Mastery of Design: A Bracelet from Queen Victoria's Silver Jubilee, 1862

This bracelet of gold, with enameled decoration, is set with an almandine garnet and pearls and was shown by the Bragg firm at the International Exhibition of 1862, where it was purchased by the Victoria & Albert Museum.


This bracelet coincided with the Silver Jubilee of Queen Victoria and also showed the influence the Queen’s personal style had upon the fashions of the day. This was the sort of jewelry favored by Prince Albert who often designed pieces for his wife in earth-tones and materials which reflected the couple’s love of the country.

Antique Image of the Day: The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, 1887

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This color-lithographed invitation card was designed for celebrations for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The main image depicts Windsor Castle set in landscape, top right. Images of peoples of the Empire fill the lower left corner set against a backdrop of coconut palm-tree. In two roundels, top left and lower right, are portraits of Queen Victoria at the time of her accession in 1837 and in 1887, respectively.

Sunday Morning Special: Memories of Queen Victoria from Her Granddaughter Princess Alice

Queen Victoria, 1860
Crown Copyright
Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
from The Royal Collection

This is just too, too wonderful. Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Alice, describes life with her famous grandmother. We also get a glimpse of rare moving pictures of the Monarch. What a treat! Enjoy!

Masterpiece of the Week: Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Wallpaper, 1887

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This is fun. I’d like this for my powder room. Here, we see a portion of wallpaper with a design commemorating Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee of 1887 which incorporates portraits of the Queen with vignettes illustrating the people and the wildlife in the outposts of the British Empire on four continents: Australia, Canada, Cape Colony (later South Africa), and India. The paper is a color print from engraved rollers.


Wallpapers commemorating important historical events and royal anniversaries were frequently produced in the second half of the Nineteenth century. This wallpaper, like other such commemorative papers, is a “sanitary” paper--printed with oil-based colors that were not soluble in water, allowing the surface to be washable. These kinds of papers were made for inns and public spaces more so than the average home. Still, that wouldn’t stop me—even if it would have raised a few eyebrows in the 1890s.

The Art of Play: The George III Golden Jubilee Game, 1810

The Victoria & Albert Museum

I like this. I don’t know how it works, but it looks fun. Here, we see a very, very colorful board game from 1810. It is a continuation of the Historical Pastime game which chronicled English history from the Norman Conquest to the accession of George III. This version of the game celebrates George III’s Golden Jubilee.

The board consists of one hundred fifty playing spaces which detail the major events of the reign of George III. The accompanying rule book, takes a lot of time and effort to praise the king in the most florid of language, but, conversely does not shy away from listing some of the less-than-stellar moments in his reign. I wonder if his insanity is mentioned…

Fun for the whole family!

Coming this Week at "Stalking the Belle Époque" and Punch's Cousin

This week, since Thursday is Thanksgiving in the U.S., Bertie and I will be taking a few days off to eat turkey and pie, and, then, haul all the many, many, many boxes of Christmas decorations out and start the Yuletide thing goin’.

So, we’ll be posting on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday with Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off.

Of course, now that Mr. Punch is here, we’ll have to get him used to the idea of Thanksgiving. I wonder how that will work out. And, I kind of cringe when I think what he might do to the Christmas ornaments, but, one thing at a time…

Object of the Day: A Souvenir of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, 1887

Well, over the last week, you’ve seen a lot of Royal handkerchiefs from coronations and jubilees ranging from George V and Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth II. They’ve varied in sizes and textiles. But, here’s the mother of them all! This is, by far, the largest in the collection and, certainly, the largest I’ve ever seen.


This handkerchief was produced in 1887 for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria (1837-1887) and it’s huge! It features, of course, a large portrait of Victoria as she looked in 1887, but also images of her throughout her life. Included also are portraits of her many children, and her many Prime Ministers.

I also like that it has been embroidered at some point in its life with a large red “B.” My Bertie tells me that it was in his honor—113 years before his birth.