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This brooch is part of a six piece set, or parure, of jewelry made from silver pave-set with iron pyrite. A vertical frond, similar to a fern or other leafy branch, stands at the center of a laurel wreath.
pins (fasteners)
pins (jewelry)
pyrite
silver (metal)
Steel
Mica
Brooch
Jewelry sets such as this were tourist souvenirs made from the locally-produced iron pyrite crystals often called "Irish diamonds." Other popular Irish motifs included in this set are trefoil shamrock leaves. For more on this type of jewelry and to see a similar set in the Birmingham (UK) Museum of Art, see Charlotte Gere and Judy Rudoe, Jewellery in the Age of Victoria (2011), 496.
Original to Castle Tucker (Wiscasset, Me.),
Unknown
1.875 x 1.875 (HxW) (inches)
Gift of Miss Jane S. Tucker
1998.4924.5
Ireland (British Isles, Europe) [island]
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