A Fractured Fairytale

This is the brooch that started it all! Lots of things actually inspired me for this outfit, but when I bought this brooch a couple of years ago, it seemed like something an amateur naturalist would wear – a Victorian lady with a genteel interest in botany. The brooch is carved bog oak (according to the eBay auction) with a central motif of a fern surrounded by shamrocks. I don’t know enough about antique jewelry to say if its bog oak for sure, but is a type of wood – its super light and the back is hollow; also, you can see the grain on the back of the brooch. It’s rather large, so I plan to wear it on my sash.

Next, I have a lovely gold bracelet Nate bought me for my birthday last year. I didn’t get it with this outfit in mind, but it seems perfect. It’s an Etruscan-style tube bracelet that wraps around the wrist and, according to the eBay seller, dates from the 1870s-80s. (Again, I always take the dates the seller provides with a grain of salt unless there is a hallmark or some other kind of provenance.) The finials on the ends of the bracelet look like acorns and have a slight green tint, and the center piece is engraved with some sort of botanical motif.

Finally, I have two Victorian agate brooches I could wear.  The first is a diamond shaped silver brooch with inlayed blue agate and a little carved flower detail. It’s a delicate little brooch and might look very nice with my outfit. I also have a green moss agate brooch with carved marcasite detailing. I love the delicate veined look of the agate, but I don’t know if the green with clash with the outfit. Either way, it is nice to have options for this outfit. If I don’t like either agate, I still have lots of other silver brooches engraved with birds, butterflies, and flowers.