Late Victorian French gold and platinum snake bracelet with diamonds and rubies

Antique jewelry object group: flexible bracelet/bangle

Condition: excellent condition
  -  (more info on our condition scale)

Country of origin: France

Style: something between the Late-Victorian and Belle Epoque style - Victorian decorative arts refers to the style of decorative arts during the Victorian era. The Victorian era is known for its eclectic revival and interpretation of historic styles and the introduction of cross-cultural influences from the middle east and Asia in furniture, fittings, and Interior decoration.

Victorian design is widely viewed as having indulged in a regrettable excess of ornament.
And the Belle Époque style (Belle Époque is French for "Beautiful Era") was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the time of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, the "Belle Époque" was named in retrospect, when it began to be considered a "golden age" the major powers of Europe, new technologies improved lives and the commercial arts adapted Renaissance and eighteenth-century styles to modern forms. In the newly rich United States, emerging from the Panic of 1873, the comparable epoch was dubbed the Gilded Age. In the United Kingdom, this epoch overlaps the end of what is called the Victorian Era there and the period named the Edwardian Era.
  -  See also: late-Victorian or more info on styles

Style specifics: The Late or Aesthetic Victorian Period - Experts divide the reign of Queen Victoria, also called The Victorian era (1837-1901) into three periods of about twenty years each; The Romantic Victorian Period (1837 - 1860), The Grand Victorian Period (1860 - 1880), and the Late or Aesthetic Victorian Period (1880 - 1901).

We consider this to be of The Late or Aesthetic Victorian Period.

Jewelry of this period is changing back from heavy to more smaller, romantic pieces with often whimsical motifs. Jewelers using diamonds and bright gemstones in elaborated and fine feminine pieces.

Period: ca. 1910
  -  (events & facts of this era, poetry of this era, fashion of this era)

Source of inspiration: Mother Nature

Theme: Snakes and serpents - Serpent is a word of Latin origin (from serpens, serpentis "something that creeps, snake", deriving from the greek word "erpo" and "erpeto", crawl and serpent) that is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context, signifying a snake that is to be regarded not as a mundane natural phenomenon nor as an object of scientific zoology, but as the bearer of some potent symbolic value.

The serpent is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. Considerable overlap exists in the symbolic values that serpents represent in various cultures. Some such overlap is due to the common historical ancestry of contemporary symbols. Much of the overlap, however, is traceable to the common biological characteristics of snakes.

In some instances, serpents serve as positive symbols with whom it is possible to identify or to sympathize; in other instances, serpents serve as negative symbols, representing opponents or antagonists of figures or principles with which it is possible to identify. Serpents also appear as ambivalent figures, neither wholly positive nor wholly negative in valence. An example of a serpent used as a positive symbol is Mucalinda, the king of snakes who shielded the Buddha from the elements as the Buddha sat in meditation. An example of a serpent used as a negative symbol is the snake who tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, as described in the Book of Genesis. (From: Wikipedia)

Material: platinum and 18K yellow gold
  -  (more info on precious metals)

Extra information: This jewel is made before 1912 as part of it is made in platinum but the piece has only been hallmarked with the eagle's head and not with the dog's head. The "eagle's head" is the French hallmark for 18K gold and the "dog's head" is the French hallmark for platinum. The "eagle's head" is in use since 1838 but the "dog's head" only came in use in 1912. Thus this jewel can't be made after that date.

Diamond(s): 60 rose cut diamonds. We do not have the weight of the diamonds which is normal in our trade when it comes to rose cuts.

Precious stones: Two brilliant cut and 11 baguette-ish cut rubies (lab produced) (also called verneuil ruby). The fact that these stones are lab produced has no influence on the value of this jewel. Natural rubies and lab produced rubies were both used in this era, rather more for their effect than for their intrinsic value.

Birthstones: Diamond is the birthstone (or month stone) for April and ruby for July.
  -  (more info on birthstones)

Hallmarks: The French control mark for 18K gold representing an eagle's head that was in use in France from about 1838.
  -  (more info on hallmarks)

Dimensions: total length snake is 70,00 cm (27,56 inch), width of snake's head 1,42 cm (0,56 inch)

Weight: 68,40 gram (43,98 dwt)

Reference Nº: 18256-0139

Copyright photography: Adin, fine antique jewelry

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