Antique sterling silver guilloché enamel vinaigrette pendant and "Y" chain

An antique vinaigrette-style orb locket with enamel details and the original "Y" chain. The piece is marked for R. Blackinton & Co., a company founded during the Civil War in Attleboro, MA. This piece dates to the early 20th century, when the company was expanding their production to include novelty pieces, tableware, and vanity accessories. This is a perfume locket, or vinaigrette, made in sterling silver with vermeil finish inside and guilloché enamel details. The enamel is white with hand painted blossom and leaf details. The "Y" chain has enameled stations to match the locket - six bar-shaped and one heart shaped where the chain drops to the pendant. 

The locket is perforated with a split leaf pattern around the edges of both sides, allowing for the perfume of a soaked cloth or cotton to escape. Vinaigrette's were functional objects made to hold a bit of fabric soaked in a pleasing perfume or combination of fragrant herbs and oils. The compartment held the fabric under a hinged, pierced grill and the scent wafted through the perforated lid. Georgian city dwellers of means would keep their vinaigrette in a pocket, on a chatelaine, or somewhere else close at hand and bring it to their nose to mask the wide variety of offensive smells out in public. For a woman in the 1910s or 1920s, this piece would have been more a novelty than a functional object. 

Measurements: 12.1 grams, approx. 20mm round and 20" chain with a 5" drop
Era: 1920s-1930s
Markings: Sterling and the mark for R. Blackinton & Co., North Attleboro, MA (see last photo for a picture of the company in the 1860s.