Pair of bracelets

These bracelets were once mounted on silk ribbon to prevent the wrists being scratched by the sharp links. Brightly polished steel, usually with pierced or faceted decoration, became popular for a wide range of jewellery from buttons, buckles and chatelaines to tiaras, bracelets and sword hilts. Manufacture began in Woodstock, near Oxford in the early 17th century. London, Birmingham and Wolverhampton were important centres of the trade by the 1760s.

Cut steel became popular in Europe as well. It was not only used as a cheap substitute. The inventory made after the death of the French Empress Josephine in 1814 also included two suites of cut-steel jewellery.

Cut steel continued to flit in and out of fashion throughout the 19th century. It was produced in Paris in small quantities until the 1940s.