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Garnet pin

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Garnet pin
Professional Photography
Professional Photography
Status
On view
Label Text

Throughout the 1760s and 1770s Martha Washington amassed a large set of garnet jewelry for herself and her daughter, Martha Parke Custis. The assortment of necklaces, earrings, hair pins, rings, and shoe buckles must have been much admired as they were worn well after their initial purchase. Some of this jewelry was re-fashioned to reflect changing styles: for example, the head of the stick pin is believed to have originally served as an element of a pair of Martha Washington's earrings.

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Date1759-1772
Geography Possibly made - EnglandPossibly retailed - England
Medium/TechniqueGarnet, silver
DimensionsOverall: 2 15/16 in. x 5/8 in. x 3/16 in. (7.47 cm x 1.6 cm x 0.48 cm)
Credit LineBequest of John Parke Custis Upshur, 1952
Object numberW-1874/A
DescriptionStick pin made from eight garnets set in gold washed silver arranged in a flower cluster atop a long gold stick pin; each gem is backed with silver foil in a closed setting.

B: Purple velvet jewelry box with ivory velvet and satin interior. Box is for W-1874 A-649

Published ReferencesLousia E. Brouwer, "What Martha (Washington) Wore: The first First Lady's jewelry and the story of Susanna Passavant, retailer," Magazine Antiques 181/6 (November/December 2014): 130-133.

Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 265.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Jewelry," Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 516- 517.

Martha Gandy Fales, Jewelry in America: 1600-1900 (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors' Club, 1995), 37, 38.

John Parke Custis Upshur, will dated 9 July 1946, Curatorial File: W-1874, Curatorial File Room, MVLA.
Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.
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