Descriptions

Berlin ironwork was a fashionable alternative to precious metals from about 1806 to the 1840s. Production declined in the 1850s but the jewellery was still being made during the First World War. As the name suggests it was manufactured in Germany. The dull black surface made it ideal for mourning jewellery. During the Prussian resistance of Napoleon’s armies (The War of Liberation) the royal family asked for gold and silver jewellery to fund the campaign. People were given iron jewellery in return, often with a patriotic inscription, such as ‘I gave gold for iron’. An attempt to collect gold, replacing in it with iron jewellery, to fund the German defence effort during the First World War was less successful.

This object is not on display.

Inscription

Geiss A Berlin