Hairy Mementos

July 9, 2007 3:21 PM

Things Gone By is an antique jewelry dealer specializing in the category of "mourning jewelry"; items worn in memory of the dead, usually involving locks of their hair & other materials. The mourning items are not limited to jewelry, as they also feature a gallery of mourning artwork, again made with the hair of the beloved deceased.
posted by jonson (10 comments total)

I've always been fascinated by this stuff — death masks, death photos, etc. Cool post.
posted by Brittanie at 7:25 PM on July 9, 2007

The artwork link has some wonderful stuff.
(but crappy photos... needs more detail)

Who the hell started this?

"Hey, grandma died. I think I'll snip some hair off of her corpse and make me some art."
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 7:44 PM on July 9, 2007

Some of these are really gorgeous. Thanks for posting.
posted by fuzzbean at 9:25 PM on July 9, 2007

More on Victorian mourning garb, including hair jewelery.

There is also a museum exclusively dedicated to the subject.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:23 PM on July 9, 2007

Great find, jonson - wonderful link - I love this stuff. But grrrr, stop getting in my mind, will you please? Here, I will just post all these links I was going to post later this week in your thread.

Examples of hair wreaths - 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

Victorian Hair Artists - Hairwork being done today
Hair Mourning Jewelry Exhibit
Hair art pendants
Museum Tangled in History of Hair

...and last but not least, Pet hair jewelry.

I think you are hacking into my bookmark file. You did it with your great Jan Fabre and insect art post, too.
posted by madamjujujive at 11:32 PM on July 9, 2007

In all seriousness, mjjj any time I post something that I find out later you were going to post, I feel like I was on the right track!
posted by jonson at 7:03 AM on July 10, 2007

Am I the only one who finds this ...well, creepy?
posted by widdershins at 7:20 AM on July 10, 2007

Interesting, thank you. I just saw a bunch of German hair jewelry in a Texas archive museum. Gorgeous!
posted by LadyBonita at 8:35 AM on July 10, 2007

What an amazing site. I had no idea this stuff even existed, let alone its incredible detail and the precision it must have taken to create these pieces. I especially like this one. And it's a little creepy, maybe, but then I remember that in my (and my siblings') memory books from childhood, there is always that one golden, curled lock from "My First Haircut."

People deal with death in different ways. When our family dog died back when I was a teenager, my mother held the body for hours, stroking it and looking at it. I couldn't look at it or hardly even be in the same room with it; it was -dead-, just a hunk of decaying flesh, not our Gracie anymore. And so I figure most anything that helps you deal with what you've lost (and doesn't hurt others or break laws) is a good thing, generally.

Seriously, though, thanks jonson. I liked this a lot.
posted by po at 11:20 AM on July 10, 2007

awww, thanks for the kind words jonson. You are always on the right track, your posts are superlative - we are lucky to have you here!
posted by madamjujujive at 7:57 PM on July 10, 2007