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Georgian Berlin Iron Drop Earrings
Item No. EMG1000474
A pair of lacy Georgian Berlin iron drop earrings in the form of scrolling vines. Circa 1820.
The black-lacquered cast iron pieces known as Berlin iron work began in Prussia in the 1790s but was taken up by the Royal Berlin Foundry in the early 1800s as a way to fund the Napoleonic Wars. The wealthy were asked to donate their gold jewelry , and in return they received iron jewelry inscribed with "Gold gab ich für Eisen" (I gave gold for iron). The earliest pieces of Berlin iron were neoclassical in style, with naturalistic and Gothic Revival motifs becoming popular in the 1820s. Berlin iron continued to remain popular for the majority of the nineteenth century, although the quality of the post-1830 pieces is inferior to that of the earlier periods.
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