Jacket clasp

Although traditional jewellery was worn throughout Sweden, and has a distinct Swedish character, there are marked differences between the different provinces. Skåne province, in the extreme south of Sweden, has the richest tradition, and more jewellery was worn there than in any other district. Almost all the Swedish traditional jewellery at the V&A comes from Skåne.

A well-dressed woman from Skåne wore multiple pairs of silver clasps along the front edges of her outer clothes. Some of these were functional, and hooked into each other. Others were purely ornamental.

Heart-shaped clasps like these were originally worn as cloak clasps, but by the 19th century they had moved to the outer jacket, and were often purely decorative. These have the number 6 scratched on the back of each half, suggesting that they were originally part of a series. Clasps decorated with filigree were a speciality of the silversmiths in Lund and Ystad. This pair is marked with the three towers mark of Lund, and the initials SR. Sven Magnus Ramberg came from a family of traditional silversmiths in Lund. He worked from 1822 to 1858.