Victorian Civil War Era Swords into plowshares Brooch at South Coast Antiques & Gallery-SOLD

The plow has been a metaphor for the peaceful occupation of mankind since the beginning of agriculture thousands of years ago.  In the Bible Isaiah 2:4 says, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”

This gold over lay pin is a perfect example of a mid 19th century peace movement brooch.  It shows a Victorian era plow merged with a saber or sword.  Overlaid on the plow is a peace lily and where the sword meets the plow is a garnet, which in Victorian iconography and jewelry indicates both blood and mourning, which is very appropriate and appear on many Georgian and pre 1860 mourning jewelry items.

The first peace movement documented was a satirical work by the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. Titled Lysistrata it was weitten around 441 B.C. protesting the Peloponnesian War.  In the United States, peace societies began to appear starting just after the War of 1812 to the present.  The 1840s saw such literary types as Ralph Waldo Emerson and David Thoreau broaden the appeal of peace groups.  Even during the American Civil War, there was a small peace movement.  After the Civil War peace groups re-emerged from hiatus and continued on to the present time, sometimes blurring the distinction between peace movement and anti-war movement.

Plowshares were not always a peaceful tool as seen it could also sow war as in the dreaded monster Hydra, killed by Hercules as his second of twelve labors in ancient Greek legend.  The Romans used the plow as a weapon and plowed up the Phoenician capital of Carthage after the Third Punic War in 146 B.C. and sowed salt to ensure that nothing would grow in that spot again. 

The plow has been around since humans began to use agriculture some 8,000 years ago, propelling us into the modern age.  The concept in ancient times was that metal was precious and thus was used and reused in various ways, both in war and peace and making that transformation a metaphor for peace. 

This scarce historic jewel is available for viewing at South Coast Antiques & Gallery in Ocean Springs,MS