Locket or pendant
United States, possibly Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1800-1850
Measurements
1-1/4 in (including ring) x 3/4 in x 3/8 in
Materials
Silver and colorless glass
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of Sara Corbit Reese Pryor
Accession Number
2004.19.9
Condition Notes
The silver is tarnished
Comments
The heart-shaped locket, hinged on one side to allow it to be opened, has clear, colorless glass faces that readily expose its contents to view. The edges of the glass are beveled to create transition to the delicate frame. The locket contains a cutting of blonde hair coiled around. The ring at the top allowed the locket to be suspended on a chain around the user’s neck.
This and other keepsake lockets reminded the owner of another person. That other person may have been a romantic partner or someone mourned. A fine example of a mourning brooch containing hair is accession no. 1995.45. It was a memorial to Pennell Corbit (1776-1820) and his young wife Mary Clark Corbit (1789-1814), whom he married in 1807. That brooch bears the initials of each on the back. Romantic keepsakes have a long tradition too, and hearts were a common and widely understood symbol.
The locket was donated by the same individual as the mourning brooch and likely descended along a similar path. The donor of the 2004 gift was Sara Corbit Reese, the granddaughter of Sara Clark Corbit Curtis Levis (1871–1952), whose grandfather (Daniel Corbit) was Pennell Corbit’s brother. Daniel Corbit raised the orphaned Sarah and her sister Mary. Either might have owned this locket, but the hair color differs from that in the brooch.
Regrettably, further ownership evidence of the locket’s early history is not known.
