Gold Keepsake Locket
A gold keepsake locket holds a miniature portrait or hair beneath glass, offering a tangible link to the past.
Gold Keepsake Locket
A gold keepsake locket functions as a small hinged pendant designed to hold personal mementos such as photographs, hairwork, or painted miniatures close to the wearer. These pieces span periods from the Georgian and Victorian eras through the Edwardian years and into the mid-twentieth century, taking forms that range from simple round discs to puffed hearts, books, and items mimicking pocket watches.
The version most frequently encountered on this page is the Victorian or Edwardian gold locket, often executed in nine carat or eighteen carat gold and occasionally marked as back and front construction. Such pieces frequently incorporate decorative elements like engine turning, floral engravings, or glass panels intended to display hair or portraits directly.
Mourning and sentimental pieces appear across the selection, featuring materials like turquoise, pearls, diamonds, and citrines set into yellow or rose gold. These objects combine practical hinged compartments with expressive designs like swallows, flowers, and forget-me-nots.
How they were made
Maker construction relies heavily on yellow and rose gold, ranging from nine carat and fifteen carat to eighteen carat standards, alongside pieces utilising gold on silver or back and front techniques where heavier gold plates over a base metal core. Engraving, engine turning, and chased details give texture to the metal surfaces of round, oval, and heart-shaped forms.
Glass top screw bezels and internal picture frames allow items to securely contain photographs or braided hair behind clear coverings. Gemstones including old cut diamonds, pearls, turquoise, rubies, sapphires, and citrines are flush or prong set into the metal bodies to accent the exterior designs.
Swallow birds and forget-me-not flowers peer out from miniature gold gardens, keeping watch over hidden locks of hair.
What varies in quality
The quality of a gold keepsake locket rests upon the weight of the metal and the precision of its mechanical elements, such as the snugness of the hinge and the reliability of the snap closure. Solid gold iterations display greater longevity and substance compared to back and front variants.
Artisanal execution separates standard production from finer examples, evident in the crispness of engine-turned patterns, hand-engraved flora and fauna, and the careful selection of natural gemstones like sapphires, rubies, and old cut diamonds.
B & F
The Gold Keepsake Locket Glossary
- Back and front
- A construction method where the exterior plates are made of solid gold while the interior lining and mechanics utilise a base metal for strength.
- Engine-turned
- A geometric pattern mechanically engraved into the metal surface by a lathe, creating repetitive fine lines.
- Mourning locket
- A piece created to commemorate a deceased person, frequently containing woven hair behind glass or a painted miniature.
- Puff heart
- A swollen, three-dimensional heart-shaped pendant design popular during the Edwardian period.
- Watch fob
- A short pendant attached to a pocket watch ribbon, a form frequently adapted into a locket.
Gold Keepsake Locket: Frequently Asked Questions
What fits inside a locket?
These compartments typically house small paper photographs, painted miniatures, or delicate braids of human hair placed behind glass panels.
Many incorporate interior picture frames or glass-backed bezels designed to keep these personal tokens secure.
How do I date a locket?
Dating relies on stylistic clues, such as the puffed heart shape typical of the Edwardian period or the engine-turned motifs common in Georgian and Victorian pieces.
Materials and hallmarks, where present, offer further confirmation of the manufacturing era.
Are these lockets solid gold?
Construction varies across the selection, with some items made entirely from nine carat, fifteen carat, or eighteen carat yellow and rose gold.
Others are designated as back and front, meaning the outer shell is gold while internal structural components consist of other metals.
How should I wear a locket?
These pendants suspend easily from matching gold chains or ribbons to be worn close to the chest as personal adornment.
Care should be taken with vintage hinges and glass panels during daily wear to prevent accidental opening or damage.