Released on Veteran’s Day last year, Lest We Forget: Masterpieces of Patriotic Jewelry and Military Decorations by Judith Price (Taylor Trade Publishing, $29.95) is a compendium of medals, pins, pendants, brooches — even earrings — given to commemorate service to one’s country in the armed forces. Price, the president of the National Jewelry Institute, includes items dating all the way back to the 1777 Battle of Saratoga — many of which are now part of the West Point Museum’s permanent collection. This early “memory brooch” is one such piece. Dating back to the 1860s, the gold medallion with braided silk was made by Tiffany & Company to honor service at Fort Sumter (where the first shots of the Civil War were fired).
See this piece — and other militaria — at “Touched by Fire,” a special exhibit marking the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which is on view at the museum through early April.
