On Gold-Filled. In the United States, the quality of gold-filled jewelry is defined by the Federal Trade Commission. If the gold layer is 10kt fineness, the minimum weight of the plated layer on an item stamped “GF” must equal at least 1/20th of the total weight of the item. The layer of gold on gold-filled items is 5 to 10 times thicker than that produced by regular gold plating and therefore the finish maintains its gold patina longer.  

On Victorian. A young Queen Victoria assumed her role in 1837 and her taste in jewelry quickly became culturally influential, within England and beyond. Her relationship to jewelry was enmeshed with her husband, Prince Albert, who gifted the Queen for their engagement, a snake ring, embedded with an emerald (her birthstone) in its head. Continuing from the Georgian era and intensified by Queen Victoria’s taste, sentimental and figural jewelry was a major trend throughout the Victorian era. When certain ideas and words were deemed too forward or improper to be spoken, jewelry and symbolic meaning was used to communicate what was left unsaid.