A rare (and wild) aluminum and paste brooch from the mid Victorian era. Aluminum was discovered in 1825 and was first used in jewelry in the 1850s. The difficulty of extracting the metal made it rarer and more expensive than gold for a brief period in time. Aluminum jewelry shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 caused a sensation. At the time this bracelet was made, jewelry made from this most common of metals was more popularly worn and more desirable than pieces made in silver or gold. This brooch features large amethyst paste set in aluminum stamped with a floral design with gilding around the bezel and spiral frame.