A Victorian pendant of singular quality and rarity — the front set with carved hematite depicting a horse in powerful motion, the reverse featuring a rectangular onyx panel, the piece opening as a locket with the original insert and glass present inside. This is not one extraordinary thing but several simultaneously: a carved hematite of genuine quality, a fine onyx setting, and a functioning locket with original fittings intact.
Hematite — iron oxide, polished to a mirror-like silver-black — was prized throughout the Victorian period for the precision with which it could be carved. A horse in motion in haematite requires a lapidary of skill: the stone is hard and unforgiving, and every mark is permanent.
