Antique Victorian Precious Keepsake Book Locket

Circa 1875
 
An exquisite Victorian keepsake, fashioned in the romantic form of an opening book, its covers richly engraved with scrolling designs and delicate blooms. The front is adorned with forget-me-not flowers nestled within an elegant frame, while the reverse displays a wreath of forget-me-nots encircling an unengraved shield cartouche—waiting, perhaps, for the owner’s cipher or initials.
 
Inside, chased acanthus scrolls frame a beautifully bevelled oval window—perfect for your jeweller to add a treasured photograph or a tiny memento of a loved one. Every piece of masterful engraving and handmade hinge is the work of a skilled artisan from the heart of the Victorian era—a time of Dickens and the Brontës, of sentiment and storytelling with gold.
 
Measuring 2.4cm by 1.5cm, this enchanting book-form locket is unmarked but tests as 9 carat gold front and back and has an XRF reading indicating an average of 8.51 carat when a scan through the open front is measured. This composition suggests a discreet base-metal internal framework to strengthen the internal structure, preserving both durability and integrity through nearly a century and a half of history.
 
A darling token of devotion and memory—a tangible whisper of the past, waiting to carry its next story.