Was the mourning stickpin men's jewellery?

Yes, predominantly. Within the strict Victorian gendered dress code (see The Middle Classes and Mourning Jewellery in the Nineteenth Century) men wore very few pieces of jewellery during a period of mourning - a mourning stickpin on the lapel, a mourning ring (see Mourning Ring (Memorial Ring)), occasionally mourning cufflinks (see Mourning Cufflinks) and a pocket watch on a mourning chain. Women rarely wore the mourning stickpin, choosing the mourning brooch instead (see Mourning Brooch).

Where was the pin worn?

Three positions of wear are documented. The lapel of the frock coat or waistcoat - as a visible but discreet gesture. The knot of the tie - as a functional and decorative element that held the tie against the shirt. The hat - on mourning hats, as a slender hatband pin with a small mourning symbol. What survives today is above all the lapel variant, as a discreet remembrance lapel pin.

Are mourning stickpins still worn today?

Rarely - and usually not in the Victorian sense. Modern lapel pins are often generic (the symbol of a club, a profession or a commemoration) and are worn only on particular occasions - a funeral, a memorial service, a family anniversary. Popular are lapel pins with a birthstone, initials or a tiny mourning symbol. A sub-group of its own consists of modern fingerprint lapel pins with a micro-relief impression (see Fingerprint Pendant).

Mourning 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.

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