Georgian Jewellery
Small personal jewellery from the reigns of the Georges: rings, brooches, pendants and earrings set with paste, garnet, pearl or rose-cut diamond, worn for mourning, betrothal, sealing letters and evening dress.
Georgian Jewellery
Roughly 1714 to 1837, extended by convention to the reign of William IV. Pieces were made by hand, stones were closed-set over coloured foil and cut by eye, and jewellery did practical work as well as decorative: sealing wax, remembering the dead, marking a betrothal.
The ring dominates. "Ring" appears in 116 of 300 titles and "gold" in half of them, so a gold or silver-and-gold ring is what you are most likely to meet: solitaire, half-hoop, five or seven stone, or the cluster, which is a recognisable sub-type in its own right. Rose cut is the commonest cut named, and diamond, pearl, paste and garnet are the stones that recur.
Behind the stone-set work sit several smaller seams. Silver-set paste brooches, pendants, earrings, rivihandful of the category. Mourning and hairwork pieces, often enamelled, make up under a tenth. Fob seals, watch keys, intaglios and swivel seal rings are about a twentieth and rising in current stock, and portrait, cameo and silhouette work turns up throughout as a persistent minority.
Dating is broad. The single word "Georgian" carries 157 listings, only 53 of 300 name a clean year, and the field as a whole runs from 1700 to 1950. Where years are given they cluster around 1780 to 1840. A group of listings sits outside the period altogether, catalogued Victorian, Edwardian or simply 19th Century.
Where The Range Splits
Stone does most of the separating. Diamond, emerald, sapphire and ruby sit at the upper end, while paste and hardstone seals cluster at the lower. A stated weight is unusual, named in only about one title in sixteen, and those that do state one tend to be the ambitious pieces: Ceylon and Colombian origins get spelled out where they apply, and the largest recorded is a natural Ceylon sapphire of 25.30 carats.
Metal follows the same line. 18ct appears in 44 titles and 15ct in 26 against 9ct in 31, and the higher standards, silver-over-gold settings and high-carat descriptors keep company with the better stones. Construction counts too, from cannetille wirework grounds to closed foiled settings.
Two other things lift a piece. Pairs and suites over singles, with earrings named in 36 titles and demi parures, matched necklace and earring sets and a seal with its matching split ring recurring among the stronger listings. And sentiment that names itself, since mourning and memorial work carrying an engraved date, name or set of initials sits well above the plain mourning brooch.
Georgian Jewellery Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for georgian jewellery, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
About thirty-seven pieces of Georgian jewellery are listed on Sellingantiques each year, and forty-nine dealers have listed them in all.
The Georgian Jewellery Glossary
- Paste
- Hand-cut and foiled leaded glass, set and valued as a gemstone in its own right rather than as a substitute. It appears in 54 of 300 titles.
- Black dot paste
- Trade shorthand for paste with a dark spot at the culet, imitating the depth of a diamond. Nine titles use it, and it barely appears outside this category.
- Rose cut
- A flat-backed stone with triangular facets rising to a point. The commonest cut named in the category, in 31 titles.
- Foiled
- Coloured metal foil laid behind a closed-set stone to lift its colour. Standard practice on Georgian work, on paste and on precious stones alike.
- Cannetille
- Fine coiled and scrolled gold wirework used as a setting ground, named in several titles.
- Rivière
- A necklace of graduated stones in a continuous line, turning up here in paste, amethyst and garnet.
Georgian Jewellery: Frequently Asked Questions
Are all pieces listed as Georgian actually from the period?
Not all of them. A minority of listings carry no Georgian date at all and are catalogued Victorian, Edwardian or 19th Century.
The dealers' own dating field spreads from 1700 to 1950. The latest piece in the samples is a 1950 cluster ring catalogued as Georgian-style rather than Georgian.
What is black dot paste?
Paste stones with a dark spot painted or set at the culet, the point at the base of the stone. It mimics the depth you see down into a diamond.
It is trade shorthand, used in nine titles on Sellingantiques and almost nowhere else.
How common is mourning jewellery in this category?
Under a tenth of listings. "Mourning" appears in 20 titles, hairwork in nine, and enamel, which often goes with them, in 21.
Within that group, pieces carrying an inscribed date or name sit above the plain ones. Recorded examples include inscriptions dated 1817, 1832 and London 1831.
Which materials are scarce in Georgian jewellery?
Cut steel turns up only a few times: a star brooch, a flower wheel brooch, a bracelet of around 1780.
Foreign origins are the other rarity. French Saint-Esprit and paste pieces, a Viennese enamel locket, a Swiss gold and enamel vinaigrette and Grand Tour lava and shell cameos appear once or twice each against an overwhelmingly English body of stock.
Do listings usually give the carat weight of stones?
Rarely. Only about one title in sixteen names a carat figure at all.
The ones that do tend to be at the upper end, with weights such as 1.45ct, 6.75ct and, at the far end, a natural Ceylon sapphire of 25.30 carats.
How many Georgian pieces come up for sale?
Forty-nine dealers have listed in this category on Sellingantiques, and roughly thirty-seven pieces reach the market in a year.
So it is broad but shallow. Most dealers carry only a handful at a time.