Antique Victorian French St. Esprit Bird Paste Sterling Silver Brooch Pin

  
Tests for sterling silver, glass. The ethereal, luminous shimmer of this antique Victorian brooch makes it a truly captivating piece. Esprit design is artfully crafted with a swooping dove that dangles freely from a particularly detailed and intricate folatiate design at the top. The refined sterling silver setting catches and casts light with an array of shimmering paste in an uncommon mix of pastel blue and white shades, highlighting its oh-so satisfying size and silhouette. Bright patina with minimal surface wear. Fresh sheen, light surface wear, and no chipping on the glass. All stones are bright, original, intact and in place.

Symbolism in antique and vintage jewelry is common, yet it can be hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for. Often, specific natural gemstones, flowers, birds, and motifs like stars and anchors were imbued with meanings that have fallen out of present-day society's collective memory. To appreciate the power of symbols in antique jewelry is to imagine what it would have been like to wear the piece and step back into history. A young Queen Victoria assumed her role in 1837 and her taste in jewelry quickly became culturally influential, within England and beyond. Her relationship to jewelry was enmeshed with her husband, Prince Albert, who gifted the Queen for their engagement, a snake ring, embedded with an emerald (her birthstone) in its head.

Continuing from the Georgian era and intensified by Queen Victoria. Taste, sentimental and figural jewelry was a major trend throughout the Victorian era. When certain ideas and words were deemed too forward or improper to be spoken, jewelry and symbolic meaning was used to communicate what was left unsaid. _gsrx_vers_1680 GS 9.8.3 (1680).