Garnet necklace for review

Hi..bought this for my wife at country auction about 30 years ago...it had long dangle earrings that were stolen during the auction
Could you please help with age and material..no marks. Thanks again

 

it's nice Bob, & too bad about the earrings.....but the pics are way to small for me to see anything relevant ....

 

Sorry about the earrings, I'm sure it was a lovely set.
It is Bohemian, but can't tell from the pictures if they are real garnets or glass ones or if they are set in gold or tombak.
The Bohemians made both glass and real garnets, and the real ones were also sometimes set in a brass-like alloy called tombak/tombac.
Could you post bigger and more detailed pictures?

 

Unusual construction. Another one @kyratango may know more about. There was a huge fad for garnet jewellery. Think it became the gem of choice as people moved out of the jet & other black materials that dominated while Victoria was in mourning for Albert.

 

Not really unusual for Bohemian garnet jewellery. I have a set like it, including earrings.

Bohemian garnets were already extremely popular on the European continent in the 18th century. So much so that empress Maria Theresia issued an export ban. Of course garnets still left the country, and remained popular until about 50 yrs ago.
There was a fashion for jet on the continent, but it was not nearly as huge as it was in Britain.

 

I love it!

 

I'm sorry about the pictures...the best I could do right now and I'm on my way back to work for the next while. The back looks unlike gold and there are no markings. A greyish material. Thank you for your time and I will try to get better pictures to post.

 

Guess I just mean doesn't look made in the way the garnet jewellery I come across, mainly English, is put together. Thanks for filling in my knowledge in this area.

 

I agree with AJ about it being Bohemian, mid to late 1800s. Not gold, but brass. Although it does look as though someone has added a gold extension to make it longer.

This is not original to the necklace

 

Bohemian garnets from Jablonec/Gablonz. With the proviso that glass garnets were also made there and often mixed in with mined stones. The construction is absolutely typical as is the use of brass. I do agree about that extension being added: women had little necks!

Bronwen, I've never been convinced this was mourning stuff. I think it's rather that the good people of Jablonec were very good at marketing their garnets. And of course, they look fabulous in candlelight.

 

Agree with Owned.

 

I don't think Bronwen said it was mourning jewellery, just that people wanted something cheerful after wearing jet for such a long time.
Here in the Netherlands garnets were worn during several of the stages of mourning though, because the usual red corals were considered too bright. The garnets came from Bohemia, but were made into jewellery here in the Netherlands.

Ever since antiquity, garnets, just like many red stones, were considered protective stones. This was still the perception when garnets were found in Bohemia ca 1600. Bohemian garnets are of excellent quality, that is why, along with the perceived protective quality, Bohemian garnets became so popular.

 

The main reason jet was so popular here was that we had the best of it.

 

You did, that gorgeous Whitby jet.
On the European continent it was mainly 'French Jet', which was glass, of course. Nothing to do with the real deal, but pretty in it's own right and fine for mourning jewellery.