Georgian Jewelry: What Survives, and How to Know It

The Georgian period runs from the accession of George I in 1714 to the death of William IV in 1837. Everything in it was made one piece at a time by hand, with files, hammers, gravers and a foot-treadle wheel, in workshops lit by daylight and candles.

Very little survives, for one blunt reason: gold was expensive and fashion changed, so jewelry was routinely broken up and remade. The pieces that reached us did so mostly by being forgotten in a drawer.

The four things that identify it

Closed backs. The setting is sealed behind the stone so no light passes through. This was standard before about 1850 and near universal before 1820. Turn a Georgian piece over and you see solid metal, sometimes decorated, never open.

Foil. Behind each stone in a closed setting sits a thin sheet of coloured or silvered metal, placed there to brighten the stone or shift its colour. Foil is why Georgian paste looks so alive and why Georgian garnets glow. It is also water-soluble in effect: any moisture that reaches it stains, tarnishes and destroys it irreversibly.

Silver-topped gold. White stones set in silver, with a gold backing behind the silver. Silver was believed to make white stones look whiter, and the gold stopped the silver blackening the wearer's skin. It is the pre-platinum solution and it disappears after about 1880.

Hand cutting. Rose cuts, flat underneath with a domed faceted top and no pavilion, and early cushion-shaped old mine cuts with heavy, irregular outlines. Nothing is symmetrical. Facets do not meet exactly. That is the point rather than a fault.

Paste is not a fake

Georgian paste, which is leaded glass cut and set exactly like a gemstone, was a luxury product in its own right and sold openly as such. It was cut by the same hands, foiled with the same care and mounted in silver and gold. Fine Georgian paste is collected today and good examples outsell mediocre period diamonds.

The same is true of pinchbeck, a copper and zinc alloy invented around 1720 that imitates gold convincingly. Genuine pinchbeck predates about 1830 and is collected on its own terms. Both were honest materials, not deceptions, and describing them as fakes misunderstands the period.

The forms

Girandole and pendeloque earrings, with three drops or a single large drop, made to move and catch candlelight. Rivière necklaces, a single line of graduated stones. Sévigné bow brooches. Aigrettes for the hair, often set en tremblant on tiny springs so they trembled as the wearer moved. Memorial rings and brooches, frequently with hair, an inscription and a date, which makes them the most precisely datable objects of the period. Cannetille work from about 1820, fine gold wire coiled into rosettes and beehives, which made a substantial-looking piece out of very little gold.

Why so much of it has been altered

Almost every surviving Georgian piece has been changed in some way, and this is normal rather than disqualifying.

• Earrings converted from wires to screws or posts, usually in the twentieth century.
• Brooches converted to pendants with an added bail, or the reverse.
• Stones replaced when one was lost, often with a later cut that does not match.
• Pieces broken from a parure and sold separately.
• Shanks replaced on rings, which is where the marks were.

Look for gold of a slightly different colour, solder joints that are brighter or duller than the surrounding metal, and components that wear differently from each other. An unaltered Georgian piece is worth a significant premium precisely because it is rare.

Marks, and their frequent absence

British hallmarking existed throughout the period but did not apply to all small gold items, and a great deal of Georgian jewelry carries nothing at all. Where marks do appear on British work, the duty mark, a profile of the reigning monarch, was struck from 1784 to 1890 and immediately brackets a piece.

Absence of marks on Georgian jewelry proves nothing. See reading hallmarks for where to look before concluding a piece is unmarked.

Buying it

This is the period where expertise matters most and where the gap between a knowledgeable seller and a general one is widest, because the value differences are large and invisible to a casual eye. The questions that decide price:

1. Is it unaltered, and how is that being demonstrated?
2. Are the stones original and are they foiled?
3. Has it ever been in water, and does the foil look intact?
4. Is the closed back sound, or has it been opened at some point?
5. Is it Georgian, or an early Victorian piece in a Georgian manner, which is a different and cheaper thing?

Frequently asked questions

What years are Georgian jewelry?

1714 to 1837, covering the reigns of George I to William IV. Some dealers extend it to 1830 or 1840 depending on where they place the transition into early Victorian.

How can I tell if jewelry is Georgian?

Look for a completely closed back with no light passing through the stones, foil behind the stones, silver settings backed with gold for white stones, rose cut or early cushion cut stones, and entirely handmade construction with visible file marks and slight asymmetry.

Why should Georgian jewelry never be cleaned in water?

Because the stones sit on metal foil inside sealed settings. Water reaches the foil through the smallest gap, tarnishes it, and the stone permanently loses its brightness. The damage cannot be reversed without resetting the piece.

Is Georgian paste jewelry valuable?

Yes. Georgian paste was an expensive luxury when it was made, cut and set with the same care as gemstones, and fine examples are collected and sell well today. It is not costume jewelry in the modern sense.

Why is so little Georgian jewelry left?

It was routinely broken up. Gold was expensive, fashions changed every decade or so, and remaking an old piece into a current one was normal practice. What survives mostly survived by being put away and forgotten.