Silver in Mourning Jewellery
In the 19th century silver was the popular mourning carrier material of the bourgeois middle class and is today the most widespread material of modern memorial jewellery - cheaper than gold, more precise to engrave than stainless steel and with a long symbolic tradition as a material of purity and of memento mori iconography.
Written by Dr. Helene Vasall
Silver is the second most important carrier material of mourning and memorial jewellery after gold. While gold was the material of the upper stratum, silver established itself in the 19th century as the standard material of the bourgeois middle class - cheaper than gold, easy to engrave and with a symbolic charge of its own as the material of the moon, of purity and of transience. In the modern memorial jewellery market silver is by far the most frequent material, above all in the ash pendant and fingerprint jewellery segments.
Material and alloys
Like gold, pure silver is too soft for most jewellery applications. The most important alloys:
- Sterling silver 925 - international standard alloy, 92.5% silver with 7.5% copper; robust, easy to work, recognised worldwide
- 800 silver - historical German alloy, from 1888 with the Reich hallmark; somewhat harder, darker patina behaviour
- 950 silver (premier titre) - French alloy with a higher silver content; softer, high-quality appearance
- Argentium 935 / 960 - modern alloys with a germanium content; tarnishes considerably less, higher price
- 999 fine silver - for pieces not subject to mechanical load; very soft, highest fineness
Tarnishing behaviour is a central characteristic of silver. Hydrogen sulphide in the air leads to the formation of a silver sulphide layer that makes the piece appear dark grey to black. In the mourning context this property was historically even valued - blackened silver conformed to the black dress code and was considered appropriate for mourning toilette.
Historical epochs
Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Silver plays an important role in the burial context (see Funerary Jewellery) - as a grave good, as a material for religious pendants and reliquaries. In Germanic and Celtic graves silver even dominates over gold.
Renaissance and Baroque (see Baroque (c. 1600–1750)). Silver becomes the carrier material for memento mori jewellery (see Memento mori) - skull rings in silver, Stuart crystal pendants with silver mounts (see Tudor Mourning and Stuart Bequest Rings). The symbolic charge of moon, purity, death becomes established in this epoch.
Georgian (1714–1837). Silver mourning jewellery dominates the bourgeois middle class; in this period a distinct Birmingham and Sheffield industry for inexpensive silver mourning jewellery arises (see The Georgian Era (1714–1837)).
Victorian (1837–1901). Peak phase of silver mourning jewellery. With the rise of ritualised mourning (see The Middle Classes and Mourning Jewellery in the Nineteenth Century) silver pieces are produced in vast numbers - mourning rings, mourning lockets (see Mourning Locket), mourning brooches, mourning cufflinks. Birmingham and Pforzheim become European centres of mass production.
Edwardian and early 20th century. Silver loses importance with the decline of ritualised mourning fashion, but remains present - above all in vernacular and religious contexts.
Modern (from 1990). Through the spread of ash and fingerprint jewellery, silver becomes the dominant material of the modern memorial jewellery segment (see Ash Pendant, Fingerprint Pendant).
Goldsmithing techniques in silver mourning jewellery
Silver supports several specific techniques:
Engraving. Very well engravable, high precision of line, clearly visible contrast after blackening of the lines (see Engraving and Inscriptions). A particular variant is hatching engraving, in which the entire surface carries linear engraved hatching - a typical Victorian mourning brooch aesthetic.
Niello inlay. A black sulphur-silver-copper alloy is laid into engraved lines, fired and polished - the lines appear deep black on a silver ground (see Niello (Black Inlay Technique)). A specific mourning technique, above all in Russian and South German workshops of the 19th century.
Oxidation (deliberately blackened). Silver is intentionally treated with sulphur compounds in order to produce an even dark grey or black surface. In multi-layered jewellery the raised areas are subsequently polished, which yields a light-dark contrast.
Enamel on silver. Black enamel flux can be applied to silver (see Black Enamel (Schwarzemail)), but requires a different firing temperature than on gold. Frequent in vernacular mourning brooches of the 19th century.
Hollow setting. Silver hollow settings with a rock crystal viewing window hold locks of hair, miniature portraits or (in modern practice) ash capsules - analogous to the gold hollow setting, but cheaper.
Symbolism
In the mourning context silver carries a symbolic charge of its own:
- Moon - counterpart to the golden sun, symbol of the feminine, contemplative, nocturnal sphere. Frequent in Victorian crescent-moon brooch symbolism (see Hourglass).
