Victorian Bohemian Garnet Butterfly Bracelet

A lovely antique bracelet, featuring a large Victorian bohemian garnet butterfly brooch that’d been soldered to a solid 14k gold bracelet frame during the 1950s. The overall conversion craftsmanship is seamless and well executed. The solid gold frame is engraved with beautiful scrollwork throughout to maintain the Victorian design character.

Bohemian garnet jewelry was extremely popular during the late 19th century as an entire genre of affordable adornment for the expanding middle classes. “Bohemian” refers to Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic), from where naturally deep red pyrope garnets were mined. To maintain affordability, most Bohemian garnet pieces were created with silvered or gilt copper-brass. Their enduring beauty and mystique however has led to many of these pieces being treasured as fine jewelry during subsequent decades. The mounting of this butterfly to a solid 14k gold bracelet frame shows one such impulse to value Bohemian garnet jewelry above the everyday ordinary.