-century interest in Scotland was renewed in the readers of the popular historical novels by Sir Walter Scott. Basing his stories in the rich history of the Highlands, he presented an idealised and romanticised view of his beloved Scotland. Queen Victoria made her first visit there in 1842 and loved it so much that she purchased Balmoral castle in 1847, making it a home for English monarchs on into the twenty-first century.
With the advent of railways a new tourist trade sprang up as those who were previously not able to afford leisure travel could now do so. Scotland became a prime destination not only for its beautiful scenery but because of the fascination it held for their Queen.
This led to many pieces of jewellery being made for the new tourist trade. Gold Scottish pebble jewellery is rare as most pieces were made of silverA metallic element which is malleable and ductile, and white in colour, making it ideal for use in jewellery. It is usually mixed with copper to improve its hardness.
, and this brooch and earrings set is a wonderful survival from circa 1860-1880. Each piece has been set with shaped bloodstones and jasperAn opaque variety of Chalcedony and is brown, yellow, or reddish, but may be used to describe other opaque colours like dark or mottled green, orange, and black. Jasper is almost always multicoloured and patterned in a unique way. and there is beautiful bright cut engraving on the gold. There is also a glazed locket section on the reverse of the brooch.