Victorian Floral Acorn Cameo Brooch Gutta Percha Vulcanite Cocoa Brown Detailed

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Victorian Floral Acorn Cameo Brooch Gutta Percha Vulcanite Cocoa Brown Detailed :
$85.00

This large brooch features an oval cartouche with a crest at the top and a beautifullydetailed Victorian arrangement of leaves and trailing fuchsia flowers that is three-dimensional and in veryhigh relief. At the center of the plaque is a cluster of four acorns placed on top of oak leaves, one of which has an empty cap -- in the Victorian language of flowers, this may have significance.

The brooch is a little more than two inches wide and about an inch and a half tall at its widest point.

It\'s a horizontal piece, a classic, cameo-like oval and probably dates to about the middle of the 19thcentury, just before or around the time of the Civil War.

Itlooks like a 19th century Black Forest wooden carving –but it\'s not. It\'s molded in either vulcanite or gutta percha. These are two of the earliest ofthe plastic-like materials that those ingenious Victorians invented from amixture of tree sap and other materials.

Because of the uniformity of color on this piece, I believe this has not faded from an original black and that it was originally cast as brown. It has no chips or cracks and the only flaw I can find is on the back, upper right, which looks like a bubble that appeared when it was first molded.

I came up through the world of antiques over 20 years ago calling this kind of jewelry \"gutta percha.\" But I have seen this very brooch listedon and for sale in dealer\'s showcases and described as \"vulcanite.\" Authorities online andin print differ on how to tell vulcanite from gutta percha. Here\'s what I cantell you about this particular piece:

It\'s a warm cocoa brown.
It tastes slightlysalty.
If you rub it carefullyon unglazed tile, it leaves a brown streak.
It clicks when you hitit with your fingernail, like a harder material, which is why it\'s paradoxicalto me that it\'s classified as a rubber, since it behaves more like a plastic.

On the back is a brass or steel pinwith a period-correct c-ring catch; it is the original and extendsslightly the body of the brooch. The pin is tight, though it needs to be cleaned and polished, as it appears slightly rusty.

This sale is for one brooch only, but I have two separate sale listings for gutta percha brooches -- you can see what a nice pair they make in the last picture. Please check my sales to compare this one with the other brooch. Though they\'re both floral and predominantly oval, they are very different from each other and were probably also made by two different manufacturers using two different formulas for gutta percha or vulcanite.

Ships for free from apet-free, nonsmoking home.

Please pay within THREEDAYS OF sale CLOSE.

Watch my sales for Victorianand vintage jewelry, mostly collected in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. I\'vechanged the focus of my collecting and will disperse a good portion of mycollection in the next few months. Time for others to enjoy what I hunted downlaboriously at shows and shops during the pre-Internet days.