Leopard Head 9ct Gold open bangle. The neo-classical jewellery houses of Europe had their beginnings around the middle 1800s, concentrated in the two great cities of London and Paris, the two main beneficiaries of the massive wealth flowing into Europe then from all over the world. This period, from the mid-1800s through to the early 1900s, saw the excavations of many ancient sites of power and wealth, not only in Europe but all over the globe, and the public was enthralled, not least by the designs and forms of the Gold adornments unearthed.
The above Leopard Head half-bangle design comes directly from one of the French or Italian neo-classical jewellery houses operating in London in the mid to late 1800s, and would have its origins in one of the excavations of that period in the steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas.