Spanish style hair comb in carved and clarified steer horn

 

CONDITION: good vintage condition with acceptable wear

 

SIZE: 5 ins h x 4½ ins w decorative part 2½ ins h (14 x 11 x 5 cm)

 

APPROXIMATE DATE: 1870s – 1880s

 

MATERIALS: steer horn

 

DESCRIPTION:

Here is a large and handsome steer horn hair comb from the mid Victorian period. The material has been clarified to render it semi translucent and then dyed a mid amber colour. The heading has been open-carved with a beautiful design representing fruits and entwined leaves.

The hairstyles of the mid-Victorian period were large and impressive, with vast quantities of false hair being used to form a huge chignon or, for the evening, trailing ringlets. Therefore the ornaments which were used to adorn them were often equally large and impressive. Large and handsome combs would have been used by a fashionable Victorian lady to adorn the back of the hair, probably being placed above a chignon. For day they were made of plain horn or shell, carved, twisted or stamped into ornate designs.

The final picture is taken from a contemporary fashion engraving which illustrates the fashionable hair dressing and the hair accessories of the mid Victorian period.