Victorian Mourning Locket, Tortoise Shell Double, RARE Big & Long Tortoiseshell Chain with 18K Gold Wire

An amazing find! This is an early Victorian era locket, still with the cover glass on the one side and open area on the other just as original (the one side of locket recessed a bit into the open side so I’m sure it is open in the same way it was originally made and that there was not another glass-covered aperture on the right). And as if the tortoise shell locket itself were not thrilling enough, this one has a complete long and big chain also of Victorian tortoise shell that is further trimmed out with 18K gold wire. An amazing combination and so RARE to find in this original fine condition. The chain has a fine working 12K clasp, the type one often sees on watch chains only larger in size. The relative fragile nature of old tortoise shell makes this fine such a stunning one, and the more so when we tell you that only one link has been broken over the years – of course the one that takes the most stress and attaches to the bale of the locket. There is a old wire holding the 2 remaining carved links together, so you can certainly still wear it, but it bears note as you evaluate this treasure. We’ve displayed it in a deep-recess fitted Vcitorian leather dome case, but the piece is not original to the box and the box will not close with the locket and chain inside. Still, a lovely way to display and as long as it’s still available when this one sells, we are amenable to leaving the locket iwth the box if our buyer wishes it so. Otherwise, the box will not go along.