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  • IRISH MOURNING JEWELLERY AT CHISWICK AUCTIONS

    This image is of a c1905 mourning locket and a late 19th century citrine seal. From an Irish family it comes up at Chiswick Auctions jewellery sale in London on May 14.   The sale contains mourning jewellery from the Bligh and Brownlow families of Co. Meath.

    John Bligh, Fourth Earl of Darnley (1767-1831) was an Irish peer and cricketer who took part in 27 first-class cricket matches between 1789 and 1796.  His wife was Elizabeth Brownlow and they had seven children.  Mourning jewellery was popular in Georgian and Victorian times. Georgian jewellery featured skulls, coffins and other symbols of death. This changed in Victorian times to memory pieces often containing hair of the dead person.  The locket and seal here are estimated at £80-120.

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