Grounding Chatelaine

A chunky 925 chain collar (from around 1860) with a mudlark bronze chatelaine hoop and a Victorian Albert clasp. Iconic, bold and full of calm power. I loved the mudlark find so much I have made a mould of it, so I will bring out several items around it, but this is the original one - the one and only. covered in layers of patina and found in Kings Lynn, Norfolk - this one (i think) is medieval. They weren’t called chatelaines until 1828 - but they existed nonetheless. 

The hefty sterling chain feels like a calm weighted blanket and sits in just the right place. You could always hook a crystal of something off it too!! I love a drop down look. 

I grew up making pocket survival kits that looped on my belt, knives and rope and fishhooks and magnifying glasses, plasters paired with rocks and gems and pens and feathers. Little did I know I was carrying on a long tradition from my ancestors.

A chatelaine - a miniature toolkit worn at the waist, part practicality, part adornment - mainly as women were deprived of pockets! The name comes from the French châtelaine, "mistress of the castle." By the late 16th century, a simple hook had become something far more elegant: chains hung with keys, tools, and trinkets, worn as a mark of status by those running large households.

This OG Swiss Army knife peaked in the Victorian era - where most women had one, with everyday essentials dangling alongside keys - these could be anything such as: embroidery scissors, thimbles, pocket watches, fruit knives, tiny notebooks, opera glasses, scent bottles, pencils, sewing kits, combs, coin purses, and seals and vials of poison hehe...

Length: 24 cm

Weight: Too heavy for scale over 120 grams!