Medium Carved Ball Whitby Jet Earrings

Our Beautiful Victorian Medium Carved Ball Whitby Jet Earrings c1880, are simple and elegant and would make a perfect pair of everyday earrings. We believe Whitby Jet deserves to be as popular as it was in the Victorian era. This beautifully hand carved semi precious Gemstone, which originally represented a period of being in mourning, is now extremely fashionable and wearable Jewellery.

Even before Queen Victoria popularised Jet, it had a high status as Mourning jewellery in the European royal courts. Since the death of Prince Albert in 1861, jet has been associated with the mourning jewellery worn by his devastated widow, Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria remained in mourning for the rest of her long life – which, in Victorian times, meant dressing only in black. Jet – especially Whitby jet – with its dark intensity and lustrous finish, was an appropriate gemstone for this sad, subdued and reflective time. Whitby Jet is a gemstone with so much more potential than mourning jewellery, however. Nicknamed ‘black diamond’ for its high lustre, Whitby Jet is an organic gemstone created when wood is subjected to extreme pressure over millions of years. Creating this beautiful fossilised semi precious gemstone.