The Florentine Festoon

Look closely and the festoon necklace gives itself away as Victorian: banded agate, holding a steady quiet colour even in shade, held by hand-chased repoussé. The detail is built up bead by bead, a technique half-lost by the time this was made. A dealer we trust brought it down from a Viennese collection, kept in a bank drawer far longer than it was ever worn. You can tell it was worn, not kept — the highest thing we can say of a piece.