Sometimes jewelry is just jewelry. We evaluate how they fit the outfit, how modern they look, and how well they express your personality. And there are jewelry that have symbolic meaning, such as a wedding ring. The tradition of exchanging wedding or engagement rings is widespread throughout the world. But there are also special decorations that have a similar meaning and are associated with national traditions. This is the Scottish Luckenbooth brooch.
The Luckenbooth brooch is a traditional Scottish token of love and is given as an engagement or wedding brooch. Most often, the brooch has the shape of a heart or two intertwined hearts topped with a crown. The usual material for brooches was silver, although such brooches were made of gold for wealthy buyers. Silver was considered a “talisman for good luck”, and was also an affordable material among ordinary townspeople. Silver brooches were sometimes decorated with garnets, semi-precious stones, or “precious stones” made of glass and enamel. Brooches were sometimes engraved with initials, dates or mottos and featured Scottish motifs such as the St. Andrew’s Cross or thistle in the design.
The name of the Luckenbooth brooch comes from a group of seven Luckenbooths tenement houses that were located on the Royal Mile near St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh. Luckenbooth is Scottish for a locked stall or workshop. The first floors of the houses served as shops where jewelry and trinkets were sold, including this type of brooch. These were the city’s first permanent shops, built in the 15th century, and were originally home primarily to goldsmiths and silversmiths. Later, other establishments appeared: bakeries, hairdressers. The Luckenbooths houses were demolished in 1817.
This brooch is sometimes called “The Crown and Heart of Scotland”. One of the legends about the Luckenbooth brooch says that it was a pledge of love given by Mary Stuart to Lord Darnley. Sometimes the stylized monogram “M” of the executed queen is woven into the design of this brooch.
Another, less popular story states that it was an engagement brooch given to her by the Dauphin of France, whom she later married.
Today, Luckenbooth can still be bought from small traders along Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
