Featured Great great great grandmother's necklace

Hello! I wanted to see if anyone has ever seen anything like this? This was my great great great grandmother's necklace and none of my relatives know anything about it. I can add more pictures, but I cannot seem to find any markings.

 

It appears to be a (woven) hair locket but hard to tell from your photograph. Additional ones would be helpful.

Debora

 

Hello Kayla, welcome.
Looks like a locket with hair, does it open?

 

Oops, Debora, you got in first.

 

Thirded. It might be mourning jewelry, or just a memento of someone's loved one. A good shot of the back would tell us a lot more. I'm guessing rolled gold or gold fill at this point, but without a good look at the back that guess is worth what you're paying for it.

 

And also we need to see the clasp

 

It looks like it is Victorian Mourning jewelry and made from pinchbeck.

 

To what era did your g-g-g-grandmother belong? 1890s? 1920s? It helps more to give her age than the title. My mother, for instance, was born in 1909. My g-g-g-grandmother would have been alive in the early to mid-1800s.

 

Okay so sorry for the delay - I have more pictures. I'm not sure what year she was born, bit I'd say late 1800's early 1900's. I do not believe that it opens.

 

You may not want to do this, but I believe you could open the front of it where the bezel goes around the little window through which you can see the hair. I don't suggest taking it apart, though!

 

Hi Ann. I am not familiar with "pinchbeck". What is it?

 

Pinchbeck is an English gold tone alloy made of 83-93% copper, the rest zinc. It was used in English jewellery, so we'd have to know if there is an English connection in Kayla's family.

 

Yes, English and Scottish on that side of the family.

 

It is probably best to have it tested for gold, just to be sure. If it is pinchbeck, here is some info:
http://www.jewelryexpert.com/articles/Pinchbeck.htm

Halfway down this page is something about hair jewellery:
http://www.hairwork.com/remember.htm

As evelyb said, it could be mourning jewellery, but it could also have been a memento of someone who was still alive. Just like some people nowadays keep a lock of hair of a loved one.
In many countries gold was considered to happy a colour for mourning, they would wear silver jewellery.
The box chain is more recent than the pendant, but that doesn't matter if you want to keep it as a family heirloom. It fits, and the pendant is pretty enough to wear today.

 

Thank you all so much!