The Victorians loved their symbolism, which is very evident in jewelry of the era. In 1871, in the old and very long lyric poem, The Horse Shoe: The True Legend of St Dunstan and the Devil by Edward G. Flight, we get a glimpse of where one of the stories about horseshoe symbolism may have originated.
St. Dunstan was a very quiet and humble hermit who worked at his anvil and played the harp. One night, there was the sound of howling outside Dunstan's hut. The Devil had come by. Always wanting to play some mischief, the Devil began howling discordantly out-of-tune with the lovely harp music.
In one version of the story, the Devil sees Dunstan shoe a lame horse and make him well. Then, Dunstan notices that the Devil is limping on one of his cloven hooves. He offers to make a shoe to help the Devil, too. The Devil envisions a satin slipper but, instead, Dunstan nails a red hot horseshoe very tightly onto the split hoof. The Devil screamed and begged him to take it off. But, Dunstan was in no hurry to do that. Dunstan's solution was to make the Devil promise that he would always respect the symbol of the horseshoe and never enter a building that is protected by the sign of a shoe. Since then, the horseshoe has been viewed as a way to ward of evil and bring in good luck.
This circa 1890 natural sapphire horseshoe pendant has been converted from a stickpin, retaining all its hallmarks on the hanging bail. It measures approximately 16.3mm by 12.7mm, weighs 1g and is hallmarked 750 for 18k, with maker's mark for Mayer Martin GmbH in Mainz, Germany. The company was founded by Martin Mayer in 1838. In antique condition with wear commensurate with age and use. You will receive the pictured pendant.
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