unmarked 10K gold brooch measuring 1.5” tall x 1.25” wide with “T”-bar pin closure. Delicately hinged oval door with fine engraving opens to reveal a small albumen portrait of General Grant in uniform under beveled flat glass. The oval doubles as an insert that can be pulled out, concealing a clipping of hair in the hollow stamped surround decorated in a flower & foliated motif. The weightless piece conveys a distinctly personal sentiment feeling like a “family heirloom” but lacks provenance and is constructed more like a commercial whimsy, probably related to the public’s adulation of US Grant following the war. The jewelry would appear to date to the 1870s latest, too early to be a Grant mourning piece.
Property of the former First National Bank of Fremont, Indiana
Condition: Locket is near EXC.