Although originally the name luckenbooth referred specifically to heart brooches from Edinburgh, it has become a generic term for the pins, which rankled some purists.

And Other Changes

Until the 19th century, heart brooches were worn by ordinary people, as evidenced by their simple design and plain appearance. For example, they didn’t appear in early Scottish portraits, as a catalog for a 1991 major exhibition of Scottish jewelry at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery noted, because such paintings were commissioned by the wealthy.

But by the late 19th century, the brooches had transformed into elaborate decorative pins, often enameled or set with gemstones. Although beautiful, these Victorian-era brooches were “lacking the naïve charm of the older forms,” wrote G.R. Dalgleish, one of the catalog’s editors.

But less expensive versions of luckenbooths continued to be available as the Industrial Revolution made mass production possible.

At Auction

Luckenbooths are often sold at auction in Scotland. Sometimes Lyon & Turnbull, the Edinburgh-based auction house, will have one to offer during its annual auction of Scottish silver, or at one of its five or six general silver and jewelry auctions throughout the year; Bonham’s also holds silver auctions in the Scottish capital.

“The good ones don’t turn up often, but there is a plethora from the Victorian period and later,” Colin Fraser, a silver consultant with R.L. Christie Works of Art in Edinburgh said. “We like to have them, but many of them are locked away in collections. They have a real international appeal because they are so iconically Scottish.”