Opaline Pearl Rosary, Solid Silver Cross and Link Medal With Bronze Chain circa 1880

Opaline Pearl Rosary, Solid Silver Cross and Link Medal With Bronze Chain circa 1880

This beautiful rosary if not hallmarked which usually denotes that it was made for a specific client and not putting the hallmarks on made it slightly less expensive for the jeweler as it avoided the tax. Completely legal as, in France, it is not required to hallmark small religious items.

The beads are opaline glass pearls with each 'Our Father' slightly larger than the 'Hail Mary' beads. Opaline glass is a decorative style of glass made in France from 1800 to the 1890s, though it reached its peak of popularity during the reign of Napoleon III in the 1850s and 1860s.

Each bead measure 0.8 centimetres in diameter.

This lovely rosary measures 44 cm in length. The cross measures 4.8 cm by 2.6 cm and the link medal is 1.6 cm by 2 cm by. It weighs 38.6 grams.