This is a very rare and collectable piece of antique early Victorian silver jewellery.
It is made of silver (not hallmarked but many pieces of Victorian silver jewellery were not marked).
It is such an unusual and exquisite piece of Scottish jewellery, and I have never seen another like it.
The brooch is a large size - measuring 6 cm in width and 5 cm in height.
The front of the brooch has a beautifully painted miniature painting of Holyroodhouse Palace.
The scene is covered with thick glass and the surround is a fancy silver scrollwork one.
It brooch is completely backed with silver (as photographed) It has an old c-scroll pin - and at the top is a little loop where you might attach a fine chain and hang it as a pendant.
The brooch must date to very early in the reign of Queen Victoria - and the composition is very similar to a published print of the scene by Swarbreck - which was published in 1838.
It certainly precedes 1859 - when Queen Victoria carried out a programme of improvements to the Palace including the creation of an elaborate fountain in the forecourt - there is no evidence of this in the little miniature painting on my brooch. Also, the turrets on the towers are taller and more slender than the ones in later Victorian images. The clothes of the people walking in the forecourt date to earlier in the 19th century.
Certainly, a very fine and highly collectable piece of antique jewellery - and comes in an old red leather Hamilton & inches box (probably not original to the brooch, but it is in itself a collectable box for one of Scotland's most prestigious jewellery retailers) - as photographed,
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