Mourning Cufflinks
Mourning cufflinks are discreet, soberly mounted cufflinks in black, onyx or matt gold which belonged in the nineteenth century to a gentleman's formal mourning toilette, and which live on today as a personalised remembrance set with an inscription, symbol or fingerprint.
Written by Dr. Helene Vasall
Mourning cufflinks belonged - together with the mourning stickpin (Mourning Stickpin) and the mourning ring (Mourning Ring (Memorial Ring)) - to the three-part formal mourning toilette of the bourgeois man of the nineteenth century. Unlike women's mourning jewellery (see Mourning Brooch, Mourning Necklace, Mourning Bracelet), the male mourning toilette was severely reduced and confined to a few very discreet pieces - which made mourning cufflinks a small but representative jewellery form. Today they survive as a personalisable remembrance set - an elegant, formal way of carrying a specific remembrance element into everyday life or to particular occasions.
Currently available
Occasions
Remembrance cufflinks are commissioned in several contexts:
- Funeral and memorial service - as a discreetly formal detail of a dark suit
- A wedding after the loss of a parent - as a worn keepsake that symbolically includes the deceased parent in the occasion
- Professional commemorations - at memorial services for colleagues or superiors, as a shared sign
- A family set for sons - identical or similar cufflinks for several male family members after the death of a father or grandfather
- An anniversary - as a deliberately worn, private keepsake
Personalisation
Four paths of personalisation dominate in modern remembrance cufflinks:
Engraving. On the reverse of the heads - the side that lies against the shirt when worn - initials, a date of death or a short motto are engraved. The engraving is visible only when the cufflink is removed (see Engraving and Inscriptions).
A relic setting. A technically demanding variant: a tiny hollow setting is integrated into the head of the cufflink, holding a fingerprint (as a micro-relief impression), a minute strand of hair or a microscopically small quantity of ashes.
A choice of symbol. Classical symbols - cross, anchor, weeping willow, angel, hourglass (see Hourglass, Angels and Putti) - are applied to the front as shallow engraving, niello inlay (see Niello (Black Inlay Technique)) or black-enamel inlay.
A personalised choice of stone. Instead of the classic onyx, the birthstone of the deceased person is used - black spinel, say, for a mourning context, or a discreet coloured stone as a personal keepsake.
Material
- Historical: onyx heads in gold mounts, black enamel on gold 750, jet (see Jet (Gagate)), garnet cabochons, black Tahitian pearls, cast silver heads with niello inlay
- Modern: sterling silver 925, gold 750/585, stainless steel, titanium; heads of onyx, black spinel, lapis lazuli, freshwater pearl or engraved solid metal
- Fastening: the toggle fastening as the modern standard variant, the chain fastening as the classically formal one
History
Cufflinks emerge as a distinct form in the late eighteenth century (see The Georgian Era (1714–1837)), after men's shirt fashion moves from ties and cords to fixed buttons and buttonholes. At first they are luxury objects of the aristocracy - gold with gemstone cabochons, often with a family crest or monogram.
In the first half of the nineteenth century cufflinks become a standard bourgeois item. With the rise of ritualised mourning fashion (see The Middle Classes and Mourning Jewellery in the Nineteenth Century), specific mourning variants appear from the 1840s onwards - onyx heads, black-enamel mounts, carved jet. In the 1860s to 1880s mourning cufflinks enjoy their heyday as a fixed element of the formal male mourning toilette.
With the Edwardian period (see The Edwardian Era (1901–1910/1914)) and the shift in fashion after 1918, mourning cufflinks - like the entire male mourning dress code - lose their significance. Cufflinks in general continue to be worn formally into the 1960s, then lose their everyday relevance and become purely festive and wedding wear. Today personalised remembrance cufflinks exist as a small, high-quality niche of the modern jewellery market.
Mourning cufflinks today
Three modern variants dominate:
Classically formal. Onyx heads in gold mounts with a toggle fastening - the classic mourning cufflink form. Popular with a dark suit for funerals and commemorations. Prices: €200–800.
Personalised with engraving. Gold heads with initials, a date of death or a family crest engraved inside or on the reverse. Frequently given as a gift to sons after the death of a father. Prices: €400–1,500.
With a relic setting. High-priced bespoke work with an inset fingerprint element, strand of hair or ash microcapsule. Only a few workshops worldwide make this form. Prices: €800–3,500.
