Antique Watch Fob with a Portrait of Horace in Gilded Pinchbeck, ca. 1830

"Horace, cut in carneol, by Grandfather Hilbig" we read in iron gall ink on the already slightly faded note that is tightly knotted to the piece of jewelry at hand here. A pendant made of thickly gilded tombac, which bears a portrait portrait on its underside. It shimmers orange-red and shows the ancient poet Horace. The jewel is a watch fob, a jewellery that was worn on a watch chain and in this form could also be used for sealing. So grandfather Hilbig obviously counted big on the ancient poet that he even wanted to seal his mail with his portrait and send it on its way. For the author of such famous quotes as "Semel emissum volat inrevocabile verbum." - "Once uttered, a word flies away irrevocably" certainly not a bad task. It is interesting to note that although the note states that the portrait is cut in carnelian, the seal stone is actually an unusual glass doublet. For this purpose, two glass plates are connected with a carnelian coloured glue, so that the image shimmers in the typical orange-red. The production, however, was much simpler: the portrait was not engraved, but pressed into the hot glass mass. The setting made of gilded pinchbeck corresponds to this. Thus, the fob shows not only through its shape but also through its material that the piece of jewellery was created in a time of scarcity, shortly after the Napoleonic Wars. Possibly also for this reason and in memory of this terrible time Horace was the right reference, with his eternally valid request: "Carpe Diem" - "Seize the day".

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