Locket

Object Type
Lockets, such as this superb quality mourning locket, were at the height of their popularity from the 1860s to the 1880s. They were even described as 'indispensable' in magazines in 1870 and 1871. They could commemorate a wedding as well as a death: in March 1871 Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Louise (1848-1939) gave a locket to each of her attendants at her wedding. E.W. Streeter, a leading London jeweller, offered a discount of ten per cent on bridesmaids' lockets when ordered in multiples of six.

Materials & Making
Onyx stained black was, like jet, bog oak and black enamel, an appropriate material for mourning jewellery. The black and white bands of the onyx of the locket have been cut so that a white oval frames the diamond-set initials.

Ownership & Use
Onyx mourning jewels found favour in the highest circles. In March 1861 Queen Victoria ordered a number on the death of her mother, Victoria, Duchess of Kent (1786-1861), and more after Prince Albert's death in December 1861. In 1872, to commemorate her half-sister, Feodora, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, she gave a banded black and white onyx mourning locket to one of her granddaughters.