When it comes to Grand Tour jewelry, carved lava and coral are very location-specific souvenirs. Lava screams Naples/Vesuvius; coral points straight to Torre del Greco. Shell, on the other hand, was a more generalized “classical” material. It evoked antiquity without tying the object to a single stop on the itinerary. For British and northern European travelers c. 1840–60, barely-pink-tinted shell was a highly refined look. It suggested Venus, the sea, pilgrimage, and the ancient world. The form, a torpedo drop, could be made slim and delicate because of shell's strength.
MATERIALS: 14k gold (tests), shell
AGE: c. 1850
CONDITION: Very good
SIZE: 2 1/8" length measured from the top of the ear wires