Antique Victorian French St. Esprit Dove Bird Paste Silver Bow Pendant

Why You'll Love It. The ethereal, luminous shimmer of this antique Victorian pendant makes it a truly captivating piece. Esprit design is artfully crafted with a swooping dove that dangles freely from a dimensional and sweet bow. The refined silver setting catches and casts light with an array of shimmering paste that highlight its oh-so satisfying size and silhouette. Bright patina with minimal surface wear to the setting.

Fresh sheen, light surface wear, and no chipping on the glass. Paste is bright and shimmery. Figural jewelry includes any piece that has been shaped into an animal, person, object, or detailed "day in the life" scene. Antique and vintage figural jewelry is often quite charming and collectible for the realistic or cutesy details.

Specific objects or animals became popular and prolific in jewelry during certain time periods, Scotty dogs during the 1940s for example, or swallow birds during the Victorian era. Figural jewelry is special for its detail and realism but also tells the story of the decade they were made in. Paste is a term that refers to the glass stones crafted during the Georgian and Victorian eras to simulate the sparkle of natural gemstones. The techniques for creating these glass stones were sophisticated, and quality paste pieces were desired by high society members and even royalty. At the fundamental level, the technique involved leaded glass that was cut, foiled at the back, and polished until it shimmered in light.

For colorful gemstones, the foil would be hand-tinted to very accurately capture the hue of a natural gem. During the Georgian era, a technique emerged called "black dot, " which was a painted tiny black dot on the pointed end of a paste stone to create the illusion of diamond-like depth.

Specialty paste pieces include the paste stone riviere necklace and the doublet paste pieces. Today, antique pieces that feature paste stones are loved by collectors for their period-specific and difficult technique. _gsrx_vers_1516 GS 9.3 (1516).

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