Investigation of a Victorian Ornithological Adornment by Gates Sofer, Metals Conservator

"The Victorians tend to be remembered for doing things with exuberance and flair, and their penchant for wearing entomological and ornithological specimens was no exception. In the mid- to late-nineteenth century:  'The proliferation of such adornment in middle-class life belied an increasing disengagement from nature brought about by the industrial revolution… [providing] an opportunity for women to reconnect with nature'. Ladies would embellish their dresses with beetle carcasses and colourful feathers; hats were fashionably arranged with entire birds stuffed and poised amidst their natural foliage, while goldsmiths tended to make use of smaller birds to add the finishing touches. With the opening of natural history museums on either side of the North Atlantic, women's journals of the day encouraged women to skin and mount their own creations, while established goldsmiths and jewellers manufactured bespoke items."

Figure 1 The ruby-topaz hummingbird earrings after conservation (Photography by Gates Sofer). (click image for larger version)

"One such example from this period is the exquisite ruby-topaz humming bird earrings recently conserved for display in the new William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery. Just over 3 cm in height, the birds' heads are delicately mounted on gold with the back of the earrings stamped with the maker's mark for Harry Emanuel and Patent No. 1779."

"Harry Emanuel's Patent No. 1779 dated 5 July 1865 states:
'The object of my Invention is a new manufacture of or improvement in ornaments for personal wear... For this purpose I form a setting frame, back for mounting in gold, silver, or other metallic substance or rigid material, by casting, cutting or otherwise, and in any desired shape; to this I affix feathers or plumage of birds, preferring those which are celebrated for their varied effects of colour and light; I attach them by means of shell lac, or other mastic or cement, or adhesive substance, by which a firm adhesion is obtained... By these means a wholly novel article of manufacture is obtained'.^"

And then, of course, there's 10,000 Birds .... Birding, Nature, Conservation and the Wide, Wide World as well as the book, The Life of the Skies; Birding at the End of Nature.

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