Whitby Jet

The North Yorkshire fishing port of Whitby is famous for its connections with Dracula and its medieval abbey, but nothing has made Whitby more famous around the world than its jet. This hard shiny gem, closely related to coal, has been fashioned into jewellery and trinkets for generations, but during the Victorian period, when the ritual surrounding death and the long mourning of Queen Victoria made black fashionable, jet became hugely popular. Jewellery manufactured in hundreds of workshops in and around Whitby was sold all over Europe. Although jet is found elsewhere in the world, it is the jet from Whitby that excites collectors and even jet jewellery manufactuered elsewhere is often called Whitby jet. This book tracers the history of jet and the Whitby jet industry. Different types and styles of jet jewellery are examined, and the work of some of the best known Whitby craftsmen is pictured.