Dante's Ring : A beautiful floral Victorian Mourning Brooch is converted to a ring on a blackened band.
"In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost"
Mourning jewellery has been around since at least the 16th century, but it is widely associated with the Victorian Era, when mass production made it affordable. The trend reached its high point after the death of Prince Albert in 1861, when Queen Victoria, as well as members of her court, wore black clothing and matching mourning jewellery for decades.
From then, black jewellery became quite fashionable. The best pieces were made out of jet, a fossillized coal found near Whitby, England. Less-expensive alternatives included black glass, black enamel, vulcanite (a hardened rubber,) and bog oak, which is more of a brown colour but still dark enough to express sombre sentiments.