Pinckney Brooch

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Description:

Silver framework floral spray brooch once worn by Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1722-1793). The floral design is composed of full-back-mounted gemstones consisting of twenty-two white rose-cut diamonds, five red and auburn almandite garnets, five green emeralds, four red rubies, one pink sapphire, one purple amethyst, and one yellow sapphire.

This silver brooch is unmarked, but attributable to John Paul Grimk? (1713-1791). Grimk? worked as a jeweler at the sign of the Hand and Ring on Elliott Street. Spray pins of bejeweled florals were eminently fashionable in the mid-18th century, and Grimk? advertised his importation of varied stones in the South Carolina Gazette.