Victorian Gold-Filled Heart Locket Necklace set with Paste

Antique Heart Bloomed Gold-Filled Locket Necklace, Paste Crystals, Monogram. This antique heart locket is a beautiful and classic example of sentimental jewelry produced in the late 19th century. Typically available for order either by catalog or at a jewelry store, this locket would have been first selected for the design, which features a diagonal slash of paste crystals set into the metal's surface, and then hand monogrammed with the initials of choice. The paste crystals were at one time clear and sparkly, but as is common with pieces from this time, exposure to over a century of humidity and wear have caused the pastes to darken.  As with almost all lockets from this time, there is room for two photographs inside, with the original inset photo frames and one of the two original clear celluloid photo protectors intact. The monogram on the reverse side is hand engraved in a classic Victorian script, and while the first letter is decidedly an 'M', the second letter has characteristic