What Is Mourning Jewelry: History, Types, and Modern Revival

Mourning jewelry represents one of history’s most intimate expressions of grief, allowing people to carry memories of departed loved ones in tangible form. These personal pieces have evolved over centuries, reflecting changing attitudes toward death and remembrance while providing comfort to those experiencing loss.

Understanding Mourning Jewelry

Mourning jewelry encompasses ornamental pieces specifically created to commemorate deceased loved ones, serving both as personal memorials and public declarations of grief. These distinctive items emerged as part of formal mourning traditions, particularly prominent from the 16th through early 20th centuries, helping individuals maintain connections with the departed.

• Mourning jewelry served dual purposes – as personal mementos helping process grief and as social signals communicating one’s mourning status to society at a time when death rituals were highly codified.
• Historical mourning pieces often contained physical remnants of the deceased, most commonly locks of hair arranged in intricate designs under glass or crystal. This practice made these pieces especially intimate and valued.
• Common materials included jet (fossilized wood with a deep black appearance), black onyx, black enamel on metal, pearls (representing tears), and occasionally diamonds or amethysts for later stages of mourning.
• Queen Victoria’s extended mourning for Prince Albert after his death in 1861 established mourning jewelry standards that influenced design and etiquette for decades, leading to the height of mourning jewelry production.
• Modern interpretations include cremation jewelry containing ashes, fingerprint-engraved pieces, and memorial diamonds created from carbon extracted from cremated remains – continuing the tradition while adapting to contemporary preferences.

While formal mourning practices have largely disappeared from contemporary society, the desire to honor loved ones through wearable mementos continues, adapting to modern sensibilities while preserving the comfort that comes from keeping cherished memories close to our hearts.

History and Origins of Mourning Jewelry

The practice of wearing jewelry to commemorate the dead traces back centuries, evolving from simple tokens into elaborate customs before eventually shifting to more private expressions of grief. While associated with the Victorian era, mourning jewelry’s history is much longer, reflecting changing attitudes toward death across different periods.

• Memento mori (“remember you must die”) jewelry appeared in the 16th century, featuring skulls, coffins, and hourglasses as spiritual reminders of mortality rather than memorials to specific individuals. These pieces served religious purposes, reminding wearers to prepare their souls for judgment.
• The earliest documented mourning rings date to medieval times, with wills recording bequests of rings to funeral attendees. King Henry VIII’s daughter Mary Tudor left money in her will (1558) for memorial rings to be distributed at her funeral.
• Stuart-era mourning jewelry (17th century) often featured black and white enamel with inscriptions of names and death dates. White enamel designated the death of an unmarried person or child, while black represented married individuals.
• Georgian mourning jewelry (1714-1830) became more sentimental, introducing miniature scenes painted on ivory, depicting weeping willows, urns, or mourning figures beside tombs. This period saw the first significant use of hair work in mourning pieces.
• Victorian mourning jewelry (1837-1901) represented the apex of the tradition, with distinct phases matching mourning periods. Early Victorian pieces featured romantic, sentimental symbolism, while later pieces became more standardized as production increased to meet demand.
• Post-World War I, elaborate mourning customs declined as the massive casualties made prolonged formal mourning impractical. By the 1930s, the tradition had largely faded from mainstream practice.

Mourning jewelry chronicles humanity’s evolving relationship with death and remembrance. From religious reminders of mortality to highly personal mementos, these pieces reflect how societies have processed grief and maintained connections with those who have passed, adapting to social changes while serving the fundamental human need to remember.

Popular Types of Mourning Jewelry

Mourning jewelry encompasses various forms and styles that evolved across different periods, each with distinct characteristics and purposes. While the category is broad, several key types emerged as particularly significant, reflecting both artistic trends and changing attitudes toward death and remembrance over time.

