A lovely pair of 14 karat gold earrings made in the Victorian Era, at the height of snake and love knot jewelry. Snakes became the symbol of rebirth and eternity. Rolled rose gold and textured yellow gold weave into one another to create an almost eternity knot and snake. The snake is accented with two soft white seed pearls that also act as the eyes. These earrings have some of the classic Etruscan Revival design elements, exquisite detail, variety of textures and lines to make a simply beautiful piece of jewelry. Each earring is constructed from two rolled tubes of gold, one of which has a texture that looks like snake skin scales. There is a small dent on one of the earrings, as can be seen in the image. This dent is very hard to see with the eye and is not visible when worn, so it does not detract from the beauty of the earrings. The backs of the earrings clip into the back and lock making them quite secure. One of them has also a well done repair (soldering) on the back, also pictured. This is also not visible when the earrings are worn as it is on the back. These small imperfections are age related wear that can be expected with earrings of this age.
The earrings are 3/4 x 1/2 of an inch and the pearls are approximately 1mm in size. Together they weigh 3.3 grams. The earrings are not marked but test to 14KT. They date to the 1880's and are in good condition for their age. They look very nice on.
