Victorian Silver with Rose Gold Name Brooch - ALICE - 1894

This is a really different Victorian Sterling Silver Name Brooch with the name ALICE on it. It is hallmarked clearly to the reverse with the Lion Passant for Sterling Silver, the Chester Assay Office symbol  and the  letter ‘L’ for 1894. There are full makers marks too  ‘H &N’  the Birmingham Silversmiths  Hollis and Newman, whose workshops were in Tenby Street North.  The name itself has been engraved in capital letters onto an applied rose gold banner with curled ends and additional gold flowers to each side.  The flowers are ‘Forget Me Nots’ symbolic of love. This   'ALICE' brooch has a plain, elongated oval silver base surrounded by two rows of barley twisted applied silver wires.  This antique brooch is not a typical design found in Victorian name brooches of the 1880s and 1890s.  It may have been a commission.   To the reverse it has a fully guarded pin clasp like a stock pin so may have belonged to an equestrian.  This fabulous piece of original Victorian jewellery is in very good condition too. I never overclean antique brooches as collectors often want their Victorian or Edwardian jewellery to look as if it has some age! This would clean up bright and shiny with a silver cleaner if you wanted it to look like new! 

Name brooches were a great favourite with Victorian and Edwardian ladies.  These antique brooches and pins started out as name badges for the staff in large country houses and later became popular sweetheart brooches.  Many were made in Birmingham, England's jewellery quarter, and they are becoming most fashionable again with the resurgence of lovely old names that were popular in the 19th and early 20th Century.

JEWELLERY DETAILS

Designer or Brand: Makers mark ‘H &N’ for Hollis and Newman, Tenby Street North, Birmingham 

Country of Origin: UK - Chester Hallmark for 1894

Condition: Very Good

Decade: 1890s

Era: Victorian 

Type: Antique Name Brooch - Alice

Material: Sterling silver and Rose Gold