Antique French Cut Steel Hair Ornament, Tiara, Hinged to Blond Tortoise Shell Comb, c.1820s

Antique French Empire to Charles X era ornamental hair comb or tiara comb, the arched bar set with brilliant facet-cut steel ‘gems’ that reflect light almost like black diamonds. In their time, a fashion item to hold upswept chignon in place, or to be jewelry for the hairstyles of early 1800s.  In our antique portrait miniatures, you will see these time and again on elegant women of the era. I will be disbursing my own longtime collection of these, sold one at a time. Found in France. Full measurements noted on photos. 

Very good to excellent condition for age and type, there are no breaks and no missing cut steel ‘gems’. The hinged comb can be worn in a variety of positions owing to the way it’s made. Full measurements are noted on the photos. 

IMPORTANT NOTE regarding antique tortoise shell or ivory: We are great supporters of protection for endangered species in our modern world. We never buy or sell anything 100 years or newer; we donate to anti-poaching organizations; we don’t hunt; we conserve in ways that impact global warming (we’re totally solar at home), knowing those measures also protect the animals in the wild today. We also recognize the vast cultural history we preserve with our care and reverence for these antique objects, and agree with CITES that objects over 100 years of age have nothing whatsoever to do with species depletion in our current world.

Our offering exceeds the age limitation of “more than 100 years of age”, and is well within the exemption for CITES regulation. If imported, met the CITES regulation. This item will be handled and shipped from our Utah business, and is not available for shipment internationally, nor within the USA to California, NY, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington if it contains ivory, sorry. Please see our small print for more details.