• Hair jewelry represents perhaps the most intimate type, containing actual hair from the deceased person. Victorian craftspeople developed sophisticated techniques for weaving, braiding, and arranging hair into intricate designs, including bracelets, watch chains, brooches, and pendants. Some elaborate pieces featured hair woven into landscape scenes or floral arrangements.
• Memento mori jewelry, popular before and during the Georgian era, featured explicit symbols of death like skulls, coffins, and crossbones. These pieces served as philosophical reminders of mortality rather than memorials to specific individuals, often incorporating mottos like “Prepare to follow” or “As I am now, so you shall be.”
• Portrait jewelry included miniature paintings or, later, photographs of the deceased. Early versions featured watercolor on ivory under crystal, while daguerreotypes and other photographic techniques were incorporated from the 1840s onward. These pieces provided visual remembrance before photography became commonplace.
• Symbolic mourning jewelry used imagery like weeping willows, broken columns, urns, angels, and forget-me-not flowers to represent grief and remembrance. Each symbol had specific meanings: urns represented the body, willows symbolized sorrow, and anchors signified hope.
• Jet and black material jewelry became strongly associated with mourning during the Victorian era. Whitby jet from Yorkshire, England was especially prized for its lightweight, warm-to-the-touch qualities and deep black color. Alternatives included black onyx, black glass (“French jet”), vulcanite, and black enamel on metal.
• Mourning rings were among the earliest and most enduring forms, often distributed at funerals as remembrances. These typically featured inscriptions with the deceased’s name, death date, and age, sometimes accompanied by short mottos or biblical references.

Throughout history, these diverse forms of mourning jewelry provided tangible connections to loved ones who had passed away. While styles changed dramatically over time, the underlying purpose remained constant: to preserve memory and provide comfort to the bereaved through wearable remembrances.

Materials Commonly Used in Mourning Jewelry

The materials used in mourning jewelry were carefully selected for their symbolic significance, appropriate appearance, and practical qualities. The somber nature of these pieces demanded specific materials that conveyed respect and grief while remaining durable enough for regular wear during lengthy mourning periods.

• Jet, a fossilized wood material found primarily in Whitby, England, became the quintessential Victorian mourning material. Its naturally deep black color, lightweight feel, warm touch, and ability to take a high polish made it ideal for mourning pieces. Queen Victoria’s preference for Whitby jet after Prince Albert’s death created enormous demand that supported an entire industry of jet carvers in Yorkshire.
• Hair from the deceased represented the most personal material used in mourning jewelry. Unlike other remains, hair doesn’t decompose, symbolizing the eternal nature of the soul. Skilled artisans woven, braided, and arranged hair into intricate designs, sometimes palette-worked into miniature landscapes or floral scenes, or simply placed under crystal in lockets and rings.
• Black enamel applied to gold or silver settings created striking contrast and the appropriately somber appearance required for deep mourning. For unmarried individuals and children, white enamel was used instead. Later stages of mourning might incorporate purple, gray, or blue enamel as mourning restrictions eased.
• Black onyx served as a more affordable alternative to jet, although true mourning connoisseurs could easily distinguish between them. Other black stones included black tourmaline and obsidian, though these were less common in formal mourning pieces.
• Gold and silver formed the settings for many mourning pieces, with gold often reserved for more expensive items. During early Victorian times, high-carat yellow gold was common, while later pieces often featured lower-carat gold that was less expensive as demand for mourning jewelry increased.
• Alternative materials emerged as demand for mourning jewelry outpaced supply of jet and precious metals. These included vulcanite (hardened rubber), gutta-percha (natural latex), black glass (“French jet”), bog oak, and Berlin iron (popular during the Napoleonic Wars when citizens donated gold jewelry to fund war efforts).

The materials chosen for mourning jewelry balanced symbolism, appearance, durability, and affordability. As mourning customs evolved and spread beyond the aristocracy to the middle classes, more economical materials allowed wider participation in these memorial traditions while maintaining the dignified appearance appropriate for commemorating the dead.

Mourning Jewelry Symbols and Their Meanings

Mourning jewelry utilized a rich visual language of symbols that would have been immediately recognizable to people of the era. These symbols conveyed specific messages about death, grief, and remembrance, allowing pieces to communicate complex emotional and spiritual concepts through design elements.

