An article featuring Linherr & Co.’s hairwork display at the 1853 New York Crystal Palace Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations published in the Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion is both fantastic and informative.

Linherr & Co.’s Hair Tea Set, at Crystal Palace
*Gleason's Pictorial* *Drawing-Room Companion*, 1853

Not only does it delightfully describe and illustrate the innovative ways in which Linherr & Co.’s artists have wrought hair “in every kind of braid, disposed in every graceful shape, and applied in a thousand ways of which ordinary taste and skill would never dream” -- even fashioning it into the form of a tea set -- it also divulges a bit of the history of hairwork in the United States.

Though it mentions that the exchange and preservation of loved ones’ locks of hair “has been common enough from time immemorial,” it refers to the customary keeping of a friend’s hair in a locket as “the old style.” The article elaborates further, explaining that, though it had been only a short time since the wearing of hair ornaments was introduced to the country, it had become fashionable to “so braid and form the hair as to make not only an outside ornament of itself, but also to produce the most beautiful and delicate effect,” referring to this type of hairwork as a “new art” that had become as popular amongst the “upper ten” as wearing golden ornaments.

Linherr & Co.’s Hair Jewelry, at The Crystal Palace
*Gleason's Pictorial* *Drawing-Room Companion*, 1853

Although Victorians are notorious for their eccentricities, it is likely that the tea set was not at all intended to be practical; rather, it was created to showcase the skills of their artists. The 1853 New York Crystal Palace Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations would be comparable to today’s auto shows, where the latest in industrial innovation and creativity is on exhibit. Though not always functional, these creations are meant to explore possibilities. Linherr & Co. wanted viewers at the Exhibition to imagine how “a belle might appear in a full suit of jewelry, shorn from her own flowing tresses, and ‘turned into shape’ by the dexterous fingers” of their “extraordinary artists.”

Informative, from a historical perspective, this Gleason's Pictorial article helps us date the introduction and popularity of hairwork as an art form in the United States.

Linherr & Co.’s Hair Bracelet, at Crystal Palace
*Gleason's Pictorial* *Drawing-Room Companion*, 1853

*Gleason's Pictorial* *Drawing-Room Companion*, 1853

SPECIMENS OF HAIR WORK.

Among the more delicate fancy articles at the Crystal Palace, in the department of personal adornment, there are few specimens of bijuouterie that attract more admiration than the exquisite hair jewelry of Linherr & Co., 577 Broadway. The ornaments in the case depicted by our artists, consist of bracelets, necklaces, brooches, chains, and every conceivable variety of decoration for the dress toilet of a lady, which could come under the head of jewelry, if fabricated of gold and gems. The mountings are of gold, but the material of the ornaments is hair wrought in every kind of braid, disposed in every graceful shape, and applied in a thousand ways of which ordinary taste and skill would never dream. We all preserve the hair of deceased or absent friends as a precious memento, but to Linherr & Co. belongs the merit of turning the plain souvenir into sets of ornaments of the most becoming and beautiful character.

The bracelet and tea set – think of a tea set made of a lover’s hair! – are really wonders of art, and must have required great labor to perfect them. By the aid of Linherr & Co., a belle might appear in a full suit of jewelry, shorn from her own flowing tresses, and “turned into shape” by the dexterous fingers of these extraordinary artists. In none of the many representations which we have given of the fancy articles in the New York Crystal Palace, we have represented an article, or specimens of delicate and curious workmanship, that could exceed in minute and general excellence these specimens of hair work from the establishment of Linherr & Co. In the exhibition these articles have created a just degree of praise, always mingled with the unfeigned surprise at the show of skill and patience that has necessarily been employed to produce the minute and elegant ornaments.

It is but comparatively a short period of time since the wearing of hair ornaments was introduced to this country; the old style of wearing a friend’s hair in a locket has been common enough from time immemorial, but it is a very modern fashion to so braid and form the hair as to make not only an outside ornament of itself, but also to produce the most beautiful and delicate effect. The perfection to which this new art has been brought, has led to the general adoption of these ornaments by the ladies, and they are now almost as much worn by the “upper ten” as are golden ornaments; and that the effect – to say nothing of the pleasant idea of thus wearing the hair of those we love and cherish – is incomparable superior to metallic jewelry, no person of good taste will venture to deny.

Let those of the readers of the Pictorial who visit the Crystal Palace, not forget to examine the originals of the pictures we present herewith, and they cannot do better, if in search of ornaments of a truly beautiful and delicate character, than to call upon Linherr & Co., 577 Broadway, New York. We know of families in this city who have largely introduced this new style of ornament, and of mothers who thus wear bracelets of their children’s hair, most ingeniously wrought, and in some instances even, of elaborate necklaces of the same. Children, too, wear the hair of departed parents, or of those still with them. To our mind this is a very beautiful and tender idea, and we can hardly conceive of a more agreeable or interesting token or keepsake than can be produced in this manner by the skillful hands of those who have acquired this curious art of manufacture, and who now practice it in such perfection in this country, producing, as our engravings will evince, forms and designs of any desirable pattern or character.

Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion. 1853. "Specimens of Hairwork."

Think of a tea set made of a lover’s hair!

The Double Silhouette: Celebrating Pride Month through the Victorian Hairwork of Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant

Victorian Era Women: The DIY OGs