Look what we found!

Antique head parure from Zeeland, Holland.

Although we do not think this is something you would wear, it can be a valuable addition to an antique jewellery collection. A very complete headset from Zeeland, which is in the west-southern part of Holland, to be more specific from the area called Walcheren. To find a complete set is special because mostly these sets are split up among different heirs at legacies. This typical wear for a Zeeland country woman (or farmer's wife) was worn in the 19th Century until our days. Today, there aren’t nearly any people left who wear the dress of this local distinctive style. While the youngsters do not wear it at all anymore, the older people do wear it occasionally. And in 2003, the last two men wearing the traditional clothing died and, most probably in another 10 to 15 years, no woman will be wearing it anymore either.

What is she wearing, you would ask. Well, she is actually wearing more than you can see. First of all, over her back-combed (long) hair with the front of her hair in what is called in the local dialect “toer” (pronounce “tour”), she is wearing a starched so-called “ondermuts” (Dutch for the little lace coif that is worn under the cap you see). Over this coif, the actual headset was placed. This headset is called “ijzer” (Dutch for “iron”). The reason why it's called “iron” doesn’t do it much justice as it is made of a U-shaped silver brace that goes over the back of the head to both temples. At both ends of this brace, the gold curls are attached. Most of the time, the weight of the golden curls is engraved in the back of the silver brace, as is the case here. It gives us the weight of 32 grams.

Then over this brace, the final cap, called “langette”, (also stiffly starched) was placed and held into its position with three gold needles at both sides of the head. These three needles are in three different sizes and made in gold filigree. Then, last but not least, to finalize the outfit, at both curls the actual jewel, a pendant, was attached, a sort of triangle plate with low pyramid shapes on it and a baroque pearl hanging underneath.

And then when it started to rain, the women hated it because when their stiffly starched caps became wet and soft, all their work was for nothing.

Click here for more information on this antique jewellery rarity.