Witch’s Heart Jewelry and Other Antique Heart Jewels

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Mary Hood | 0 Comments

The heart symbol originated during the Medieval period (5^th – 15^th centuries) and initially represented spiritual love and devotion. (Read more about the origin of the heart symbol.) It wasn’t long before the heart came to symbolize various kinds of love. During the 16^th and17^th centuries, the heart symbol was born into the popular lexicon to signify romantic, secular, and familial love in addition to its original spiritual associations.

Around this time, the heart symbol found its way into jewelry. Rock crystal hearts were a popular Stuart jewel initially created to honor Charles I (1600-1649). Over the course of the next century, Georgian sentimental jewelry was born, and these heart-shaped lockets were used as tokens of affection. Many of these lockets contained a lock of hair from a loved one. If a crystal locket was left empty, it signified truth and purity. A crown sitting atop a locket symbolized loyalty.

Bow Heart Locket, c1700

Witch’s Heart Jewelry and Other Antique Heart Jewels | BMJ Blog

Antique 18K Gold Stuart Crystal Mourning Heart-Shaped Urn & Hair Locket, c 1700

Witch’s Heart Jewelry and Other Antique Heart Jewels | BMJ Blog

Mourning Crystal “Georgian” Heart, c1700

The open-style Georgian brooch was almost always made with garnets and associated with love and affection. These pieces were typically small and worn as lace pins (i.e. used to hold a piece of lace or fichu in place). During the 17^th and 18^th centuries, the heart symbol was usually depicted with a shallow center cleft (a contrast from the deeper center cleft common to the contemporary version of heart symbol).

A variation on the Georgian open heart brooch was the witch’s heart. In these pieces, the tail of the heart twist to one direction (usually the right). This style gained popularity in Scotland in the 17^th century and was named “Luckenbooth” after the closed booths in Edinburgh where they were sold. Witch’s hearts were initially worn to protect loved ones from evil spirits. Tiny witch’s hearts were pinned to baby’s blankets to ward off dark forces.

15K Rose Gold Georgian Garnet & Gold Witch's Heart, c1750

By the 18^th century, the witch’s heart took on a new meaning. Lovers gifted each other with witch’s hearts as love token to symbolize that they’d been “bewitched” with love. There were typically made with garnets and often crowned (a symbol of loyalty). Double-hearted witch’s hearts symbolized serious commitment, like betrothal or marriage.