Victorian Silver Fern Locket
Victorian silver locket engraved over the whole front with ferns radiation out from the centre. It hangs from its original articulated bail, and there's an old black-and-white photograph inside - not period with the locket, which dates from the 1870s (or thereabouts).
Ferns were super important to the Victorians, indeed there was even a name for the craze that developed in Britain during the latter half of the 19th century: pteridomania. Charles Kingsley coined the term in 1855 in his book 'Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore'. At peak pteridomania, ferns appeared on wallpaper, clothing, ceramics, jewellery, furniture, gravestones, and even - according to one source - was even immortalised on the iconic custard cream biscuit:
"The little baroque swirls on the top, that's all Victorian because in the Victorian age there were a lot of ferns so the custard cream has ferns designed on it." - Stuart Payne, biscuit expert, via the BBC.
So why the obsession? There was obviously the famous Language of Flowers (aka Floriography), under which ferns represented "fascination, magic, sincerity" (what's not to like). But there was much more to the fern than that: Because ferns have no visible flower or seed, people decided the seed must be invisible. That led to the belief that anyone carrying fern seed would become invisible too. Brand’s 'Observations on the popular antiquities of Great Britain' (1793) says the seed only worked if gathered between eleven and midnight on Midsummer’s Eve. In Shakespeare’s 'Henry IV Part 1', Gadshill says, “we have the receipt of fern seed; we walk invisible”, and “receipt of fern seed” was still 19th-century slang for being invisible. Fern seed was also used as a love charm: young men went to Boggart Hole Clough near Manchester to gather it on St John’s Eve, hoping to win women who had turned them down.
Era: Victorian, circa 1870
Size: 5.8cm by 3.3cm (including bail)
Marks: None, tested as sterling silver
Condition: Good antique condition; light wear consistent with age. Internal fittings remain present, but the glass has been lost.
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[Last updated: September 2026]
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