Description
The Women’s Social and Political Union adopted purple, white, and green as its official colours in 1908, and suffragette-sympathetic jewellers began producing pieces using exactly that palette almost immediately. This Arts and Crafts brooch, English, circa 1900, sits at the edge of that movement: silver and enamel work in the handmade, unpretentious style the Arts and Crafts movement favoured.
Arts and Crafts jewellery and the suffrage movement shared an underlying philosophy: both were reactions against an establishment seen as ornamental, hollow, and resistant to genuine change.
Why this piece matters beyond its craftsmanship. Genuine suffrage-era jewellery is a real, if narrow, category of political and social history that happens to also be wearable.
What to look for. Hand-finished, slightly irregular enamel work and a visible hallmark consistent with the period, both present here.
This piece is part of a small, genuinely personal collection of antique jewellery, gathered over years rather than acquired for resale.
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