Mourning in Miniature

The Victorians were fond of mourning memorabilia, but even by those standards, this piece is peculiar. At first glance, it’s a miniature pocket watch, fixed forever at 10:07. Flip it over and you’ll find a photographic portrait of Queen Victoria herself.

Why 10:07? That’s the mystery. Official records confirm that Queen Victoria died at 6.30pm on 22 January 1901. One theory suggests this locket was made to mark the announcement of her passing in another part of the Empire, where the news reached them some hours later.

Adding to the poignancy is a glass medallion of Edward VII, complete with a black mourning ribbon, and two enamel shamrock brooches marked with crowned initials: E and A. “The Queen is dead. Long live the King” is the theme connecting every piece.

Whether these were worn together as tokens of loyalty or simply collected over time, they form a strange, touching little archive of one monarch’s end and another’s beginning.