Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu to include the personal archive of Louis Osman, goldsmith and architect

Of Royal Interest: A Prince Albert stickpin, 1865, mounted with a miniature enamelled portrait of the Prince Consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, set against a mauve background, within a gold bead decorated border, the reverse inscribed to the rim: ‘To John Longden from Victoria R August 26 1865’, together with a silver medallion for the Amateur Athletic Association Military Meeting 1915, Aldershot Officers, 440 yards, 1st, named ‘D J Longden’, on suspension loop, stickpin diameter 24mm, medallion 25mm. £400-600

The image is based on a photograph by John J. Edwin Mayall, taken in 1860, before the Prince Consort’s death on 14th December 1861. After Prince Albert’s death, Queen Victoria gave numerous commemorative jewels set with portraits of her beloved husband. John Longden was reputed to have been a courier or messenger in the service of the Queen.

For a similar enamelled portrait example, see brooch at the British Museum from the Hull Grundy Bequest (transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum).
See: Tait, H. (ed), The Art of the Jeweller, A Catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift to the British Museum, British Museum Publications Limited, 1984, Vol 1: page 62 and Vol 2: plate 351 .