Logo of The Spare Room Antiques
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : Pre 1900 item #1449562
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$1,440.00
Often confused with Whitby Jet, French Jet is polished glass with a more brilliant luster and flashier. Like Whitby Jet, it is truly antique, of the (Victorian) period, and no longer made, and therefore highly collectible. Like Whitby Jet, it was often used for mourning. This lightweight collar has a classic and unique look, looks terrific on and can be adjusted to different lengths about the neck, as it has a simple ribbon tie closure. There are scratches on the backs of a few of the fre...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : Pre 1900 item #1449564
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$590.00
We love our wonderfully esoteric Grotesque man (or "other") crafted by a talented unknown carver in the 19th century from a chunk of the most desirable orange-red toned coral. Connoisseurs of literature or theater or the arts understand the term Grotesque as referring to fantastical, exaggerated or distorted representations, usually of the human face or figure. (The word "grotesque" originates from the Italian "grottesca", meaning of a cave" (grotto = cave in Italian) and refers to doubled, meta...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : Pre 1900 item #1450160
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$1,600.00
Charming 18K Victorian gypsy ring with a solitaire diamonds set in an unusual carved pointed petal setting with incised flourishes along the shoulders which are a nice detail.. This type of mounting was popular through the 19th century and into the 20th. The gem is set flush with the gold band creating a secure setting for people with active lifestyles. The ring is great for stacking or alone. The diamond is roughly 30 points old cushion cut and the face of the ring measures 2cm x 7.5mm and w...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : Pre 1900 item #1452894
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$1,800.00
Beautifully miniature hand painted rectangular signet ring of the tree of life. The tree of life has its origins in both Judaism and Christianity, it is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and symbolizes connection to the larger world, the earth and the sky. This ring is 17x 11.4mm and sits about 3.6 mm off the finger. It is 5/8 long and almost ½ inch wide. The size is 6.25 US. The Weight is 3.0 Grams.
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : Pre 1900 item #1452899
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$900.00
Fun and unusual earrings of Whitby jet with a jet ball hanging below carved Whitby jet florets. Whitby Jet is fossilized coal mined in Whitby, England in the 19th century and made into jet jewelry, used at the time for to create jewelry. It was truly a cottage industry, with men extracting the jet from the mines and turning the precious material over to woodworkers, who hand turned and carved the jet into smooth forms. The jewelry would then go to the women to polish, finish, and assemble the p...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1452947
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$2,275.00
Our C1780 muff chain has an unusual link in the shape of bows. These hand forged bow links continue all around the chain. Georgian muff chains were worn by women who would attach a muff to the chain to conveniently keep their hands warm and the chain was designed to allow the muff to fall at just the right place. This is why original muff chains were always long (shorter chains were generally part of a larger muff chain that has been cut down to make 2 or 3 necklaces). Our chain has a round s...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1452948
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$1,950.00
his is an original nineteenth century sterling watch chain with a substantial square shaped link called a Venetian or box link. Closeup photos reveal the interesting interlocking pattern of the links. A great deal of ingenuity went into making chains, and there is nothing like an original long Victorian watch chain that has never been chopped up into shorter chains, but retains its original length. If you favor chains that are fabricated by hand, this chain is a real find. The links are full...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1452949
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$1,800.00
This is an original nineteenth century sterling watch chain with a round interlocking link. Close-up photos reveal the interlocking nature of the links. A great deal of ingenuity went into making chains, and there is nothing like an original long Victorian watch chain that retains its original length. Watch chains of the nineteenth century served the function of allowing the watch to be retrieved from the pocket without losing grasp of the watch itself. If you favor chains that are fu...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1452950
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$900.00
This is a long silver watch chain with alternating lengths of longer and shorter fetter links. For the better part of the nineteenth century, chains were fashioned laboriously using hand-working skills. A fetter link refers to a longer link which was used to reduce the number of links needed to fabricate a chain, thereby cutting down on the labor. The longer links are polished smooth while the shorter links have an interesting texture. If you appreciate chains that are fully fabricated by ...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1452951
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$2,350.00
The longest watch chain we have ever come across, this authentic Sterling Victorian slinky watch chain has an unusual link. Victorian watch chains were worn by women, as well as men, to hang a watch, which would snap into the end of a long chain and tuck into a pocket or a belt at the waist. (This is why original watch chains were always very long. Shorter watch chains are part of a larger chain that has been cut down to make 2 or 3 necklaces). At 78 inches in length, our chain can be looped ove...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : French : Pre 1900 item #1453019
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$9,100.00
This is a silky smooth gorgeous original French watch chain. Silky smooth about the neck, it has a wonderful texture as only 18K gold has. There is a French eagle's head on the clasp showing its French provenance.
