In the 1900's, most women had long hair, or wore yak hair pieces or, very often, both. No wonder it was the age of the hair comb. It was also a decadent era when ladies flaunted their wealth by wearing the most expensive jewels they could get their hands on.
Here are some of my favorites. All three are very Anna Blanc.
The first is a combination comb and brooch designed by Lalique in 1902. It's made of horn, gold, yellow sapphires, mandarin garnets, diamonds, and a fire opal. It's especially cool because the phoenix feather can be taken off the comb and worn as a brooch.
This second comb was crafted in 1900 from opals, diamonds, and tortoiseshell. I'm not sure who made it, but it's absolutely stunning, and sold at Christie's for over $24,000 in 2004.
Finally, we have an engraved horn comb crafted by a woman designer, Elizabeth Bonte in 1900. Miss Bonte was one of the great Parisian Art Nouveau jewelers, and like so many jewelers of her day, had a penchant for capturing the natural world. Here is a great blog about her work (Thanks Jewelry Nerd!) http://www.jewelrynerd.org/1/post/2013/08/elizabeth-bonte.html
I would write more, but I'm saving my words for novel number three in the Anna Blanc detective series.