• Weeping willow trees appeared frequently in mourning jewelry, their drooping branches symbolizing the tears and ongoing grief of the living. Often shown alongside graves or urns, these trees represented perpetual mourning and the shadow of death.
• Urns derived from classical antiquity represented the bodily remains of the deceased. Draped urns suggested the veil between life and death, while a flame atop an urn symbolized eternal life or the enduring memory of the departed.
• Angels and cherubs signified divine messengers guiding the soul to heaven. Angels were often depicted gesturing upward toward heaven or bending in grief over tombs, visually connecting earthly sorrow with heavenly comfort.
• Anchor symbols represented hope and steadfastness amid grief, often interpreted through the Christian lens as hope in eternal salvation. Anchors frequently appeared in later stages of mourning when expressions of hope became more appropriate.
• Forget-me-not flowers, with their self-explanatory name, symbolized remembrance and enduring memory. These and other flowers like roses (love), lilies (purity), and poppies (eternal sleep) carried specific meaning in the Victorian “language of flowers.”
• Hair arrangements in mourning jewelry often took symbolic forms – braided hair represented interconnected lives, while circular arrangements symbolized eternity and unending love. Some designs incorporated seed pearls (representing tears) alongside hair work.
• Butterflies symbolized the soul and resurrection, drawing on the creature’s transformation from caterpillar to winged form as a metaphor for the soul’s journey after death. Similarly, birds often represented the soul’s flight to heaven.
• Certain phrases appeared regularly in inscribed pieces: “In Memory Of,” “Not Lost But Gone Before,” “Until We Meet Again,” and biblical passages related to resurrection and eternal life. These textual elements complemented visual symbolism.

The symbolic language of mourning jewelry created a shared vocabulary for expressing grief in an era when death was both more visible and more bound by social convention. Understanding these symbols provides insight not just into historical mourning practices but into how people conceptualized death, memory, and the connection between the living and the dead.

Famous Mourning Jewelry Pieces

Throughout history, certain pieces of mourning jewelry have achieved fame due to their royal or noble provenance, exceptional craftsmanship, or association with historical figures. These notable examples offer insights into how the wealthy and powerful commemorated their dead and set trends that influenced mourning jewelry more broadly.

• Queen Victoria’s mourning jewelry collection remains the most famous example, significantly influencing 19th-century mourning customs. After Prince Albert’s death in 1861, she commissioned numerous pieces, including a bracelet containing his hair and a remarkable brooch featuring his portrait. Her locket with Albert’s photograph and lock of hair rarely left her person for the remaining forty years of her life.
• Mary, Queen of Scots owned a famous mourning watch made in the shape of a skull, dating from the 1570s. This macabre timepiece reminded her of mortality while featuring symbols of resurrection, reflecting both memento mori traditions and Christian hope.
• The “Fetter Lane” jewel, created to commemorate Elizabeth I, combines rich symbolism with extraordinary craftsmanship. This elaborate pendant features enameling and gemstones in a design celebrating the queen’s life rather than mourning her death, showing how memorial pieces could be celebratory.
• Abraham Lincoln mourning jewelry proliferated after his assassination in 1865, with thousands of commemorative pieces produced commercially for public consumption rather than personal bereavement. These mass-produced items marked a shift toward mourning jewelry as political and historical commemoration.
• Marie Antoinette’s hair jewelry gained posthumous fame after her execution during the French Revolution. Locks of her hair, authenticated through provenance, were incorporated into memorial jewelry by royalist supporters, combining personal mourning with political symbolism.
• The “Memento Mori” ring in the Victoria and Albert Museum, dating from the 17th century, features an elaborate enameled skeleton wrapped around the band – a superior example of early memento mori jewelry before the shift toward more sentimental Victorian styles.
• Prince Albert’s own mourning rings, created after the death of his father Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, demonstrated how men’s mourning jewelry often took simpler forms than women’s, typically limited to rings, watch fobs, and stick pins.

These famous examples showcase how mourning jewelry reflected both personal grief and social status. Royal and aristocratic mourning pieces set fashions that were adapted and simplified for middle-class budgets, allowing mourning jewelry traditions to spread beyond elite circles while maintaining the essential connection between memory, grief, and wearable commemoration.

Collecting Antique Mourning Jewelry

Collecting antique mourning jewelry has grown in popularity among those fascinated by its historical significance, craftsmanship, and emotional resonance. These pieces offer tangible connections to past mourning practices and represent important artifacts of social history, though collectors should approach this specialized field with knowledge and sensitivity.

