Antique French Tortoise Shell Locket with Hair Art, Seed Pearls – Tortoiseshell Mourning Necklace

Big and solid, this is an incredible and rare treat to find, and we’re pleased to offer it to our collectors of either tortoise shell, mourning or memento jewelry, or hair art pieces. The pristine c. 1830-50 high-polish locket of natural tortoise shell has a large bale and can manage up to 4.5 mm pearls if you wish to wear it on a bead necklace, and the inside is just as pristine as the outer locket – both sides are glass-covered and protect fine early to mid 1800 French hair art set with seed pearls. The work is perfectly preserved and would be a real shame to remove it, but of course some do and turn these into photo lockets. I just hate to even mention it, since as it is before you here, it is a museum peice. No breaks or even bug nips on the fine old chocolate colored tortoise shell, this one has been very well preserved through time – an obviously well treasured family heirloom. One can only guess who these people were since we have no history to attend it, but with today’s cloning science, it might turn out to be someone you’ll know in the future (haha).

Very good to excellent, not a flaw to note. Truly a masterpiece and fit for a museum. Large and pristine!

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.