A cut steel early Victorian butterfly pin. Circa 1840.
Cut steel jewelry first appeared in England in the 1760s and was later made in France, Holland and other smaller European centers and remained popular until the late nineteenth century. It is made from steel cut as studs or faceted heads and densely set to glimmer in candlelight. The heads were set by riveting them to a base plate through small holes. Earlier examples of cut steel pieces exhibit up to 15 facets per head, while later Victorian pieces may have as few as five. Many of the heads in later pieces were not hand-faceted, but were mass-produced and stamped from a piece of sheet metal.
Dimenstions: 1 3/4 inches long by 2 3/4 inches wide