Antique Victorian openwork jet black mourning glass flower pin brooch

Czech Antique Victorian pierced openwork jet black mourning glass pin brooch. Wonderful individual black glass flower and leaf elements soldered onto a wirework frame. This is of museum quality and similar brooches made by Gebruder Feix can be found in The museum of glass and jewelry in Jablonec nad Nisou where there is a black costume jewelry exhibition. This looks to have a later replacement pin.

Origin: Northern Bohemia circa 1880's
Size: 53 x 25mm; 2.1" x 1" approx 

The idea of imitating precious jet started in the 19th century. Production of glass "jet" began in the Jablonec area in the 1860's. Originally, the pressed glass was bonded with resin on to a solid metal base. After 1877, Gebruder Feix patented the riveting of glass stones onto metal bases. However, the real revolution came in the 1880's when production began by tin-soldering glass stones with sealed metal tubes on to a wire base. The boom in black costume jewelry making in Czech continued until the turn of the century and by the 1920's had virtually gone out of fashion.