What to take home: Victorian name brooches

I spied these gorgeous (and reasonably priced) Victorian silver name brooches on a recent excursion to Grays Antiques in Mayfair. You can find them at Spectrum (stand 371-372), but unless you fancy being called Gertrude, Gertie or Gladys, you may be hard-pushed to find your actual name. But you never know – and with old-fashioned names like Eliza and Violet making a big come-back, they are perfect gifts for babies. In fact, many of the highly decorative brooches were originally for babies and sweethearts, whilst the plainer styles belonged to maids and servants. Prices range from £20 to £45.

Spectrum
Stand 371-372
Tel: 020 7629 3501
Grays Antiques
58 Davies Street
London W1
Tel. 020 7629 7034

Click here for a Wee Birdy map.

Nearest tube: Bond Street

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 10am – 6pm

Comments

[Gervy]

I think I could stomach being called Gladys, for one of those pretty badges.

My Nan is Gladys :-)

[Caroline Henney]

Victorian and Later name pins and brooches are really delightful! As well as the silver kind you can get them in Rolled Gold Wires,Mother of Pearl, Enamel,Carved Bone,Reverse Carved Lucite and Carved Whitby Jet! It might amuse your blog fans to know that some of the rarest 19th Century carved jet pins are the ones with misspelt names - the people who carved these names were often illiterate and copied from a blackboard. Occasionally they managed to transpose the letters and brooches carved with misspelt names are rarer and a real collectable! I always try to keep a decent stock of name brooches in my online store www.bagthejewels.co.uk and am happy to try to source names if people email me with their requirements. Thanks for alerting people to the delights of name brooches and pins. Love your stuff wee birdy! Caroline.

[Angel Eden]

I have one of these brooches in my jewellery box, I think it came from my husband's mother. It is one with a shield shape in the middle, a bit like the ones in your picture on the right. It doesn't have a name so I could get mine engraved on it.