A beautiful 9ct yellow gold brooch set with a stunning central rose cut diamond, surrounded by 8 seed pearls. Dating from 1892.
 
Inspired by the Etruscan revival, and designs that had been unearthed from ancient tombs earlier in the year.
 
This brooch has a compartment in the back, sealed with a glass top. This is stamped WALKERS PATENT. A photo or memory given from a loved one would have been hidden inside only known to the wearer. Sometimes referred to as 'love brooches'. They would have been worn close to the heart or central at the neck, as was the style of the time.
 
Size - 38x34x15mm
 
5.96g
 
9ct yellow gold - Hallmarks for Birmingham 9.375, 1892, sponsors mark - C&Co. The gold case around the locket glass is stamped - WALKERS PATENT.
The pin has been replaced at some point and is not gold.
 
3x3mm off round rose cut diamond, 8 x 1.5mm seed pearls with silvery tones.
 
The sponsor's mark looks like Carrington & Co.
Carrington & Co was founded in 1873 by John Bodman Carrington who established his manufacturing business at 130 Regent Street. He was listed as a silversmith, goldsmith and jeweller working from the London premises of the Birmingham silversmiths G.R. Collis & Co. In 1880 he entered his first mark at the Goldsmiths Hall of London, with his partners John Carrington, William Carrington Smith and George Budford - and became a limited company. By the early 1890s Carrington were advertising themselves as jewellers, diamond merchants, dealers in precious stones and manufacturing silversmiths. 
Among the illustrious names that commissioned brooches, tableware, cufflinks and more across its rich history were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Edward VII, George V and the Russian Tsars. They had numerous royal commissions, the most famous being The Dorset Bow Royal brooch 1893 for Queen Mary and the Cullinan III and Cullinan IV diamonds set into a brooch/pendant. Queen Elizabeth II inherited it from her grandmother in 1953 and often wore it as a brooch, referring to the diamonds as "Granny's Chips". 
Carrington was named the Prime Warden of the Goldsmith Company in 1902 and later retired, leaving the company to be continued by W. C. Smith as a sole partner. The Carrington & Co. firm was acquired by Collingwood in 1922.
 
This amazing brooch is a really lovely well made piece of history.
 
Good condition for its age, there is one tiny hole in the metal, the pin is not the original pin. The locket glass has a couple of very tiny conchoidal fractures. Doesn't affect its use or beauty.