Albertina 9ct Gold bracelet, English Antique. This bracelet is taken from a lady’s Gold Albert in the late Victorian period, created in Birmingham in the early 1900s. These “fancy” chains were made in Silver and in Gold to serve the same function as the mens’ Alberts of that period, a tethering of the precious timepiece, in its vest pocket, to a button hole. The lady’s version was usually shorter in length and always more fancy, with two or three handmade chains and connecting engraved beads.
In older versions of ladies’ Alberts of the 1880s/1890s, the chains passed through the large central bead, needing to be fixed inside the bead -a fiddly time-consuming job to do neatly- otherwise the bead would slide constantly up and down the chain; the 20th century brought simplifications, as in the above Albertina 9ct Gold bracelet, where the connections are obvious.
Another indication of the bracelet’s early 1900s origin is the very neatly defined stampings on the spring clasp: “Solid” and “Gold”. This was a period of considerable growth in the “middle classes” and a growth in demand for items of prestige like Gold chains; fraudsters were very busy creating “Gold” Alberts that were completely handcrafted, but handcrafted in base metals, then Gold-plated. The makers of the above Gold chain bracelet were boldly stating that the piece was genuine. (The Birmingham maker’s mark sits on one of the chain links close to the connection to the embossed heart pendant and spring clasp.)