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1453431
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$1,100.00
Wonderful antique silver cuff with rose gold flowers and arches and yellow leaves with etched tendrils in between. Silver jewelry was made to appeal to the "everyman" in society and after the Silver Jubilee in the later part of the 1800's silver jewelry pieces like our cuff bracelet was made in abundance, but no two pieces were alike and each had its own unique design. This antique cuff bracelet is 7 ½ inches in circumference and is 1 inches wide. It fits a small to medium sized wrist.
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1453435
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$875.00
Classical Victorian hallmarked bangle bracelet with three rows of tiny fleurons and X shaped patterns running horizontally across the bangle with reeding in between. Our bracelet is hallmarked 1883 Birmingham and is in pristine condition. It is approximately 1/8 inch deep, 1 inch wide, and measures a fairly ample 7 3/4 inch in diameter, suitable for most any size wrist.
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : Pre 1900 item #1457077
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$750.00
Lovely carved bracelet of polished jet. Jet was a form of fossilized coal that was discovered in the town of Whitby, England in the late 18th century. This gave rise to a cottage industry that employed many in the town of Whitney in the 19th century, as jet formed the material for lightweight striking black jewelry forms which were perfect i to meet the unending demand for mourning jewelry during the Victorian era (owing to Queen Victoria's long extended period of mourning for hur late husband ...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1457266
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$900.00
Our keeper ring once had hallmarks but they are worn off, so we are estimating this ring to be from the late 1890's. Our ring has plaited gold work on the underside, a work of art of itself. A "Keeper" ring is a snug fitting ring worn to prevent the loss of a more valuable ring by keeping the larger ring from sliding off. Keeper rings were also known as magic, or illusion rings, because of the illusion created by rotating the band causing it to appear to widen, to narrow, then to widen again...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1457535
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$2,800.00
Though the hallmarks show it to be of the Victorian era, this memorial band was made in the Regency style of the earlier part of the century. It is hallmarked for Birmingham, 1863. The words IN MEMORY OF are carved to the outside of the band along with raised religious and mourning imagery including Maltese crosses and fallen leaves. The gold-work is heavily chased. This ring was probably made as an advance order but never inscribed. Possibly it sat in some goldsmith's vault for years, which c...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1458643
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$3,500.00
Our substantial 18K Victorian buckle ring is hallmarked London for the year 1894 has two star set cushion cut diamonds set securely flush with the band. The clean and simple design of the ring makes it wearable for hand washing and most daily activities. Buckle rings were popular in the Victorian era. As it was the Queen's order, Victoria wore the symbol of the garter in the form of a buckle bracelet or buckle ring on her arm, as she obviously could not show the garter on her leg. The garter sym...
All Items : Antiques : Decorative Art : Jewelry : English : Pre 1900 item #1459022
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
$3,440.00
Substantial 18K antique Victorian snake ring with clever open cutwork on the gold band as shown in the bottom layer, an interesting detail on this handsome snake ring. Snakes were a symbol of eternal love and friendship and were popularized by Queen Victoria during her reign in the 19th century. Set with 3 diamonds, each larger than the next, in a pointed carved etching at the top of the snake's head, our ring is hallmarked London and dates to 1895. The ring is a size 8 ½.