Busacca Gallery

Gorgeous victorian brooch in very good condition. Victorian Red Coral Pendent Pin/ Gold Filled Victorian Pin/ Brooch: Beautiful Victorian brooch hand chased decorated with branch coral. Likely made of rolled gold. Has an amazing rosey gold color. Size = 1 inch round. Circa early 1900s. Excellent condition. We are committed to enhancing our customer’s lives by discovering creating, and pointing out only the best art we can find in the world today. We Are Taste-Makers, Art Advisers & Consultants.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooch

Jewellery is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches. A brooch, also known in ancient times as a fibula, is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments, often to hold them closed. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold but sometimes bronze or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with gemstones and may be solely for ornament (as in the stomacher) or sometimes serve a practical function as a fastening, perhaps for a cloak. The earliest known brooches are from the Bronze Age. As fashions in brooches changed rather quickly, they are important chronological indicators. The fibula or fibulae (plural) is an ornamental clasp used by Romans, Greeks, Germanic peoples and also by Celts and migratory tribes in Europe from the Early Bronze Age. They may have replaced fibulae made of more perishable Neolithic materials, such as bone to as late as 800 AD. Fibulae are useful type-objects: carefully catalogued local typologies, dating and distribution of fibulae can help date finds where neither numismatic nor ceramic materials provide a secure date. Fibulae were shaped somewhat like a large safety pin and were used to hold clothing together. They came in many varieties and held prominent significance for the identity of the wearer, indicating ethnicity (until local costume became Romanized) and class. Elaborately designed fibulae were an important part of Late Antique dress, and simpler ones were part of Roman military equipment. The same types of fibulae can often be found on either side of the Roman limites, both among "Roman" and "barbarian" populations. The cultural interplay of elite objects designed to show status can be quite complex. Germanic figures usurped the symbols of imperial authority. It is likely that this type originated among Celtic groups and came to be adopted as an exotic fashion by Roman aristocrats, becoming 'naturalized' as an important Roman emblem, and then exported". Ancient fibulae are prized items for collectors since they are well preserved in many cases and are not difficult to obtain; divorced from their cultural context, they still present a fascinating array of shapes and decoration.