The History of Marcasite Stones

Marcasite jewellery has been known since ancient times, but became popular during the 19th century, during the Victorian era in England. At its origins, it was the subject of great interest among artists of the Art Nouveau movement, who mounted marcasites on silver jewellery to highlight and make the shine of their natural stones, all cut and polished in circular or square shapes, sparkle.

In Portugal, at the beginning of the 20th century, these jewels appeared as silver replicas of traditional pieces of Portuguese jewellery from the 18th century, made of gold and set with diamonds and roses.

The name marcasite is a type of dark opaque stone that has metallic reflections . It is commonly called marcasite but, in fact, there is also pyrite, which is another type of stone with a chemical composition and characteristics similar to the previous one, opaque, with golden metallic reflections and more authentic and true than marcasite itself.

Some say it is the “fool’s gold” stone.