Many royals of old, such as King Tut, were buried in magnificent funerary masks. Others had special burial suits, like the Chinese prince, Liu Sheng.

The dead were often given special items, including jewelry, to assist them in the afterlife. Sometimes they were laid to rest in their finest, believing it would be with them throughout eternity. Queen Puabi’s tomb was filled with her finery; the Princess of Vix had her treasures; and similarly, many other ancient rulers were assured a positive afterlife because of the jeweled goods they carried with them in their graves.

- Funeral mask covered by turquoise and red shell mosaic. Artefact from Teotihuacan, Mexico. Teotihuacan Civilization. / De Agostini Picture Library / G. Dagli Orti / The Bridgeman Art Library

Mourning jewelry was popular during the British Victorian period, especially after Prince Albert’s death in 1861. It was often made of jet, which is ancient fossilized wood.

Jet is dark and resembles black glass – and black is the traditional color of sadness in Western culture – but jet is also very lightweight. This made it the ideal material for creating large earrings and pendants, which were fashionable at that time. And its dark color was appropriate because it was believed that a widow in mourning should not wear anything colorful. If she did, it would be perceived as disrespectful of her dead husband. So in Victorian England, widows were expected to wear dark colors for a period of time…and that included their mourning jewelry.

- Photo © GIA & Tino Hammid, courtesy Benjamin Zucker

“Hairwork” is jewelry made from human hair, which was quite popular in the 1800s. The hair was artfully woven and braided into such intricate patterns that many people liked the look of it and desired hairwork jewelry, even if the hair was from a stranger. Watchbands, necklaces, lockets, bracelets, and earrings made of hairwork were very much in vogue.

Hairwork items that were made of one’s own hair were also exchanged between living people, and it was a sentimental way to share a part of themselves with their loved ones. Very few people today know how to create fine hairwork. It has become a lost art.

‘Hairwork’ is distinctly different from “hair jewelry:” hairwork is jewelry made almost exclusively of human hair, whereas ‘hair jewelry’ is jewelry that includes a lock of hair somewhere in its design, such as a locket with a piece of hair tucked in it. Hair jewelry was sometimes worn as mourning jewelry because it was thought to keep part of the deceased person close to the one who wore their hair.

- Photo by Robert Weldon/GIA, courtesy John Connelly

Grisly in its grandeur, the jeweled skull makes spectacularly spooky jewelry. Skulls are often worn as pendants and charms, but they are also popular in rings, earrings, and even cuff links. Add gems, and an eerie skull becomes someone’s finery.

Gemstones carved into the shape of skulls, especially as sculpted objets d’art, can be vogue decoration pieces. In some cultures, skulls are used to symbolize, revere and celebrate the dead.

The human skull has many meanings, and it typically represents one’s mortality; however, in the modern Western world, it has also become a trendy fashion figure used in clothing and in jewelry.

- Photo courtesy Deakin & Francis