Victorian Mother of Pearl Horseshoe and Crop Inkwell

For centuries, horseshoes have been considered a symbol of good luck and protection.

No one is quite sure when the superstition began, but legend has it that during the Middle Ages Saint Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury and a skilled blacksmith, was asked by the Devil (disguised as a traveler) to re-shoe his horse.

Saint Dunstan, who saw through the traveler's disguise, instead grabbed the Devil and nailed the horseshoe to his cloven foot.

The act, naturally, caused the Devil a great deal of pain and Saint Dunstan said he would only remove the shoe if the Devil promised to never enter a building with a horseshoe mounted above the door, to which he agreed.

Soon, horseshoes were being used to protect homes from fairies, elves, witches, the Devil and other evil spirits as it was believed that these entities were afraid of horseshoes since they were made of iron and iron can withstand fire.

An interesting side note, during the Middle Ages the coffins of buried witches had a horseshoe nailed to it to prevent the witch from resurrecting.

As for why horseshoes are considered lucky, that has to do with the number of nails in the shoe: 7, the luckiest number.

It should come as no surprise that this lucky protection symbol would become a popular motif among those highly superstitious Victorians.

This sweet little inkwell is handcrafted in beautiful, iridescent mother of pearl cut into a horseshoe shape. A glass inkwell perches in the center with a decorative brass riding crop positioned below. 

The horseshoe has hand painted flowers on one side and very faint ghost lettering on the left side, which leads us to believe this was most likely a souvenir. We can make out the word "From" and some additional letters, but not enough to identify where it came from. 

A great piece for the equestrian enthusiast.