Marcasite is made from a form of iron pyrites. I remember my mum telling me it was iron when I was little - I found it difficult to match my knowledge of iron to the glittery marcasit. However, I associate it more with the later jewellery of the 30s and 40s. Mum had a 30s marcasite bracelet of which she was very fond - a repairer lost it! and curiously replaced it with one that had diamond chips on the shoulders - it was technically more valuable, but she never liked it! There were a few other marcasite items within the family, almost all brooches, 1940s and 1950s and I remember a leafy bracelet. I suppose this was another example of looking good in times of austerity - during the Napoleonic wars, early 1800s - it was fashionable for patriotic women to wear cut steel jewellery as they had, or wanted to be thought to have had, sold their "real"jewellery to support their country. Jean > To: bristol_and_somerset@rootsweb.com > From: jojeremiah@dsl.pipex.com > Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:48:59 +0000 > Subject: [B&S] Marcasite jewellery (was Alfred the Gorilla ...) > > On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:13:51 -0000, Susan Moziar <smoziar@rogers.com> > wrote: > > > It wasn't until that I actually read this article that I realized that I > > had seen this gorilla in the Bristol Zoo on a couple of occasions. What > > I > > remember most about him was that I was with my aunt who was wearing a > > broach with a coiled snake inside a red outer frame pinned to her suit. > > How words can trigger memories, Susan! > > Your mention of a brooch with a coiled snake reminded me of one my mother > had in the shape of a lizard and how fascinated I was by it, when I was a > child. > > The lizard brooch was made of marcasite and that was my first introduction > to the word marcasite. I don't think I've ever used the word since. I see > from a google search that marcasite jewellery was popular in Victorian > times and that it was also known as 'poor man's diamonds'. > > Josephine > -- > Josephine Jeremiah > www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRISTOL_AND_SOMERSET-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message