I’m not much of a fan of bar brooches, if I’m honest. But I know that those once-reviled Victorian silver bar brooches engraved with names have become popular once again, driven by the recent revival of girl’s names from that period. Still, not for me. At all.
However, one bar brooch kept gently waving at me from a cabinet in an antiques centre every time I passed it. Not only was it a bar brooch, but it was set with green stones, and green is unpopular with many people. But I rather liked the green here, it’s somehow like a lustrous apple. And the Medieval-esque, Arts & Crafts design picked out in gold wire and bezel mounts caught my eye. It looks like eyes too, or else a Jean Paul Gaultier bustier! I believe in synchronicity and by the third time it waved at me, it came home on my lapel for £40.
I’m always interested by the symbolic meaning of stones in jewellery. This green stone is chrysoprase, which is meant to ease anxiety and promote joy, optimism, prosperity and personal growth. All things we sorely need in today’s creaky world! The slight internal glow is because they are cabochon-shaped, and because they are set into open backs allowing the light to come through from the back.
There was also a maker’s mark on the back – M&EW in a lozenge. But no other hallmarks, even though it is made from silver with gold wire. A good look through maker’s mark books and websites revealed nothing. I’ve been messing around with AI over the past few months, to varying levels of success – or disaster. So I asked the 21st century ‘oracle’ (Ha!) ChatGPT about it….
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