This beautiful late Georgian or early Victorian brooch most likely dates from the era of Halley's Comet in 1835. The brooch is made of 12k rose gold and weighs about 1.7g. The glistening "comet" is paste, and the pin is white metal. The brooch overall measures about 1.2" in length.

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Halley’s Comet was named after Sir Edmund Halley, the royal astronomer. He formed a view that all of the sightings between 1531 and 1682 were actually one single comet, which circled the sun every 75-76 years. Halley predicted that it would return again in 1759 and, when it did, it received its name. The next sighting was in 1835 and, soon after, Georgian jewelers began creating Halley’s Comet pins, which were influenced by the shape of the comet - as it approached the sun, it heated up and produced a tail that streaks away from the comet's head.

Paste jewelry is a special type of flint glass that emulates a number of gemstones. Much of the beauty and appeal of antique Paste jewelry is that it was such a difficult and labor-intensive thing to produce. The special Paste glass was cut and polished by hand so that is shone and glittered.

Often Paste jewelry was set with a metal base or "foil" to improve the color and luminosity of the glass. And sometimes colored so if you wanted a romantic Ruby red or an amazing Emerald green, paste jewelry had you covered.

Paste jewelry was popular throughout the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian eras.


Terms and Conditions - Please read!

Payment:  Payment must be received within three days of committing to buy. 

Shipping:  I usually ship within one business day.  All items over $200 will be shipped with signature required.  I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Disclaimer:  I am not a professional, but describe all items to the best of my ability.  If you find your purchase not as described, please contact me directly.

Testing and identification:  
  • Suspected gemstones may be tested with Presidium Gem Tester II. This tester does not identify all possibilities but gives a good approximation of major gemstones. Please note that it cannot differentiate between natural and created stones.
  • Suspected diamonds may be confirmed with Diamond Selector II which differentiates between natural diamonds and imitations.
  • Seed pearls will not be tested and may be cultured or imitation.
  • Stamped metals are not tested unless suspect. Unstamped metals may be tested using JSP acid testing solution. This test is subjective and determinations will be approximate. I always do my best to ensure the accuracy of my listings.

Unless jewelry is marked (as much of my jewelry is from England and bears assay marks,) the age is merely an educated guess. I do my best to assess the age of jewelry appropriately, but I am not a professional.

Authenticity:  Beware that there are many sellers on eBay and other venues who sell reproduction jewelry at top prices as antique. When selecting a seller to buy from, it is always a good idea to look at their other listings and previous sales to see whether they are selling the same "antique" items repeatedly (I have run into this a lot on eBay and they NEVER remove the listings!) Also, antique jewelry will often have minor (or major!) imperfections.

Gift Wrapping:  All jewelry orders come in presentable packaging by default. This may be a nice ring box or jewelry gift box. I do not offer gift wrapping mainly because I am terrible at it.

If you intend to give your item as a gift, you will want to open the box to remove any additional bubble wrap or filler that may have been added to keep your purchase secure during shipping.

I do not include invoices with any of my packaging by default.

Thanks for your interest!