Bidspirit auction | A Victorian Gold Plated Double

A Victorian Gold Plated Double Tintype Portrait Locket - A Victorian era circular double portrait locket featuring a gold tone plated finish over a silver colored base metal. The exterior faces are ornately decorated with engraving. One side depicts a landscape scene showing a multi-story building situated by a body of water with radiating lines suggesting a sunburst background. The opposite face features a machine-turned sunburst pattern emanating from a central oval cartouche framed by foliate scrollwork. The cartouche is vacant and shows no evidence of a monogram. The edges of the locket are finished with a continuous foliate scroll engraving. The case opens on a hinge to reveal two monochrome portraits, likely tintypes, depicting a man and a woman in 19th-century dress. The portraits are held within circular metal frames. The locket is suspended from a decorative foliate-engraved bail and a large, plain circular ring. A mark is stamped into the interior rim in uppercase characters reading PATENT. The locket measures approximately 1.25 inches in diameter. The total height including the bail and suspension ring is approximately 1.75 inches. Significant wear and loss to the gold plating is visible across both exterior faces, revealing the silver-toned base metal beneath (Photos 3, 4, 5, 6). General surface scratching and minor pitting are present on the metal surfaces (Photo 5). The interior portrait of the woman is currently rotated approximately 90 degrees out of vertical alignment (Photo 1). The portrait of the man shows several small spots of emulsion loss or discoloration near the top left edge (Photo 1). The hinge and clasp appear functional, though the locket shows a slight gap when closed (Photo 7).