Georgian Pearl, Turquoise & Hair Memorial Ring

Dating to circa 1830, this Georgian memorial ring is crafted in 9KT gold and set with 20 seed pearls and 18 turquoise cabochons surrounding a central compartment containing a carefully arranged lock of hair beneath crystal.

Hair played an important role in Georgian and later Victorian sentimental jewelry because it provided a tangible connection to another person. It could be incorporated into jewels associated with mourning and remembrance, but was also exchanged as a token of affection, friendship, or family attachment. Unlike a portrait or inscription, hair was quite literally a physical part of the person being remembered.

Pearls and turquoise also appear frequently in sentimental jewelry of the period and carried associations that could include remembrance, affection, purity, and constancy. Without knowing the circumstances in which this particular ring was commissioned, however, we cannot assign a specific meaning to its gemstones.

Nearly two centuries later, the most compelling element remains the one its original jeweler placed at the very center: a carefully preserved lock of hair, transformed from something ephemeral into something intended to endure.