Whitby Jet

posted on 10August2011 | posted in Whitby Jet |( 0 ) Comments

Ceirys Silver Jewellery is proud to announce that this month we are releasing our new range of Whitby Jet Silver Jewellery products.

What is Whitby Jet?

During the Jurassic period, over a 180 million years ago, when the Whitby area was covered in warm tropical waters, and the river deltas brought down the fallen Monkey-Puzzle trees from further inland, they came and rested on the sea floor. Over the millions of years, when sand and mud rested on the top, they were compressed and fossilised.

Over time when the land formations shifted and this material came to the surface as Whitby Jet, seams were found along the North Yorkshire Coast. Much of the Whitby Jet was found on the sea shore, but larger seams were found in the rock cliffs resulting in the introduction of many jet mines along the coast from Staithes to Robin Hoods's Bay.

Whitby is a town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated 47 miles (76 km) from York, at the mouth of the River Esk and spreads up the steep sides of the narrow valley carved out by the river's course. Whitby may be more commonly associated with Bram Stoker, (author of Dracula), who is said to have put the finishing touches to his world renown master piece whilst gazing over Whitby's harbour and towards it's famous Abbey.

Jet was discovered and mined throughout the North Yorkshire Moors and brought by pack pony to be made into a wide range of decorative items. The black mineraloid jet, the fossilised remains of the wood the Monkey-puzzle tree, is found in the cliffs and on the moors and used since the Bronze Age to make beads. The Romans mined jet for both jewellery and decorative purposes and some items of Roman Jet have been discovered during excavations in York.

A Silver Celtic design Whitby Jet pendant.

It was at the peak of its popularity in the mid-19th century, when it was favoured for mourning jewellery by Queen Victoria after the death of Prince Albert. It was during Queen Victoria's mourning period that the wearing of black Jet jewellery became very fashionable. Quite a few anitique pieces of Silver Victorian jewellery can still be seen today sporting their black jet gemstones.

Mourning jewellery made from Whitby jet was highly prized and is now quite rare as supplies have run down. Jet mourning ornaments were considered suitable for deep mourning in Victorian times. At the start of the nineteenth century jet ornaments were carved by hand, but using a lathe speeded up carving and it became a sizeable industry in Whitby. By the 1850s it is said that there were around 50 jet workshops in the town. Samples of jet-working were shown in the Great Exhibition of 1851. By 1873 fifteen hundred men were said to work in the trade and two hundred men were mining the raw mineral. Mourning jewellery continued to be worn in the early twentieth century though by 1926 it was obviously under attack.

A Silver Victorian design Pendant.

Silver Victorian design Whitby Jet earrings.

Jet is found in small deposits around the world, in countries including the UK, Germany, Spain, France and the USA. Deposits vary in quality from region to region, largely dependent on the levels of trace elements such as aluminium, silicon and sulphur. Deposits from around Whitby in North Yorkshire have high levels of aluminium and this produces Jet of extremely high quality. Jet has been used in the manufacture of jewellery and tokens since the bronze age. Since that time a wide range of items have been made from the material, from Roman medallions to Victorian mourning rings and on to the modern silver and Jet items popular today..

There are many imitations of Whitby Jet, either plastic, glass, resin or bakelite. True Whitby Jet is warm to the touch, has a lovely sheen to it when polished, and is quite light to hold. In its raw state it can resemble coal but whereas coal is quite hard, jet cracks easily and is susceptible to scratching. If it is drawn across a piece of dry sandstone, or fine sandpaper, it leaves a brown, not black, streak. If the streak is black it is coal. Generally the lighter colour the streak , the higher quality the jet. Whitby Jet is not to be confused with Black Onyx as although they appear the same they are 2 totally different minerals.

To see our full range of Ceirys Silver Jewellery Whitby Jet please visit here .

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Whitby Jet