Early examples of mourning  jewelry were found in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Black and white enameled heads or skulls were often set into both rings and brooches and worn to signify a period of mourning after the death of a loved one.

memento mori

The Death’s Head motif (skull) was still used on mourning rings as late as the 17th century. A ring presented after the execution of King Charles I in 1649 shows a portrait of Charles I on one side and a skull and a crown on the other. Inside the inscription reads, “The glory of England has departed.”

The presentation of mourning rings was a status symbol in the 17th and 18th centuries. The wealthy specified the ring design and quantity to be made in their wills.

Samuel Pepys, English diarist and naval official (1633-1703) willed that 129 mourning rings be given away at his funeral.

Either he had a large family or a huge ego.

skull ring memento mori

Urn Garden is pleased to launch a contemporary line of urn rings, inspired by Victorian mourning jewelry.

Keepsake Cremation Urn Ring

Today’s jewelry show features mourning jewelry from the Victorian age.

Ruby & Diamond Skull Mourning Ring

Vintage Mourning Jewelry

Plaited hair woven into the eternity/infinity symbol..serpent style! These styles are very collectible and I recently talked with a funeral director in Ohio who collects the hair art. Would the community come out for an exhibit on Memento Mori….at the funeral home?

And then we have the modern designs that blend the ancient symbols of circles, wings and feathers and leaves the skulls and scales in the past:

Eternity Urn Necklace

Infinity Urn Pendant

Winged Urn Necklace

Today we bring you a list of items that families have placed in the casket of their loved ones compiled by an Ohio funeral director :

• fishing rods
• bow and arrow
• golf clubs
• golf balls
• basketballs
• autographed baseballs
• baseball gloves
• baseball, football and basketball uniforms
• unloaded handguns, rifles and shotguns
• decks of cards
• bingo cards
• lucky pennies
• room keys from Las Vegas
• cigarettes
• marijuana joints
• pet rocks
• favorite books
• a tape recorder
• a glass eye
• sexual devices
• jewelry
• fruit
• nuts
• photographs
• leaf collections
• coin collections
• Penthouse, Playboy and raunchier varieties of magazines
• Cremated remains of cats and dogs
• Panties
• Money

We had a bit of a block lately, staying on topic is difficult and depressing at times. So let’s give thanks with three beautiful things:

Spam Karma- nice tool for Word Press, work it!
Professional contractors- shout out to my boy CB, good work!
Western Swing-It’s fun!

The title of this post comes from this haunting story. Our hearts go out to the family, co-workers and community. By appearances, John Winter was living the dream, and it wasn’t enough. Suicide is a mystery. But so is day to day living.

Although we are not doctors, we have played one on t.v. We diagnosed and classified “Storm team” personalities as either “partly cloudy” or “partly sunny” personalities types.

Since it’s arts fest weekend, we’ll showcase our last collection of vintage mourning jewelry. This group features skulls, a popular theme in early English designs from the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Death’s Head motif (skull) was still used on mourning rings in the 17th century. A ring presented after the execution of Charles I in 1649 shows a portrait of Charles I on one side and a skull and a crown on the other. Inside the inscription reads, “The glory of England has departed.”

The presentation of mourning rings was a status symbol in the 17th and 18th centuries. The wealthy specified the ring design and quantity to be made in their wills.

Samuel Pepys, English diarist and naval official (1633-1703) willed that 129 mourning rings be given away at his funeral.

Either he had a large family or a huge ego.

Greetings!

While doing research for an article on cremation urn jewelry, we felt the need to share early examples of the art form. So we are having an exhibit in the garden this week.

Early memento mori featured skulls and crossbones and we’ll display those later this week. Serpents symbolize eternal life and are often featured in the Victorian designs. Today’s examples will feature brooches and pendents made from jet and ebony originating from the Civil War period.

Soldiers going off to war would often leave a lock of hair with the family, in the event he didn’t make it home. Memorial jewelry peaked in popularity during the Victorian era.

Today’s tip for better living: Absorb.

Greetings!

Yesterday’s post regarding death masks and infant mortality was a disturbing topic, but it triggered a memory about my late grandfather’s habit of photographing the corpse at the funeral, he did it with all of our family members and I remember thinking it was odd. My mother may have returned the favor at his funeral but I don’t recall.

Anyway, I wanted to know, where did this bizarre custom come from? I didn’t spend a lot of time on the research, but it looks like the novelty of photography in the 1800’s spurred the trend. For many families it may have been the only photograph of the deceased ever taken.
After viewing some of the poses on the Memento Mori site, I’m delighted that this morbid fad faded away.

No pictures please, move along, there’s nothing to see.

Today’s tip for better living: Turn off the t.v. and go look at the stars.

Speaking of television, I’m guessing that Astronaughty Lisa Nowak is relieved with the wall to wall coverage of Anna Nicole….not one word on Lisa’s crazed antics today.