Mourning Brooch
PeriodCirca 1841
Place MadeNew Jersey, U.S.A.
MediumGold, enamel, human hair
Dimensions1 × 1.19 × 0.19 in. (2.5 × 3 × 0.5 cm)
InscribedThe pin includes the monogram "EC" on the verso.
ClassificationsAccessories, Women's
Credit LineGift of Ellen S. Conover, 1931
Object number60
DescriptionA woman's rectangular brooch or pin, with a wide black enamel border edged with gold. A rectangular glass bezel with a patterned frame border covers an elaborately plaited panel of blonde hair.Curatorial RemarksThe tradition of wearing jewelry commemorating the loss of a loved one - spouse, child, or parent - dates back to at least the Middle Ages. It reached its peak in the nineteenth century with a variety of pins, brooches, bracelets, and lockets, often with black enamel borders indicating its intent as mourning jewelry. Eliza Schenck Conover's rectangular brooch contains one, and possibly two, different types of hair, elaborately plaited or braided under a clear glass bezel. It was not uncommon for a jeweler to incorporate a lock of hair from a client's loved one, sometimes entwined with the wearer's own hair. Mourning jewelry fell out of favor by the end of the nineteenth century.NotesThis pin was owned and worn by Eliza Schenck Conover. Eliza Schenck was born in 1805 and married Sydney Conover on March 30, 1826. The couple had five sons: Rulif (1826-1828), William (1828-1850), Jonathan (1831-1865), Joseph (1837-1873), and Gordon (1840-1888). Sydney Conover died on September 8, 1841, at the age of 38, leaving 36-year-old Eliza a widow with four small sons. She remarried a second time on June 9, 1844 to Holmdel resident Captain Daniel Schenck 91771 - 1845). Schenck died less than a year later. Eliza married a third time on June 27, 1847, to Hendrick P. Conover (1800 - 1869). It is likely that Eliza wore this simple brooch, with its wide black enamel band indicating mourning, to commemorate the memory of her first husband and father of her children. Eliza Schenck Conover died in 1879 at the age of 74.
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