Victorian Jewelry
Many people find it hard to believe that the inception of jewelry occurred 100,000 years ago as evidenced by mollusk jewelry found in South Africa. Mollusks are small snails and clams, and their shells were used to fashion this jewelry, although it was no doubt for more functional purposes (such as holding a garment together) than it was for adorning people. In the earliest days, natural material was used, such as animal teeth, shells, bone, wood and stone.
The first period during which jewelry was used extensively to adorn people was the Georgian era beginning in the 1760’s. Larger size jewelry from the past was replaced by delicate smaller forms. It is very difficult to locate jewelry from this period, but jewelry from the Victorian period beginning in the mid 1800’s under the reign of Queen Victoria is a different story. The Victorian era ended in 1901 upon the death of the Queen.