A handsome Victorian Spanish style hair comb in natural steer horn

CONDITION: good vintage condition

SIZE: 5 ins h x 3½ ins w (13 x 9 cm) decorative part 2 ins h (5 cm)

APPROXIMATE DATE: 1870s – 1880s

MATERIALS: steer horn

DESCRIPTION:

Here is a beautifully marked Spanish style hair comb in steer horn. It probably dates from the 1870s – 1880s years of the Victorian era. The comb has a high oval heading finishing in a scalloped curve. It is very realistically marked with “tortoise” random type markings. Horn combs of this period were often treated in this manner to imitate the mottling of the much more expensive tortoiseshell.

This type of ornament is often known as Spanish or mantilla comb because it resembles a smaller version of the traditional large shell ornaments worn by Spanish ladies with their native dress. In practice any comb which has a high upstanding heading or top which stands proud of the top of the head is often called a mantilla comb. High topped combs like this were extremely popular in the later Victorian era during the 1870s and 1880s. This was due to the debut of the opera Carmen, which promoted a fashion for Spanish style combs with extremely tall headings.