{"product_id":"antique-18ct-white-gold-grand-tour-vesuvius-lava-skull-diamond-eyes-tie-pin","title":"Antique 18ct White Gold Grand Tour Vesuvius Lava Skull \u0026 Diamond Eyes Tie Pin","description":"\u003cp\u003eA wonderfully eccentric 19th-century Grand Tour memento mori stick pin, centred with a finely carved Vesuvius lava skull set with old-cut diamond eyes and mounted on a French 18ct white gold pin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe skull is beautifully carved, with deeply modelled features and individually defined teeth giving it extraordinary personality. Two diamonds are set into the eye sockets, catching the light with that soft, silvery sparkle so characteristic of antique stones. One of the diamonds also displays strong blue fluorescence under ultraviolet light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCarved lava jewellery became closely associated with the Grand Tour of Italy, particularly Naples and the area surrounding Mount Vesuvius, where travellers collected cameos, intaglios and carved lava jewels as souvenirs of their journeys. While classical profiles and mythological subjects were more common, skulls and other memento mori motifs offered a more unusual reminder of mortality and the fleeting nature of life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe combination here is particularly intriguing. The dark, matte surface of the carved lava gives the skull an almost archaeological quality, while the sparkling diamond eyes transform it into something surprisingly playful and luxurious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe stick pin itself is made in 18ct white gold and bears the French eagle’s-head hallmark, confirming French manufacture of the gold mount. Whether the skull and French pin were conceived together or the 19th-century lava carving was subsequently mounted in France in the early 20th Century is difficult to establish with certainty, but the result is wonderfully effective.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA fabulous little curiosity combining Grand Tour history, memento mori symbolism, antique diamonds and French goldwork, strange, charming and completely irresistible.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Parkin and Gerrish","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57613472465269,"sku":"190M","price":1020.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0373\/3428\/6475\/files\/DSC_0690_c55f4f98-847d-4674-b5d4-98b305003736.jpg?v=1790619590","url":"https:\/\/parkinandgerrish.com\/fr-ie\/products\/antique-18ct-white-gold-grand-tour-vesuvius-lava-skull-diamond-eyes-tie-pin","provider":"Parkin and Gerrish","version":"1.0","type":"link"}