Antique jewelry glossary

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Tiger's claw jewelry

Articles of jewelry made of the curved tapering claws of a tiger, with gold tips and mounts and occasionally with gemstones. They were sometimes mounted in India and China, and were also mounted in England in the Victorian era, c. 1860-80, e.g. by John Brogden. They have been mounted as pendants and as drops on earrings or necklaces. A necklace with about forty pendent tiger's claws was made in pre-Colombian jewelry by the Mixtec Indians near Oaxaca, Mexico. Comparable jewelry was also made with vulture claws.

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