Accession Number

983.313.001a-b

Description

One watch chain made of fine gold links. At one end of the chain is a gold spherical ball with a lined design around the perimeter consisting of white and dark blue enamel. The sphere is permanently attached, and the blue enamel has conchoidal fractures. The other enameled areas are degraded. At the sphere end of the chain, the chain comes back on itself and is held to the chain with a flat round piece of gold. At the other end of the chain is an oval shaped fob to attach to the case bow of a pocket watch.

Narrative

This watch chain's long-term use by the Dunsmuir family makes it an important object in Craigdarroch's collection.

History of Use

This watch chain was among a number of pieces of jewelry given to Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society by the three daughters of Joan Olive Bryden and Alastair Douglas Macdonald in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The sisters told Castle Society founder James K. Nesbitt that the pieces, including this watch chain, were owned by their grandmother, Elizabeth Hamilton Dunsmuir (1848-1901), also known as Mrs. John Cowper Bryden.

Date

circa 1880

Dimensions

13 cm long

Material

Metal, gold; Enamel