A lot of jewellery for the money

In 1846, the guild system was abolished, which had previously regulated who was able to work within certain trades. Industrialisation was picking up pace and new technologies had been invented. Measures to increase efficiency came to replace the knowledge-based traditions. Now, jewellery was being made in the largest quantities possible, with the minimum amount of gold. Gold was being rolled out to form large sheets which were then pressed and moulded into shape or stretched out into long threads. Johanna Kempe had just such a garniture of gold with two brooches and a pair of earrings. The brooches – one large and one small – were given separately to Johanna by her husband in 1853 and 1854. The smaller brooch has a broken clasp, which indicates that it was perhaps worn as a kind of pendant. The brooches consist of a knotted round moulding, the end of which has been flattened out and adorned with flowering creepers.