Talon brooches such as this began to appear in Britain made popular by Queen Victoria after she brought her castle, Balmoral, in 1848. Queen Victoria loved Scotland and had much pride for her Scottish ancestry and this was reflected in Scottish design elements found in jewelry of the Victorian Age. Woman adorned themselves not just with figurative representations of birds, insects and animals also real taxidermist specimens. Along with talon brooches, bodices where adorned with feathers and stuffed birds perched on hats among foliage.
During the Victorian Age, brooches with the foot of a game bird where set in silver or gold and often adorned with gems became fashionable. A pin such as this would have been worn by men as a kilt pin or by ladies as a brooch. A brooch such as this is likely a grouse foot. The grouse foot is a symbol of luck in Scotland.
Queen Victoria
