Scotland’s Jewellery History

Celtic Connections

Often taking inspiration from Celtic jewellery designs, Scottish jewellery is jewellery which has either been made in Scotland or has been made with Scotland in mind. Incredibly, the iron age is when Scotland’s jewellery dates back to. Thousands of years of jewellery experience within Scotland has unquestionably provided the nation with an excellent foundation to potentially cement themselves as one of the most luxurious and prestigious jewellery providers in the world. Jewellery buyers place huge importance on exclusivity and uniqueness and Scotland’s very illustrious history in the jewellery market is something which the country doesn’t acknowledge and play up to enough and Scotland is missing out on a huge opportunity as a result.

Unique Scottish Jewellery

The most traditional examples of Scottish jewellery are objects which had functional uses at some point in Scotland’s history and over time they have become jewellery pieces. These are a massive factor with regards to the uniqueness of Scottish jewellery which is not yet being taken advantage of by the Scots. Scotland’s great heritage is world renowned and with recent releases of patriotic Scottish films such as Outlaw King which were global sensations on a cinematic level as well as on the Netflix platform. Hundreds of millions of people watched these films, which provides a huge platform for Scottish jewellery to take huge steps towards becoming a mainstay in the jewellery market and potentially take huge steps to greatly improving the Scottish economy which could be a very welcome addition to the independence movement which Scotland is still experiencing.

Independence Movement

Droves of people descend on Glasgow and Edinburgh’s streets when the independence marches take place, showing the appetite in the country which still exists for a potential second independence referendum. Unquestionably the support for a second referendum could increase significantly if the jewellery market were to take off in Scotland and the country began to realise it’s potential in the country. A huge reason for the failed independence attempt in 2014 was people’s insecurity about the future revenue sources for the country. Many independence supporters pointed towards the oil revenue which could be achieved in the North Sea. However, many critics and remain supporters cast doubt on these claims. Since the referendum it has been shown that the revenue from the oil was nowhere near as significant as was being argued at the time. If the jewellery market were to begin to make significant sums of money for Scotland’s economy this could be a huge factor in Scottish people being swayed towards voting for independence.

Potential

Scotland has so many ancient jewellery items which are incomparable to other countries jewellery offerings. Items such as kilt pins, thistle brooches, luckenbooth brooches and pebble jewellery are easily identifiable as very Scottish items. These would help Scottish jewellery items stand out considerably amongst an extremely crowded and competitive market. Differentiation is a crucial element of jewellery items now in these modern times and not many countries can offer more unique jewellery items than Scotland.