This 19th-century silver necklace is decorated with star-shaped links. If you look closely, you'll notice that each star is set with an unusual object: a star-shaped fossil, which is roughly 247 to 34 million years old!
In the 19th Century, the French city of Digne-les-Bains is famous for its thermal spa, but also for jewellery set with pentacines, locally known as 'stars of Saint-Vincent'.
These tiny fossils were found in this region and are not, as most people presume, fossilised starfish, but a segment of the stem of a fossilised marine invertebrate known as a crinoid.
These fossils would be sorted by size and then incorporated into silver jewels, which served as an interesting souvenir for visitors to the region.
General Information
Size: 20 cm / 7.9 inches long and 19 mm wide.
Weight: 17.80 grams
Age: 19th Century, circa 1850s.
Material: Hallmarked with French swan hallmarks for 800/1000 silver.
Condition: In good antique condition with signs of wear, consistent with age. All pentacrines are still in good condition. These links are interspersed with links that are decorated with a tiny silver sphere; this is missing on one link. The clasp is still in good condition.
Please note that the antique box is for display purposes. This shop is based in the EU. Although antiques are exempt from taxes in most countries, buyers from outside the EU might be subject to import duties.