Jet & Gutta-Percha
Black-gem jewelry was made popular in the mid-19th century due to Victorian mourning customs, with their emphasis on mainly wearing black clothing for the proper period of time. The first choice was Jet, which is fossilized coal. A less expensive alternate was Gutta-percha. Victorian "mourning jewelry" using both of these gems can still be found in antique markets. While contemporary plastics have replaced much of the uses of gutta-percha, the sap of the gutta-percha tree is highly malleable and was not only used to fashion lockets, the heads of walking-canes and brooches, it was also used to make golf balls, create molded furniture that imitated carved wood as well as insulate telegraph wires, produce dental filings and other surgical devices.