Vulcanite: A Fashion Trend

Rubber Victorian jewelry? Yes indeed!

Upon the death of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, black jewelry became the height of fashion as the queen chose to wear black the rest of her life. Consequently, black jewelry was fashioned from a wide variety of materials. One of those materials was Vulcanite.

Vulcanite is a substance formed by combining sulphur and India rubber, a natural rubber, and then heating - or vulcanizing - the mixture. It becomes a hard, black material, originally intended to take the place of ebony wood. Charles Goodyear is generally given credit for developing the process and his patent occurred in 1844.

Vulcanite (sometimes called Ebonite) can be confused with other substances such as Gutta Percha, Jet, French Jet, or Bog Oak. It helps to know that Vulcanite is a molded material with rounded edges, not carved with sharp edges like Jet or French Jet. It can be polished to have a matte sheen, but the finish will never be as glossy as Jet or French Jet. Bog Oak has growth lines since it is wood, but Vulcanite does not.

Gutta Percha is also a molded material, but it was almost always used for making utilitarian household and commercial items such as boot soles and gussets, buttons, carriage belts, tubs, pails, cables, golf balls, etc. Vulcanite, on the other hand, was used for every imaginable type of jewelry - earrings, brooches, watch fobs, lockets, etc. Originally manufactured as black jewelry, over time Vulcanite can turn brown.

Another way to try and identify whether or not the material is Vulcanite will be to rub the piece and if it is Vulcanite, it will smell like rubber.  If all else fails, you can do a taste test. Yes, actually lick the piece!  If the item tastes salty, it’s Gutta Percha. If not, it’s Vulcanite. If you don’t want to do the taste test, assume that the jewelry is Vulcanite and you’ll be right most of the time.

Here are some pictures from my collection. And just for fun, at the bottom is a pair of earrings in my shop made with genuine vintage Vulcanite! 

Victorian Vulcanite Lockets and Chains. Holly Sheen Collections.

Victorian Vulcanite Pendants. Holly Sheen Collections.

Victorian Vulcanite Bracelet. Holly Sheen Collections.

Victorian Vulcanite Brooches. Holly Sheen Collections.

Victorian Vulcanite Hair Combs. Holly Sheen Collections.

 

Victorian Agate Jewelry

By the mid-Victorian era, jewelry had become affordable to the ‘mere masses.’ No longer was it the exclusive domain of the upper crust. Consequently, all sorts of experimentation took off in materials to make this middle-class jewelry. The variety is incredible.

Like today, trends often started due to a popular icon’s preferences. One of these jewelry trends was the agate craze because Queen Victoria sentimentally had some agate jewelry made for herself. The popularity of the lowly agate continued for decades.

Agates are definitely correct for your middle-to-upper-class Victorian reenacting impression. Agate jewelry could be found in a variety of price ranges, so many ladies of the 1860s would have been able to afford a piece of agate jewelry. Occasionally I make a pair of agate earrings or bracelets for my shop.

The brooch in the top photo is a good example of banded agates. It shows the "bands" as definite lines throughout.

Agate earrings were also very popular. (Notice the plain ‘shepherd’s hook’ earwires.) Almost any shape of bead turned out lovely because of the stripes in the rock.

All sorts of jewelry was made from agates. Notice this lovely cross necklace pendant. The light part of the cross would be translucent when held up to the light. 

Using the natural striations of the agates, different effects could be achieved in multi-stone jewelry. Note how the stripes are combined in the bracelet below.

These are all pictures I've found on jewelry sale sites.

Aren't agates beautiful? This is one of Queen Victoria's styles that I love to wear!