Cremation Jewelry and Memorial Jewelry: A History

Cremation Jewelry and Memorial Jewelry: A History

In the waning years of the 20th century, a funeral director from Aurora, Illinois created a buzz at the National Funeral Directors' Convention when he introduced a new way of saving cremated remains to memorialize a loved one. Terry Dieterle had commissioned jewelry artist Lester Lampert to design a line of lockets - tiny "urn pendants" to hold a small amount of ashes from a cremation.

The unveiling of Dieterle's cremation jewelry caused quite a stir, with national newspapers and magazines telling the story and late-night comedians poking fun at what they saw as an eccentric or macabre novelty. Average people weren't sure how to respond - some thought the whole idea of cremation jewelry was merely odd, while others considered it ghoulish. Some, however, saw the appeal of memorializing a loved one by holding his ashes close at heart, and over the years, cremation jewelry became accepted, with countless new designs created to appeal to a wide range of people.

Memorial Jewelry's Rich History:

You might say the rest is history, except that the history of cremation jewelry began long before that convention in Cincinnati. In fact, memorial jewelry in various forms has been around for hundreds of years. In 15th and 16th century Europe, for example, black and white rings and brooches bearing the images of cameos or skulls were very popular. Known as memento mori, these pieces cautioned the wearer to be mindful of death.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, mourning rings were presented following a death to friends and relatives of the deceased. This type of keepsake jewelry usually bore images related to death, such as a serpent, a cremation urn, a coffin, or an image of the deceased, along with an inscription that included the deceased's name, birth date, and date of death. Mourning rings were a status symbol, and the number of rings given by the family was related to the deceased's station in society.

When Prince Albert of England died in 1861, his heartbroken wife, Queen Victoria, proclaimed a time of mourning and instructed members of her court to embrace the same stringent mourning code she lived by. Memorial jewelry made from dark materials like black glass, jet, gutta percha, and black oak was the only jewelry allowed during the mourning period.

At the same time, the War Between the States was raging across the ocean in America, resulting in the deaths of many fine soldiers. Knowing the perils of battle awaiting him, a young man would leave locks of hair with his family as a keepsake when he marched off to war. If the soldier was killed in action, women in his family braided the hair and weaved it into memorial jewelry. In another form of keepsake jewelry during this period, the soldier's hair was simply placed in a locket to be worn as a memorial pendant or brooch.

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