Gold and Gems, Paste and Pinchbeck--The Beauty of Regency Jewelry

I love jewelry--my family will attest to the fact. Rings, earrings, pins, and necklaces of all sorts--I could deck myself like a Christmas tree every day and be perfectly happy. In my life, unlike my Regency heroines, I have to show restraint and so I like to look at Regency jewels and relish their beauty.

As fashions turned to classical simplicity in the early 1800s so too did the jewelry worn with them. The heavy silks and brocades of the 18th century were suited to massive jewels, stomachers, brooches and parures. The light muslins and softly draped silks of the Regency lent themselves to delicate necklaces, chains, lockets, and pendant earrings. Bracelets suited the new fashions, armlets were worn above gloves on the bare upper arm revealed by evening gowns, and tiaras transformed into classical diadems.

While goldsmiths and gem dealers made objects of great beauty and individuality (charming sapphires and diamonds above), the industrial revolution was encouraging machine made jewelry and materials like pinchbeck (a form of brass) and delicate Berlin ironwork were becoming popular. Semiprecious stones rivalled diamonds in popularity, and paste (glass) jewels and jet were often chosen to ornament the neoclassical designs.

Pearls were always fashionable and particularly suitable for very young ladies, the white variety symbolizing innocence and purity. Pearls were also a popular daytime jewel, when sparkling stones were not appropriate. 

Descriptions of fashions in the Repository of the Arts from Rudolph Ackermann have a fund of information to offer about Regency jewelry. Pearls and jet often appear in the illustrations. An evening dress from 1818 is accompanied by "Earrings, armlets, necklace and cross composed of jet."  Another describes, "Necklace, earrings and bracelets of emerald and dead gold." I have not yet discovered the appearance of gold in this form but presumably it was not highly burnished. Earrings of the late Regency are variously described as "large, and of the Chinese bell-shape", "a la Flamande" (a long narrow pendant), and "pagoda".

  Medallion necklaces were particularly popular. The medallions might be pendant or integrated within the chain base, and could be cameos, stones, finely painted plaques, or pierced metalwork.

Likewise, beads were highly fashionable. Many materials lent themselves to beading--coral, jet, and hardstones such as agate and jade. Strings of beads might be interspersed with pearls, or precious metal beads as in the highly decorative strand below.      

I have seen some beautiful pieces of Regency jewelry on the BBC Antiques Roadshow, and the Sotheby's auction rooms website. I only wish I owned some along with my more modest pieces!

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

For more information on Regency jewelry, please visit the websites below:

November's Autumn Blog http://novembersautumn.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/georgian-jewelry/


Suite 101 http://jewelry.suite101.com/article.cfm/jewellery-of-the-regency-style-era

The Three Graces Fine Jewelry http://www.georgianjewelry.com/jewelry/category/georgian

Location, Location, Location!

Newspapers of the Regency era were full of property advertisements. Much like today, real estate was changing ownership constantly. The advertisements are as full of hyperbole in 1800 as they are today. Desirable, substantial, and spacious are words that appeared as frequently then as now.

"A Spacious, elegant, Leasehold Mansion, with Stabling for Six Horses, double Coach House, and every necessary attached and detached Office, suited to a large Family, late the Residence of a Lady of Fashion: The Premises are desirably situate No. 12, on the South Side of Hereford-Street, Grosvenor-Square, with Command of View over Hyde-Park from both Fronts, and contain a splendid suit of Apartments on each Floor, and have been recently put in the most elegant and compleat Repair."

To be sold by Auction by Mr. Christie, At his Great Room, in Pall-Mall (from the Daily Advertiser, January 1, 1796

In the same paper on the same day, Mr. Christie also offered the property of Sir John Lade for sale. Sir John and his wife Letty cut a swath through Regency society, being neither particularly cultured nor polite, but possessed it seems of a fine home.

"A spacious and singularly elegant Leasehold House, capital Stabling for eight Horses, Harness-Room, four Coach-Houses, Loft, Granary, and Servants Room, and suitable domestick Offices, suited to a large Family, having an additional Story, the Residence and Property of Sir John Lade, Bart. The Premises are elegantly situate the upper End of Piccadilly with beautiful Command of View over the Green Park, Surry Hills, etc. and the Locality to Hyde-Park renders them particularly eligible; and contain a Suit of three elegant Apartments on each Floor, principal and back Staircase, In the most elegant and compleat Repair, and fit for the immediate Reception of a large genteel Family. At the same Time will be sold, all the elegant Houshold Furniture, large French Plate Pier-Glasses, large Stock of excellent Wines, and other vaulable Effects."

One could only wish that prices were attached to these advertisments. How much did such a property cost? Further research is required!

If one removed from London, a garden villa was an option. One was sold by private contract by Mr. Scott of Ludgate-hill who advertised in the Courier and Evening Gazette in 1800.

"Champion Hill, near Camberwell, Surry - The Lease of a Genteel Modern Villa with Coach-house and Stables and a large Garden, delightful situate on the Summit of the Hill within four Miles of London, containing an elegant Drawing-room, Dining-room, and Study, eight Chambers, etc. with LAND ...with the Advantage of purchasing the valuable modern furniture at a fair valuation, and the Option of the genteel Drawing-room furniture."

There were also more modest, and business-like properties for sale. In the Morning Chronicle of March 1814, Mr. Lloyd in Nelson-Square offered:

"To be sold a Bargain, the Lease of a capital, substantial, new built House with two good parlours with folding doors, a large drawing-room, three good bedrooms, two attics, two good kitchens, cellars, and a counting house detached. Pleasantly situated having a commanding view of Blackfriars-road."

The possibilities were endless, but none of them mention bathrooms, or water-closets, gas lighting, or heating options. One can only assume all such amenities were for the future. The advertisments make the most interesting reading however, and bring us that little bit closer to the real people of the Regency and their fascinating world.

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

Pitfalls and Witty Rejoinders: Regency Etiquetteby Maureen Mackey

In today’s world, where no phrase is too offensive for a bumper sticker or movie dialogue, and restaurant owners have to post signs requiring their patrons to wear shoes and shirts, the etiquette rules of early 19th century England may seem rather quaint.


But while it's true that some of the rules seem archaic, others clearly illustrate that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

I base my opinion on a thin book, published in London in 1834 by Charles William Day, titled Hints on Etiquette and the Usages of Society with a Glance at Bad Habits.

This guide covers many topic in etiquette, including the subject of polite address in conversation:

“Do not repeat the name of the person to whom you are speaking, as --'Indeed, Mr. Stubbs, you don't say so, Sir,' or "Really, Mrs. Fidkins, I quite agree with you, Mrs. Fidkins.' It is a sufficiently bad habit in an equal, but in one of lower rank it becomes an impertinence.”

Also, “Do not strain after great people — for, although they like the homage, inasmuch as it flatters their vanity, yet they despise the dispenser of it.”

Alas, Jean Harlow, 1930s film actress, evidently didn't have a copy of Hints. A story has it that the famous platinum blonde met Margot Asquith, fawning over her and repeatedly addressing the older woman as “Lady Margott.” Finally, an irritated Lady Margot explained, “My dear, the 't' in my name is silent, as in Harlow.”

Ouch. But besides straining after great people, you apparently should be careful how you describe them, as well.

“Do not say a person is 'affable' unless he or she be of very high rank, as it implies condescension. ROYAL personages are 'gracious'.”

Oscar Wilde was a master of these and other subtle distinctions. Once, at a dinner party, he bet he could provide a witticism about any subject that was offered.

“Queen Victoria,” suggested another guest.

“Ah,” said Wilde, “but she is not a subject.”

Etiquette surrounding meals also takes up a large part of the book. Rules abound about when to use, or not use, a knife, and also about gloves.

Ladies apparently never wore gloves at dinner unless their hands were unsightly, while waiters were instructed to swathe their fingers at all times in clean white gloves, taking care to mind their thumbs.

“There are few things more disagreeable than the thumb of a clumsy waiter in your plate,” seems to be overstating the case, since most of us can probably imagine many things more disagreeable than a gloved thumb on a Spode platter.

However, some things were permitted in moderation, such as picking your teeth.

“Do not pick your teeth much at table, as, however satisfactory a practice to yourself, to witness is not a pleasant thing,” the guidebook allows, with admirable understatement.

Smoking, especially in mixed company, was deeply frowned upon.

“If you are so unfortunate as to have contracted the low habit of smoking, be careful to practise it under certain restrictions; at least, so long as you are desirous of being considered fit for civilised society . . . The tobacco smoker, in public, is the most selfish animal imaginable; he perseveres in contaminating the pure and fragrant air, careless of whom he annoys, and is but the fitting inmate of a tavern.”

And it was in a tavern, actually London’s Traveller’s Club, where legend has it that Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Périgord, a French politician and diplomat during the Napoleonic years, used his sense of humor to extricate himself from the clutches of a man who was clearly etiquette-challenged.

According to the story, Talleyrand was cornered by a rude man who wouldn’t stop talking. Then the French diplomat noticed another man yawning on the other side of the room. Clutching the boorish man’s elbow, he whispered “Hush! you are overheard.”

Talleyrand’s interlocutor could have spared himself embarrassment if he’d read Hints and taken it to heart. As Day puts it:

“If these 'hints' save the blush but upon one cheek, or smooth the path into 'society' of only one honest family, the object of the author will be attained.”

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Note: In addition to the fore-mentioned Hints of Good Society with A Glance at Bad Habits (Turnstile Press Ltd.), other sources for this article include Wit, The Best Things Ever Said, compiled and edited by John Train, Edward Burlingame Books (a division of HarperCollins), 1991.

Maureen Mackey is a prolific author of Regency romance and romantic suspense. It was while studying English literature and history that she fell in love not only with her future husband but also with 18th century and Regency England. Maureen’s lifelong love of mysteries prompted her passion for writing in that genre as well. When she’s not writing she likes to read, prowl through used book stores, walk her rambunctious Sheltie and spend time with Tom and their two sons. She’s currently working on a time-travel mystery and a Regency novella.

Her latest release is A Rake's Redemption:

Can anything induce an unrepentant rake to abandon his indulgences and reform himself? Prudence Culpepper doubts her childhood playmate, Lord Harry, is capable of changing his irresponsible ways. But a fire, and a desperate chase through the countryside bring out the best and worst in both of them.