• Authenticity remains the primary concern when collecting mourning jewelry, as reproductions and altered pieces abound. Genuine Victorian hair jewelry has a distinctly fine appearance difficult to replicate, while jet should feel warm and lightweight compared to glass imitations. Period-appropriate construction techniques, materials, and hallmarks help confirm authenticity.
• Hair work presents special considerations for collectors, as these intensely personal pieces contain human remains. Some collectors prefer pieces where the hair is artistically arranged rather than simply preserved, appreciating the incredible skill involved in palette-worked hair landscapes or intricate braided designs.
• Price ranges vary dramatically based on age, materials, craftsmanship, condition, and provenance. Simple Victorian hair brooches might sell for $100-300, while elaborate high-quality pieces with documented provenance can command $1,000-5,000 or more. Royal or famous person associations increase value substantially.
• Condition issues commonly encountered include jet crazing (fine cracks), broken or missing hair, tarnished metal components, and damaged enamel. While some restoration is acceptable, extensively restored pieces command lower prices, and collectors generally prefer original condition with appropriate patina.
• Storage and display require careful consideration due to the delicate nature of many mourning pieces. Hair work should be protected from sunlight to prevent fading, while jet can crack if subjected to sudden temperature changes. Acid-free materials and consistent humidity help preserve these sensitive items.
• Major museum collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, offer excellent references for collectors seeking to educate themselves about period-appropriate styles, materials, and construction techniques.
• Ethical considerations arise when collecting items containing human remains. Many collectors approach these pieces with respect, viewing themselves as temporary caretakers of historical artifacts that connect to someone’s genuine grief and remembrance.

For serious collectors, mourning jewelry offers a fascinating window into historical attitudes toward death, remembrance, and material culture. Beyond mere monetary value, these pieces carry emotional and historical significance that connects modern collectors to the universal human experience of loss and remembrance across generations.

Contemporary Approaches to Traditional Mourning Jewelry

While traditional Victorian mourning jewelry largely disappeared by the mid-20th century, recent decades have seen renewed interest in memorial jewelry concepts. Today’s interpretations maintain the essence of remembrance while adapting to contemporary aesthetics and changing attitudes toward death and grief.

• Cremation jewelry represents the most direct modern parallel to Victorian hair jewelry, containing small amounts of cremated remains in specially designed pendants, rings, or bracelets. These pieces range from obviously memorial in nature to subtle designs that don’t announce their purpose to observers.
• Memorial diamonds, created by extracting carbon from cremated remains or hair and subjecting it to the same conditions that form natural diamonds, offer a modern scientific approach to transformation of remains into wearable remembrances – a concept Victorian mourners would have understood well.
• Fingerprint jewelry captures the unique patterns of a loved one’s fingerprint in metal, creating highly personalized memorial pieces. Advanced laser engraving allows these impressions to be reproduced with remarkable detail in rings, pendants, and bracelets.
• Digital memorial jewelry incorporates QR codes or NFC technology linking to online memorial pages, photographs, or videos of the deceased. These high-tech interpretations expand the concept of memory beyond physical remains to include digital legacies.
• Contemporary artists and jewelers creating mourning-inspired pieces often reference historical forms while using modern materials and designs. Some explicitly evoke Victorian aesthetics, while others reinterpret mourning themes through contemporary artistic expressions.
• Personalization has become central to modern memorial jewelry, with custom engravings, birthstones, and individualized designs reflecting the deceased’s personality rather than conforming to standardized mourning symbols. This shift mirrors broader cultural moves toward personalized funeral practices.
• Ethical sourcing concerns have influenced modern memorial jewelry, with many customers seeking sustainable materials and transparent production methods. This contrasts with historical mourning jewelry, where ecological and ethical considerations rarely factored into production.

Today’s memorial jewelry continues the fundamental human desire to maintain physical connections with those we’ve lost, though expressed through contemporary aesthetics and technologies. While lacking the rigid social conventions that governed Victorian mourning jewelry, modern pieces serve the same essential purpose: providing tangible comfort and ongoing connection to loved ones who have passed away.

How to Style and Wear Mourning Jewelry

Incorporating historical or contemporary mourning jewelry into modern wardrobes allows for meaningful personal expression while honoring loved ones. Today’s approach is less bound by social convention than in Victorian times, offering freedom to wear these pieces in individually meaningful ways.

