Earrings, about 1880

The earrings are likely to be gold as it would be unwise to chase plated metal so deeply.These do appear to be chased.Chasing is the process which literally removes metal in order to create decoration as opposed to engraving in which metal is pushed aside as the engraving tool works on the surface.These are somewhat difficult to date and it is unclear if they are American; however, a date of circa 1880 places the pair with other engraved/chased examples popular at this time as seen in New York w…

Snuff Box, 1866

Medal, 1829

It is particularly interesting that this medal was presented to a young lady.We do not know about Rev. Carll's Academy, however, it is plausible that it was a female academy.Female academies were established after the American Revolution, particularly in the early nineteenth century, for training future wives and mothers for rearing literate citizens of the New Republic.These schools included traditional subjects such as religion (note that this is Rev. Carll's Academy and surely emphasized reli…