Pins

Balkan women used jewellery lavishly with their traditional costume. They fastened their clothes with decorative hooks, and kept their headscarf neatly in place with dress pins like these. They wore them in pairs, either side of the face, in much the same way that hijab pins are still worn today by Muslim women.

The border of these pins, cast in a pattern imitating little triangles of granules, is typical of Balkan jewellery.

They were bought for 18 shillings (the pair) at the International Exhibition, London, 1872.