hi anne barry here (jet caver) look at your picture. i am sad to say your necklace is not jet. as it never had a screw fitting. it is either bakelite or vulcanite early froms of plastic. which i also work p.s keep looking yours sincerly B.S.M
Rating
Jet & Glass in Victoria England by: Anonymous
Hi Anne - thanks for writing in. It isn't hard to tell jet and glass apart once you have seen a few examples, and you say you have, but if you happen to be reading this now and you haven't - be wary!
Jet is like amber-gemstone. Jet is an organic material. Jet results from great pressure and heat in the earth's crust acting on buried vegetable matter and wood. Jet is in fact related to coal. Jet beads are rare and collectible. Jet has been around a very long time and is especially associated with nineteenth century mourning jewelry.
Queen Victorian went into mourning after Prince Albert died and only mourning jewelry was worn at English court for 30 years. Black materials such as onyx, bog oak, black enamel on gold, were very popular. When the Queen began to wear silver jewelry at court in the 1880s the jet craze began to wear off and by the 1930s the Whitby jet mines where the finest jet was dug out of the ground (like coal) had closed down.
Black glass was used for the same kind of jewelry, however black glass jewelry is called "French Jet". All that's black is NOT Victorian jet. If you need any tips to help you identify jet from glass just let me know and I'll be happy to share with you what I know.
