Researching Antique Jewelry

One of the things I really enjoy about the antique jewelry business is researching some of the pieces we get. Whether it is a mark I have not seen before, an unusual design or motif or a piece that has been personalized, I always try to find out as much as I can about each item and sometimes it is just fascinating! Our latest update contains just such a piece - a wonderful antique signed Tiffany & Co. 14K gold locket, engraved with the name "Margaret Lynch Conger", as a well as the monogram "CRC" and a series of dates August 3, 1867, Jan.1, 1872 and Oct. 4th, 1876. It also holds a curled lock of chestnut hair under a crystal.

So – who was Margaret Lynch Conger? I Google’d the name and really only came up with two possibles – in the first result, the name shows up in historical papers held by the New York Public Library. A Margaret Lynch Conger was the daughter-in-law of Abraham Bogart Conger (1814-1887), who evidently had quite the history and was, in addition to other things, a New York state senator. She was married to his son, Clarence R. Conger, which would fit the CRC monogram. It is an interesting read, and can be found HERE.

The other hit is for an author by the same name, her bibliography can be found HERE.

I don’t think this is the same person, because I also found an obituary for the first one dated Friday, March 29, 1912, making it unlikely to be the author, as two of the books listed are from the 1920’s. Maybe her daughter? So then I Google’d Margaret L. Conger – and SHE was a suffragette from Albany, according to a story HERE in the New York Times archives. She also showed up in the 1930 New York Blue Book, as did a Clarence C. Conger the Third, but at separate addresses, so maybe that was her brother? So there you go, probably more information than you wanted to know, but I always find it fascinating when I can at least attempt to find the provenance of a piece!

Here are some pictures of the locket in question -