Jet, Araucaria and Queen Victoria

Jet is a fossilized resin from trees that belong to the Araucariaceae family.

During the Victorian period (1837-1901) it was crafted in jewels used as a mourning sign.

Queen Victoria became a widow at the age of 42 (1861) and, until her death at 81, she always dressed in black.

During this long period, she occasionally used jet, thus contributing to its popularization.

Spiritualism, gothic novels, the limbo, death, grief, etc., were popular themes during the Victorian period; but when these “fashions” declined, jet disappeared from jewels’ markets.
The jet used in England came from Whitby, a small town by the sea.