- Purity - symbolically charged through its bright, white colour and its use in liturgical vessels
- Transience - made visible through tarnishing, regarded in the memento mori context (see Memento mori) as a deliberately sought property (“as life fades, so does beauty”)
- Memento mori - the dominant material in the black-oxidised memento mori rings of the 17th and 18th centuries
Silver in the modern memorial market
In the current memorial jewellery market silver is the material of first choice for most customers:
Price advantage. A silver pendant typically costs 30–50% less than a comparable gold pendant - relevant above all for family sets, in which several pieces are commissioned at the same time.
Engraving quality. Silver can be engraved more precisely than stainless steel or titanium, which becomes clearly visible in small-format personalisations (initials, date of death, short inscriptions).
Suitability for relic settings. Silver offers stable hollow settings for ash capsules, fingerprint plaques and hair inlays. The laser-threaded closure technique works reliably on silver.
Visual variety. Silver can be polished bright, matted, blackened or partially oxidised - which opens up a broad design range, from high-gloss modern pieces to deliberately patinated, historicising designs.
Drawback: care requirement. Anyone who does not want regular cleaning against tarnishing should switch to stainless steel, titanium or gold. With ash and fingerprint jewellery that is worn permanently in everyday life, tarnishing is usually not a problem - the constant skin contact largely prevents sulphide formation.
Questions about this entry
- Which silver alloy is standard?
Sterling silver 925 - 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper - is the international standard alloy of the modern jewellery market. Historically one also finds 800 (German Reich hallmark from 1888) and 950 (French premier titre) - the exact alloy can be read from the hallmark on the piece. 999 fine silver is used only for pieces not subject to mechanical load (pendants, capsules), as it is too soft for ring bands or spring clasps.
- Why does silver tarnish and how is it protected?
Silver reacts with sulphur-bearing substances in the air (hydrogen sulphide) to form silver sulphide, which builds a dark grey to black patina. The reaction is accelerated by perspiration, lotions, perfume and some foods (eggs, mustard). Protection: airtight storage in anti-tarnish bags, regular wear (skin contact removes early tarnish layers), and occasional cleaning with a silver polishing cloth or dip bath. With pieces that have a black enamel inlay (see Black Enamel (Schwarzemail)) or niello inlay (see Niello (Black Inlay Technique)) caution is required - dip baths can dissolve the enamel.
- Is silver suitable for ashes and fingerprint jewellery?
Yes, very much so. Silver can be engraved more precisely than stainless steel, costs less than gold and is more flexible to work. For ash pendants (see Ash Pendant) silver offers stable hollow settings with a laser-threaded closure; for fingerprint jewellery (see Fingerprint Pendant) silver permits fine micro-relief impressions. Drawback: regular care against tarnishing. Anyone who does not want that should switch to gold or stainless steel.
Further reading
- Silber - Materialien der Goldschmiedekunst - Erhard Brepohl (2005)
- Sentimental Jewellery - Shire Library - Ann Louise Luthi (2007)
- Mourning Dress - A Costume and Social History - Lou Taylor (1983)
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.
- Core conceptsSentimental Jewellery
Sentimental jewellery is the jewellery of the age of sensibility between 1760 and 1840 - pieces in which love, friendship and grief share the same imagery, and in which hair, miniature painting and personal inscriptions first become the load-bearing form.
- MaterialsGold in Mourning Jewellery
Gold is historically the most dominant carrier material of mourning and memorial jewellery - usually in muted alloys, often contrasted with black enamel or as a restrained gold setting around a dark principal material such as jet, onyx or a plait of hair.
- MaterialsBlack Enamel (Schwarzemail)
Black enamel is a glass frit coloured with manganese oxide and fused in thin layers onto gold or silver - the most expensive variant of Victorian mourning jewellery and the preferred carrier ground for inscriptions.
- Techniques & craftNiello (Black Inlay Technique)
Niello is an ancient jewellery-finishing technique in which engraved lines on silver or gold are filled with a black sulphur-metal alloy - the result is a deep dark line drawing on a light ground, used in memento mori jewellery and in Victorian mourning jewellery as a cheaper alternative to black enamel.
- Techniques & craftEngraving and Inscriptions
Engraving is the oldest personalisation technique in memorial jewellery - from the Baroque memento mori ring to modern laser micro-engraving, which today inscribes initials, dates of death and even photographed handwriting into metal.
- Core conceptsMemento mori
Memento mori is the Christian-Stoic exhortation to be mindful of one's own death - and at the same time the iconographic soil from which European mourning jewellery of the 17th century grew.
- 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 Locket
The mourning locket is a pendant worn on a neck chain with an interior compartment - a concealed carrier of hair, photograph or inscription that keeps the memento close to the body and has been, from the eighteenth century to the present, the most important private form of 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.