In the Victorian era women in mourning would wear black jewelry for a full year, which is how black jewelry became fashionable. This flower brooch is truly lovely japanned metal with an intricate open work design and brightened by a green chalcedony cabochon centerpiece. The clasp is in good working order, although the pin has a slight bend. If you look closely at the photos you can see that there are a couple of areas where the delicate veins of the flower petals have come apart. The base metal of this piece is soft; I imagine that being bent somewhere along the way caused the pieces to break apart. In spite of this, the piece is still well made and has a wonderful patina. If you really wanted to, a good jeweler could probably solder those areas. Personally, I think I would leave it alone, as it just adds to it's charm. The brooch measures 2 inches in diameter. A truly lovely bit of history.

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