Featured Chatelaine in silver

Discussion in 'Jewelry' started by Willcpfc, Feb 21, 2021.

  1. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    It depends on where they were made. But there could be some marks hiding somewhere, many Continental European marks are tiny.
     
    judy and Bronwen like this.
  2. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Ditto.
     
    judy, Bronwen and Darkwing Manor like this.
  3. Darkwing Manor

    Darkwing Manor Well-Known Member

    It's possible that yours is a fancy dress chatelaine, not the usual household accessory. I don't know if the utilitarian ones were worn in public. It's really a fascinating topic of social custom and material culture. I'm sure far more than one historical costume grad student has done a thesis on them.

    From Wiki: " The chatelaine was also used as a woman's keychain in the 19th century to show the status of women in a household. The woman with the keys to all the many desks, chest of drawers, food hampers, pantries, storage containers, and many other locked cabinets was "the woman of the household". As such, she was the one who would direct the servants, housemaids, cooks and delivery servicemen and would open or lock the access to the valuables of the house, possessing total authority over who had access to what. Frequently, this hostess was the senior woman of the house. When a woman married and moved into her father-in-law's house, her husband's mother would usually hold on to the keys. However, if the mother became a widow, the keys and their responsibilities and status were often passed to the oldest son's wife. Younger women and daughters in the house often wanted the appearance of this responsibility, and would often wear decorative chatelaines with a variety of small objects in the place of keys, especially bright and glittering objects that could be used to start a conversation.[8] In the case of the absence of a woman of the house, the controller of the keys was often a hired housekeeper."
     
    Bronwen and komokwa like this.
  4. Poisonivy

    Poisonivy Well-Known Member

    Yes they can be well hidden in the pattern, they sometimes take a bit of finding.
     
    Bronwen likes this.
  5. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

  6. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Any Jewelry and Darkwing Manor like this.
  7. Poisonivy

    Poisonivy Well-Known Member

    Have you ever tried to decipher French marks?
    What a nightmare they are, we have a book on French hallmarks, there are thousands of them.
     
    Bronwen and Any Jewelry like this.
  8. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    I remember reading that in the 18th C men wore chatelaines. Before zippers, pants were fastened with buttons, and a chatelaine was worn to drape over the buttons. Gentlemen were expected to jingle as they walked across a room.
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
    Bronwen likes this.
  9. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    True, all my fault.:sorry:
    In my defense, I am pretty small myself.:joyful:
     
    Bronwen and Ownedbybear like this.
Draft saved Draft deleted
Similar Threads: Chatelaine silver
Forum Title Date
Jewelry Would Victorian chatelaine style necklace work for the title on this? May 31, 2023
Jewelry Three more auction goodies, glass necklace, tiny ring and chatelaine chain? Mar 9, 2023
Jewelry Age of Chatelaine Nov 18, 2022
Jewelry Chatelaine. Sep 5, 2021
Jewelry Chatelaine chain/necklace conversion? May 24, 2020

Share This Page