1854 Victorian Mourning Ring

A substantial c.1854 British mourning ring, bearing a banded agate cabochon in a heavy setting of 18k yellow gold, black enamel inlay, and old mine cut diamonds, the shank fully hallmarked and the ring posterior inscribed, “William Jope Obt May 1, 1854 æt 65”. The testator, William Jope esquire of Liskeard, Cornwall, was born to John and Joanna Jope on 12 Feb 1789. According to a published history of Liskeard (“History of the Borough of Liskeard and its Vicinity” by John Allen, 1856), the Jope family have been local residents since at least 1410; a 15th century ancestor also named William Jope was recorded to have served as portreeve (i.e. port warden). William’s father John was the local vicar. Curiously, not much of William’s personal life is known: he never married and was without children. Two of his three siblings died young overseas (a sister passing away in Pisa, Italy, and a brother dying in Portugal). William however remained rooted to his ancestral hometown, serving as mayor in 1820, and by 1836, was the borough’s recorder (i.e. circuit judge). The 1841 census recorded him living at Tremeddon House with four servants. His last will and testament is preserved in the National Archives, Kew. This 10-page document details extensive freehold ownership of lands and properties throughout local parishes. Present is also a measure of thoughtful modesty and generosity. “I do hereby direct that my executors do expend about my funeral no more than may be absolutely necessary”, he wrote in his will, specifying that “eight poor Men” shall serve as pallbearers, and that they be provided dress and payment for the occasion. One the earliest-named provisions is a monetary bequest to his former housekeeper, and a perpetual weekly payment to two former servants for the rest of their natural lives. A widowed relative was given a yearly annuity and the right to live at one of his properties for the rest of her natural life. Payments and annuities were also provided for another spinster sister, and a fund was allocated for the education of his young relatives. The will also made provisions for “the poor of Saint Cleer” and “the poor of Tresmeer”. For remembrance, he wrote, “I bequeath a gold mourning ring of the value of ten pounds to each of my several friends.” His will goes on to name exactly nine recipients (one to each of his five nephews, two to a local reverend and his wife, another to a male friend); it can be presumed that the present ring is one of these original nine made.

By the mid-19th century, the color black had become indispensable to Victorian fashion and dress; it was both the shade of mourning and represented a form of elegant reticence. Black and white banded agate, depleted in supply in Europe for some time, made a full comeback with the discovery of new sources in Brazil. German immigrants in Brazil shipped large quantities of this new supply to Europe’s ancestral agate-cutting center in Idar-Oberstein, where German lapidists figured out how to polish and treat the stones so that the permeable dark layer attains an unadulterated shade of black, which opened up many possibilities for its use in mourning jewelry. Banded agate set in gold and black enamel with interlaced and scrolling motifs was a speciality of fashionable French and British firms throughout the 1850-60s.
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