Regency Fashion: Jewellery

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A few months ago, a reader asked for more posts and resources on Regency era jewelry.ย  In my search, I found this more contemporary book that features photos and descriptions of a variety of jewelry items: Levine,ย G.,ย Vookles,ย L.ย L.ย (1986).ย The Jeweler’s Eye: Nineteenth-century Jewelry in the Collection of Nancy and Gilbert Levine.ย United States:ย Hudson River Museum.

For your reading pleasure, I have also shared an article about fraudulent jewelry during the era, and some of the politics with Goldsmiths’ Hall.

HONEST JEWELLERS IN nineteen shops out of twenty throughout the whole kingdom the most frau dulent articles in jewellery are constantly on sale The most expensive gems and stones are set in base metal the rich and massive looking chased seals chains keys and rings are either hollow or lined or filled with alloy and scarcely one in a thousand of even the solid articles is of the proper standard gold We shall be answered perhaps true but they never were of a proper standard the public were always cheated in jewellery but the jewellery of England is con siderably improved in quality and was never so respectable as it is now Is this however any excuse for a fraud which is the more aggravating to purchasers in the proportion to their willingness to pay for a pure article The public are scarcely aware that there is a heavy penalty for manufacturing a wedding ring without submitting it to the assay master at Goldsmiths Hall to be stamped as genuine can there be any good reason for not submitting every article that will bear it to the same test A seal which weighs one ounce perhaps or a ring which weighs a quarter of an ounce richly chased looks very massive and the gold appears of a tolerably good quality that is the manufacturer calls himself respectable and does not adulterate his gold quite so much as some of his neighbours but cut these trinkets through and it will be seen how even the honest jeweller cheats the public the thin plate of gold which meets the eye may be moderately debased but the inside will show to what extent even honesty will go in taking advantage of the pub lic yet what is to prevent gold seals keys brooches chains settings and other trinkets above a certain weight being tried and marked at Goldsmiths Hall What is to prevent the government in these times of financial distress claiming the duty on gold articles of jewellery as established by the Gold and Silver Plate Act Why should a lady who pays a hundred pounds for a suit of jewels have the mortification to find that what purports to be gold is regulated by no other standard than the jeweller's conscience a conscience in some cases so elastic as to justify the old reproach of using eleven shilling gold a reproach dealt out by the honest jeweller that is one who only robs us a little to those who are not so particular and rob by wholesale Why should a silver salt spoon worth thirty pence be subject to the trial and stamp of the Goldsmiths Company and be broken to pieces if it be worth one farthing less than it ought to be while a massive gold chain costing thirty pounds undergoes no such ordeal and may be nay we A mixture of a golden half guinea fused with sixpenny worth of copper
assert in nine cases out of ten is more than half brass copper and silver Why should a wedding ring worth three half crowns be subject to the control of the wardens of Goldsmiths Hall and pay a duty of sixteen shillings per ounce to go vernment and the chased gold ring of three guineas be a mere shell of gold of what ever quality the jeweller pleases and filled with any thing the most convenient Every grain of the former is worth its weight cut from a sovereign or a guinea the latter is two thirds base Why then are jewellers exempt from the penalties for fraud and adulteration Why are not the same penalties levied for selling a base gold seal as are for putting off a base silver spoon Why is the female who wears an expensive suit of jewels obliged to put up with a false or adulterated ma terial for the setting any more than for her wedding or her mourning ring or presuming for argument's sake that there is an honest jeweller why should his honesty be unauthenticated by the stamp which would prove it to be genuine We know the answer which it is convenient to make the trial and the stamp would destroy the article this answer would do for all but practical men they know better We can imagine it would make no little stir if an order of this kind were issued by the Goldsmiths Company We think they have the power and we know it is practicable though we dare say the manufacturers would find it very inconvenient There is however another way of accomplishing the object let any jeweller who feels disposed to break through the rules of the trade manu facture and offer for sale genuine gold articles which bear the stamp of the Gold smiths Company let the fashionable world know of it and without pledging our selves for the men we will engage that we have not among our fair readers one who would not prefer to wear that which the world should know to be gold even if it cost more The trash which is now worn might be purchased by the lower classes but the unauthenticated material would cease to be called gold One word however to the gentlemen and we have for this time at least done Would not the half pound bunches of gew gaw which dangle at your watch chains be well exchanged for a moderate selection of better material and the hoops of base metal which encompass your fingers be well substituted by a lighter ring of standard gold However this is your business all we require is that you make no more presents to females of jewellery which bears not the stamp of the Goldsmiths Company We may open the eyes of the public further yet in the mean time these are awkward but they are incontrovertible facts as any doubting person will find if he have the curiosity to break up an article of unstamped jewellery ะ ะ The Royal Lady’s Magazine, and Archives of the Court of St. James’s.ย (1831).ย United Kingdom:ย W. Sams.

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