Vintage Luckenbooth by John Hart, Glasgow

A vintage double heart brooch surmounted with a crown, profusely engraved with foliate scrolls and lozenge decorations, with a centrally placed cut amethyst in an oval claw setting. The reverse has a hinged pin and c-scroll safety clasp, and is marked ‘JH’, ‘IONA’, ‘SCOTLAND’ with Edinburgh hallmarks for 9ct gold and 1976.

John Hart trained as an engraver before joining the Glasgow silversmithing firm Celtic Art Industries. By the early 1950s he had established himself as an independent silversmith and sold much of his work to The Iona Shop which had branches in Glasgow and Oban. In 1979 he retired and his son (also called John) merged his own fledgling workshop with his father’s at Iochdar in South Uist.

Scottish heart brooches are often referred to as luckenbooths, with the name coming from the locked booths that housed the goldsmithing quarter in Edinburgh next to St Giles Kirk. The hearts are often capped with crowns, such as this example, and many  were known to have acted as betrothal and wedding gifts particularly during the eighteenth century. They were also occasionally called witches brooches as they were believed to offer protection against witchcraft.

Dimensions:

Height 4.5cm

Width 3.6cm

Weight 12.7g