Black - Jet, Glass, Bakelite, other Mourning Hatpins

Many processes can result in black jewelry. Often the circumstance was mourning.

Jet: a variety of "lignite" or brown coal, would you believe,because of its brown streak (somewhere). See http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/dietr1rv/jet.htm. Commonly used for mourning garb. Term goes from Anglo-Norman, to Latin, to Greek. Some pieces date from the Paleolithic, fashioned with flint tools. Your basic black goes back a long way. Many other names for black shiny-ables, from glass to other stones. Do read the cmich.edu site. See also ://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/dietr1rv/jet.htm.