Antique Belle Epoque Diamond Brooch Pendant, 18ct Gold and Silver

Antique jewellery object group: combined brooch-pendant

Condition: excellent condition

Country of origin: Although it does not carry any legible control marks we believe this to be of Belgian origin.

Style: Belle Epoque – The Belle Epoque (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 Epoque” 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. or more info on styles

Style specifics: The Belle Epoque (French for “Beautiful Era”) was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and lasted until World War I (1914-18).

Occurring during the time of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, the “Belle Epoque” 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.

In the Belle Epoque cheap coal and cheap labour contributed to the cult of the orchid and made possible the perfection of fruits grown under glass, as the apparatus of state dinners extended to the upper classes; champagne was perfected during the Belle Epoque. Exotic feathers and furs were more prominently featured in fashion than ever before, as haute couture was invented in Paris, the centre of the Belle Epoque, where fashion began to move in a yearly cycle; in Paris restaurants such as Maxim’s achieved a new splendour and cachet as places for the rich to parade, and the  Garnier devoted enormous spaces to staircases as similar showplaces.

After mid-century, railways linked all the major cities of Europe to spa towns like Biarritz and Deauville; their carriages were rigorously divided into first-class and second-class, but the super-rich now began to commission private railway coaches, as exclusivity was a hallmark of opulent luxury. Bohemian lifestyles gained a different glamour, pursued in the cabarets of Montmartre.

Period: ca. 1890

Material: 18k red gold and silver, see also: The silver on gold technique

Diamonds: 43 rose-cut diamonds and senailles. A senaille is a simplified rose cut diamond, a small diamond chip with perhaps a few polished facets. We do not have the weight of the rose cuts diamonds nor the senailles which is normal in our trade when it comes to rose cut diamonds and senailles.

Birthstones: Diamond is the birthstone (or month stone) for April.

Hallmarks: No trace.

Dimensions: height 4,97 cm (1,96 inch) width 4,07 cm (1,60 inch)

Weight: 10,00 gram (6,43 dwt)