My really cool birthday gift from hubby! (Jewelry)

I've been watching this antique, 1835 brooch in My eBay for a year now. I've always been fascinated by Halley's Comet since I was a child. My parents had an old set of encyclopedias, and I used to read random volumes. One entry was about the comet; the illustration showed the famous scene of Halley's Comet from the Bayeux Tapestry, which was made shortly after 1066 and portrays the Norman Conquest of England. Harold got himself crowned King of England despite having had made an oath to Duke William of Normandy that he wouldn't. Uh-oh. Comets were thought to portend bad things, and his subjects naturally interpreted the siting of the comet as a bad omen for their country. At any rate, old Harold got slaughtered at the battle of Hastings in October of that year...

So, due to that encyclopedia, I've been fascinated by both the Bayeux Tapestry AND Halley's Comet! Encyclopedia Britannica has a lot to answer for!

Anyhoooo...by the 1835 siting of Halley's Comet, folks apparently were cool with comets--enough to start making jewelry to commemorate them! This was also the case in 1910/11, the next siting (it appears every 75-76 years, the last being 1986, which I remember).

I told him about the pin tonight, and said that I couldn't justify spending the money right now--so he kindly offered to buy it for me for my gift!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330893677680...84.m1497.l2649

I do think it may be 15kt gold, as she says; it looks like it, and it's typical of the late Georgian period of jewelry.

Oh, and I found a cheapie one, which may be from 1910/11, but I suspect may be from 1835:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400535715107...84.m1497.l2649

She had it listed as a "meteorite" pin, but it looks like a comet pin to me. The 1835 ones had the more elaborate tails than the Edwardian ones, which often were just a stick pin "tail".

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I'm so excited!!!! I adore historical artifacts, and I love jewelry, so it's just perfect for me. I've also wanted a piece of 15kt gold Georgian jewelry with colored stores, but have never gotten around to obtaining such a thing.

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catspaw66 said:

1835 was the year Mark Twain was born, and he died in 1910. It would be wonderful to have an artifact that is from that period.

That is a beautiful brooch.

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