Wear and care
Cufflinks are classically worn with a double-cuff shirt (the French cuff). They cannot be used with more modern button-cuff shirts - so when buying a set of remembrance cufflinks, the appropriate shirt style should be planned for as well.
Care instructions depend on the material:
- Gold mount with onyx: occasional cleaning with a jewellery cloth, store protected from contact with perspiration
- Silver: regular cleaning against tarnish
- Antique jet heads: keep dry only, keep out of water, no ultrasonic cleaning
Since cufflinks are worn as a pair, the loss of a single link is particularly galling - for valuable pieces, separate storage in a case with well-sealed individual compartments is advisable. For modern pieces with a relic setting (fingerprint, ashes) it is additionally sensible to store them in a magnetic-clasp case, so that the closure mechanism remains protected.
Questions about this entry
- Which materials are typical of mourning cufflinks?
Historically: onyx, jet (see Jet (Gagate)), black enamel on gold (see Black Enamel (Schwarzemail)), black Tahitian pearl, garnet cabochons. The heads are usually round, oval or square and unobtrusive in size (10–18 mm). Matt black and muted anthracite dominate. Lustre, pale colours and visible diamonds were excluded by Victorian mourning etiquette.
- What fastening mechanisms were there?
Three mechanisms dominate. The chain fastening - two heads joined by a short gold chain, one of which is pushed through the buttonhole. Classic, stable, somewhat awkward to put on. The toggle fastening - a hinged bar on the reverse, more modern and easier to handle. The post fastening - a thin post with a screw nut, very formal and rare in the nineteenth century. Modern pieces generally use the toggle fastening.
- Can personalised remembrance cufflinks be made today?
Yes. Specialised workshops offer several paths of personalisation. Engraving on the reverse of the heads (initials, date of death, a short motto). A relic setting with an inset fingerprint element or a microscopically small ash capsule. A choice of symbol in the design of the front (cross, anchor, weeping willow, angel's wing). The heads are small, so the personalisation must be visually restrained - which is part of their elegance.
Further reading
- Mourning Dress - A Costume and Social History - Lou Taylor (1983)
- Sentimental Jewellery - Shire Library - Ann Louise Luthi (2007)
- Whitby Jet through the Years - Helen Muller (1985)
Related entries
- Core conceptsMourning Jewellery
Mourning jewellery is body adornment that signals a death, binds the memory of a deceased person, or does both at once - since the 17th century a jewellery type in its own right, with a material language of its own.
- Core conceptsMemorial Jewellery
Memorial jewellery is jewellery that deliberately binds itself to one particular person - through an inscription, a photograph, hair, ashes or, the defining medium today, a digitally captured fingerprint.
- Jewellery formsMourning Stickpin
The mourning stickpin is a small pin worn on the lapel or at the knot of a tie which belonged in the nineteenth century to a gentleman's formal mourning toilette - today a discreet remembrance lapel pin with a symbol, initials or a fingerprint element.
- Jewellery formsMourning Ring (Memorial Ring)
A mourning ring - also called a memorial ring - is a finger ring that carries the memory of a deceased person, usually in the form of an inscription, an image, a lock of hair or a fingerprint.
- Jewellery formsMourning Brooch
The mourning brooch is the central women's jewellery form of Victorian mourning wear - a brooch, often the size of a palm, pinned to dress, collar or veil, and today an almost exclusively historical field of collecting.
- MaterialsWhitby Jet
Whitby jet is jet from the North English coastal town of Whitby - by far the most important deposit worldwide in the 19th century and the gold standard of Victorian mourning jewellery.
- PeriodsThe Victorian Era (1837–1901)
The Victorian era is the heyday of mourning jewellery - a period of more than sixty years in which court mourning codes, industrial mass production, new materials (jet, vulcanite, Berlin iron) and Queen Victoria's personal widowhood combined to produce a system of public and private mourning visibility without precedent in European history.
- People & cultural historyThe Middle Classes and Mourning Jewellery in the Nineteenth Century
The rising middle classes of the nineteenth century were the principal bearers and principal consumers of the era's mourning and memorial jewellery - a social stratum that took over the aristocratic model of court mourning, gave it symbols and materials of its own, and in the course of industrialisation turned it into a mass market.
- People & cultural historyMourning Rituals in the German-Speaking World
German-speaking mourning rituals differ perceptibly from the English court-mourning tradition - shaped by confessional division (Catholic / Protestant), middle-class sensibility, Biedermeier domesticity and an independent culture of memorial jewellery which carried different emphases in Vienna, Berlin and Munich according to region.