Understanding forgeries in jewellery is often a difficult task which requires extensive knowledge of both the history of forgeries and the context of the relevant piece. As new technologies provide easier means of selling pieces without having the ability to touch and examine the piece, the ability to sell obvious forgeries is increased. Dealers are less accountable for their wares and the world market becomes populated with forgeries which pass through many hands.

Having said that, the most important aspect of mourning and sentimental jewellery is that they are personal and are unique to the person who created them. There is not one singular repository of information for every piece ever made and not every piece was created from a catalogue. The person who commissioned a piece may have chosen to go again popular fashion to construct a piece and infuse it with their own sense of personality and taste to make it individual for them.

The lack of comprehensive catalogue and the individual nature of mourning and sentimental jewellery means that evaluating pieces can be fraught with danger and modern day subjectivity. One important element of evaluating pieces is that the jewellery historian must not place modern values towards a piece in order to understand it and make a false assumption about its age. Also, more often than not, oddities exist which defy almost every form of convention. Style revivals with memento-mori symbolism, the difficulty of evaluating the artwork in a neoclassical piece (which is more akin to pure art evaluation) and justifying when a popular style dictates the piece are all perilous areas to grasp.

For this article, I will identify the various revival periods that led to pieces being considered faux; discuss how to spot the modern day forgery; and provide a brief history on reproductions. This article will be updated along with the rest of the site as pieces are added which provide examples and raise awareness of this very important area of collecting.

Neoclassical (late 18th century)

Mourning and Sentimental Art Revivals
The different styles of jewellery, be they Baroque, Gothic, Rococo or Neo-Classical, all experienced periods of revival after they were first created, or were reproduced continuously since their inception. Of the most popular styles to be found in mourning and sentimental jewels, Gothic and Neo-Classical are the easiest to spot. With mourning jewellery being a rather modern invention (at least for the purposes of this website – post 16th century), they were original for their time and there is no trouble in matching a Gothic or Neo-Classical ring to its respective age. For the novice collector, these are good areas to begin the accumulation of knowledge. These styles were not reproduced at a later date; therefore, spotting forgeries of these pieces can be very easy. At the very least, if a piece is questionable, there is a safe basis for judging what it is.

Gothic (first half 19th century)

The more prominent the art style and its effect on jewellery, the more simple it is to evaluate. However, Baroque- and Rococo-style pieces are more difficult to judge for two main reasons: their replication will bring in greater money; and these periods had Victorian revivals. While the 19th century saw a clash of revival styles and flourishes, Rococo styles were among the most popular. To a collector, however, the revival pieces will be obvious. Pure Rococo and Barque pieces are very different from anything produced in the 19th century, which used earlier flourishes to add to different jewellery. The original pieces are pure and ornate to their nature.

1740 Rococo ring with skull

It is the periods in between the popular revival periods that are harder to define. Pieces from the early 19th century throughout the Regency era are embellished with geometric lines, oval and rectangular shapes, use stones for symbolism and highlight a completely new way of constructing pieces that can almost seem more mature than more later Victorian pieces. 1850-1880 can also be difficult to be exact with, as each year has its individual style. Following the 1860s, memorial jewellery became less prevalent, and styles lingered, handed down, and often no modern alternative was created. The Victorian Rococo flourishes gave way to more rigid symbolism and became smaller and more personal.

Early 19th century ring with skull

Dating pieces is made easier with experience. Mistakes are easy to make with the evaluation of pieces in interim periods, especially without the rapid change of fashion seen in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Identification of a piece is not a sign of forgery, of course. It is during these revival periods, when antique sensibilities are reused, that the line begins to blur on what is or is not original.

Late Victorian locket

Contemporary brooch