Antique jewelry glossary

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Oorijzer

Oorijzer, Dutch for "ear iron". Originally a type of iron head-dress worn as peasant jewelry by the women of Friesland, in northern Netherlands, but later adapted as a gold helmet fitting tightly over the head and worn under a lace cap. It has a cleft opening extending from the brow to the crown, derived from the 17th-century iron type, and is made with rosettes at the side that hide pins which secure it at the temples to the lace cap.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson