A fabulous antique piece of jewellery – an exquisite French high carat gold locket pendant with a porcelain miniature insert featuring the finest hand painting.The locket dates from 1860-80 and is crafted in 18 ct gold (750 fineness) throughout and has a hallmark on the inside, an eagle''s head, which has been in use since 1838.This locket is a rare and fine quality example. Such meticulous, painstaking work required a lot of time and skill, so clearly a work of a fine goldsmith.The openwork decoration on the front around the porcelain insert looks very beautiful, reminiscent of golden lace. The bail for the chain or ribbon is designed to match. Inside, there are two compartments separated by glass. What is particularly pleasing is that everything is original and in perfect working order; everything moves well, opens and closes as it should, and the clasp holds the locket tightly closed.Exciting piece of jewellery, top quality, can make a wonderful present or grace an antique jewellery enthusiast’s collection.Dimensions: length with the bail – 48 mm, width – 27 mm. Total weight of the locket – 13.6 g. Please note that this is not the pure weight of the gold, but includes the glass insert inside and the porcelain on the front of the locket. I provide the weight mainly as a guide for selecting a chain (preferably, it should weigh about a gram more).Condition: excellent condition, without any damage, repairs, replacements. All original and wonderfully preserved.N.B. Chain on a photo is for photo only, the listing is for the locket only.Payments:Purchases can be paid for via bank transfer, PayPal, Stripe or UK personal check and can be made directly through our website by clicking “Buy”, adding item to your basket and choosing your preferred payment option. Our site is using Stripe as a secure and reliable payment provider.For those looking at the layaway plans an option to use Klarna is now available.Delivery:We offer free UK delivery on all our items. Worldwide delivery is also available, please request postage quote to your location. All the purchases are insured and sent via a "Tracked" and/or "Signed For" services.Communication:It’s very important to us to have happy customers, satisfied with the purchases and the service they get, so if you have any queries about the items, any concerns or questions about delivery, payment or care for your purchase, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to help!