Scottish jewellery
[6] Queen Victoria helped make the style become fashionable and she collected cairngorm stones on her walks on Beinn a' Bhùird near Balmoral Castle.
[citation needed] The materials traditionally used to create jewellery in Scotland are also found in the local area such as the agate mined from volcanic rocks north of Dundee.
[12] Stones such as agate, cairngorm citrine, jasper, malachite and granite were mined in the hills of Scotland and were popular in jewellery.
Agate was made popular in Scottish jewellery styles in the 19th century, popularised by Queen Victoria.
[15] They were added to the Scottish Crown in the 16th century, and embroidered on the costumes of Mary, Queen of Scots and Anne of Denmark.
[16] A daughter of Thomas Thomson, an apothecary to the Queen of Scots, wore a head dress set with 73 Scottish pearls all of equal size.
[18] In 1620 Thomas Menzies of Durn and Cults, Provost of Aberdeen, gave James VI and I a valuable pearl found in the Kellie burn, a tributary of the River Ythan.
[25] During the 1800s, a boom in the production of Scottish-style jewellery resulted due to the building of railways in Britain and increased access to travel.
As a result, the styles of Scottish jewellery started to be produced in England, specifically Birmingham and Exeter.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has many examples of Scottish jewellery from the later half of the 19th century, both pebble styles and Celtic designs.
[30] The modernist period of jewellery making began in Britain in the 1950s, inspired by the sleek, simple style of Scandinavian designs from earlier in the 20th century.
[31] According to the National Museum of Scotland, "British Modernist jewellery became defined by the use of textural, sculptural gold work, inspired by nature and often incorporating large gemstones".
[34] Despite the Honours of Scotland often being referred to as the "crown jewels", there are no pieces of pure jewellery in the usual sense in the set.
It was originally dated from approximately 1503, but was remodelled due to damage in 1540 by the Edinburgh goldsmith John Mosman.
[38] The Lorne Jewels, part of the Secondary Honours of Scotland, were gifted to the nation in the 1930s by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyle.
The jewels consist of a single necklace with a pendant and a locket that was made in London in the 1870s and was a gift from the 9th Duke of Argyll to his soon-to-be wife.
The locket hangs from the bottom of the pendant and is attached by 2 emeralds shaped into the likeness of bog myrtle.
[40] The two Mosman men, John and his son James, were members of a family of goldsmiths who worked in Edinburgh in the 16th century.
[45] Mosman was executed for his loyalty to Mary, Queen of Scots, after the siege of Edinburgh Castle in 1573.
[49] Although Charles Rennie Mackintosh was not a jeweller himself, he made a significant contribution to influencing the style of jewellery through his work as a designer.
Today, "Charles Rennie Mackintosh" jewellery is sold that are pieces made to replicate decorative work he did on furniture, buildings, and light fixtures.
