NANNY BROOCH; Another Unusual Ladies' Accessory PART 2

This is Part 2 of my Unusual and Little Known Ladies' Accessories. For Part 1, Perfume Buttons, see my previous post here. PERFUME BUTTONS
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Following my previous post on little known ladies’ accessories, I bet you’ve NEVER heard of these either.  I can’t even remember where I first came across it but I think it was when I was searching for cabinet cards and saw this one above saying she was wearing a nanny brooch.

The seller had the cabinet card listed for $45 (which I’d love to buy but not for THAT price), and dated it as 1890s. The following description was included:   

 Victorian Nanny brooch pins have hidden compartments specially designed to hold needle & thread for emergency repairs to their children’s clothing. Usually they had threaded caps that could be unscrewed to reveal the hidden items within.   Victorian Nanny Pins are considered the Rarest of the RARE—thus highly sought after by Victorian Jewelry & Sewing collectors. Finding an authentic Victorian Nanny Pin is rare enough—seeing one in a vintage photo is EQUALLY exciting!   Offered here in GORGEOUS CONDITION ….is this fabulous RARE vintage original one-of-a-kind circa 1890 cabinet card photograph of a pretty young Victorian-era woman wearing what appears to be a lovely Nanny Pin. The Nanny Brooch has round knobbed end caps that look like part of the brooch design, but they cleverly unscrew to reveal a hidden compartment for emergency sewing items. Close expert examination with a magnifier has confirmed that this is indeed a Nanny Brooch Pin.

So that put me on the hunt. They are pretty rare, don’t come up often for sale, AND can be expensive. I finally found one in England around my birthday that was $60. So that was my birthday present to myself. This style is mainly dated around 1870s. So far it looks to me like the English are the ones giving it this name, nanny brooch, or housekeeper’s brooch. 

They’re also shown in sewing etui groups, since the back section holds a needle and thread, with the oft-repeated story they were worn by nannies to allow them to perform quick mending jobs for their little charges. You can recognize them by the little knobs on the ends that you would unscrew. But be warned that one dealer had one that looked like a nanny brooch but in fact did not unscrew. So you need to check or ask for those to be verified if purchasing one. And of course since there’s no way to check those in these cabinet cards, it’s only speculation but probably a good possibility.

 Most of them are dated by the sellers from 1850-1905, with most of them around 1890s, which many of these cabinet cards are from that time period. They were made of gilt brass, about 2 inches long, with stones that the majority of them are a round “goldstone”, also known as aventurine glass, a form of quartz, which was a common gemstone used for jewelry then. But there were a couple with rectangle shapes and stones of mother of pearl stone, onyx, and clear glass.

This is one without it's stone. 

They all have a German patent mark stamped on the back but they’re kind of worn down. Mine is marked GFS 3ESCH, like this one. **EDITED TO ADD- I was told  this is actually GES GESCH, OR "Gesetzlich Geschutzt" and is the German equivalent of a trademark, copyright, or patent, as seen in the United States. The translation literally means legally protected. 

Another seller had DRGM 49760 on theirs. 

And this other one had a sweet little hand engraving of “Love to Dorothy” roughly scratched on it, and another had someone’s initials, E L,  on it.

This is a cabinet card gifted to me by my friend, Sue, mostly because of its watch chain she was wearing. *I love that my friends think about me* It was unusual, and after looking at it with a very strong magnifying glass, I think she's wearing a nanny brooch with a watch hanging from it. You can see the tiny knobs on the end of the brooch. She certainly looks like someone’s special nanny.

So far this is all the information I’ve found on this seldom-seen accessory. Another one of those forgotten stories, I guess.

                                                       ~~Val~~