Victorian Snake Brooch Chatelaine

In the days when your pockets were buried under layers of cumbersome fabric (if you had pockets at all), women took a more fashionable approach to keeping their daily tools and necessities quickly accessible -- by wearing a chatelaine!

A more aesthetically pleasing take on today's Swiss Army Knife, a chatelaine is a decorative hook (or sometimes a brooch) that is worn over a belt or waist sash. Dangling from the hook are a series of chains suspending varied household tools. From watches and keys to scissors and pencils, what a wearer would attach to their chatelaine varied depending on the occasion as well as their overall daily life needs. 

Chatelaines can range in style from simple to ornate; decorative to utilitarian.

Although they have been  worn and utilized since Medieval times, chatelaines saw a fashion resurgence in the latter half of the 19th century thanks in part to Princess Alexandra of Wales (Queen Victoria's daughter-in-law) and her fondness for wearing one.

This highly decorative and intricate piece features a slithering sterling silver snake brooch coiled into a bow shape with three chains. 

Dangling from the chains we have a beautiful slide mirror, a coin purse and a small aide memoire notepad with thin ivory pages and matching pencil.  These wonderful accoutrements are most likely French and fashioned in 800 silver with gold vermeil accents on the raised floral motif.