• Antique mourning jewelry can be worn as unique statement pieces, appreciated both for their craftsmanship and historical significance. Many collectors wear these pieces regardless of their original mourning associations, though with respect for their origins.
• Modern memorial jewelry tends toward subtle designs that don’t necessarily announce their purpose to observers. This reflects contemporary preferences for more private grief expressions compared to the public mourning customs of the Victorian era.
• Personal significance should guide wearing choices rather than external rules. Some prefer wearing memorial pieces daily as constant remembrances, while others reserve them for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, or memorial services for the deceased.
• Styling considerations depend on the piece itself – jet and black mourning jewelry pairs naturally with contemporary fashion’s frequent use of black, while hair jewelry and more obviously historical pieces might be incorporated as focal points with simpler modern attire.
• Conversation around these pieces remains a personal choice. Some wearers appreciate opportunities to share memories of their loved one when asked about an unusual piece of jewelry, while others prefer to keep the memorial aspect private.
• Care considerations for antique mourning jewelry include avoiding water exposure (particularly for hair work), removing pieces before applying perfume or cosmetics, and storing them properly between wearings to prevent damage to these often fragile historical items.
• Contemporary interpretations like cremation jewelry allow for more versatile wearing options, with designs ranging from obviously memorial pieces to subtle containers that blend with everyday jewelry styles.

Wearing mourning or memorial jewelry today represents a personal choice rather than a social obligation. Free from the rigid etiquette that once governed mourning dress, modern wearers can incorporate these meaningful pieces in ways that provide personal comfort and honor connections to loved ones who have passed, creating their own traditions of remembrance through jewelry.

Creating Your Own Mourning Jewelry

For those seeking a personal connection to historical mourning traditions or wanting to commemorate a loved one through jewelry, creating custom memorial pieces offers a meaningful option. Modern approaches blend historical inspirations with contemporary techniques and personal significance.

• Working with specialized jewelers who understand memorial traditions provides the best results for custom pieces. Some jewelers specialize in contemporary mourning-inspired work, offering designs that reference historical styles while incorporating modern aesthetics.
• Incorporation of personal elements might include cremated remains, fingerprints, handwriting samples, or other connections to the deceased. Many jewelers offer specialized services to encapsulate small amounts of ashes or create impressions from fingerprints provided by funeral homes.
• Design considerations should balance personal meaning with wearability. While Victorian mourning jewelry was meant to be obviously commemorative, modern pieces often take subtler approaches that hold significance for the wearer without announcing their purpose to others.
• Symbolism can be personalized beyond traditional mourning motifs. Consider elements that represented the deceased’s personality, interests, or your relationship – perhaps birthstones, favorite colors, or symbols of shared experiences rather than conventional mourning imagery.
• Material choices extend beyond traditional black mourning materials. While some still prefer jet or onyx for their historical connections, others incorporate precious metals and colorful gemstones that celebrate the deceased’s life rather than focusing solely on loss.
• Restoration of family heirlooms sometimes offers an alternative to creating new pieces. Vintage lockets can be repurposed to hold photographs or small mementos, while antique settings can be modified to hold modern memorial elements like fingerprint engravings.
• Digital integration represents a thoroughly modern approach, with some memorial jewelry incorporating QR codes linking to online memorials or NFC technology that connects to digital photographs and memories when scanned with a smartphone.

Creating personal memorial jewelry continues a centuries-old tradition of commemorating loved ones through wearable remembrances. While methods and aesthetics have evolved, the fundamental purpose remains constant: maintaining tangible connections to those we’ve lost through objects that provide comfort and preserve memory across time.

Conclusion

Mourning jewelry stands as a testament to humanity’s enduring desire to maintain connections with loved ones beyond death. From elaborate Victorian hair work to contemporary cremation jewelry, these pieces reflect how societies process grief while providing tangible comfort to the bereaved. Though formal mourning customs have largely disappeared, the impulse to commemorate and remember through meaningful objects continues.

Modern memorial jewelry may look different from its historical counterparts, but it serves the same fundamental purpose: keeping memories close at hand. Whether through antique pieces valued for their history and craftsmanship or personalized contemporary designs, mourning jewelry continues to offer a physical connection to those we’ve lost, helping us honor their memory and process our grief in tangible, wearable form.