Inspired by 1st. century B.C. Celtic Hairpins, these 21st century haircombs carry on a 3,000+ year tradition of making practical and beautiful ornaments out of Bronze.

Bronze is, at heart, a hybrid metal; an alloy composed of copper and tin, bronze is greater --and more durable-- than the sum of its parts.

Historically, bronze is also a hybrid metal because it was only possible to make bronze in a culture with a thriving tradition of trade. Three thousand years ago Mediterranean traders crisscrossed the Black Sea and the Mediterranean in search of new sources of tin and copper. Early Phoenician sailors braved the North Atlantic to trade for Cornish tin and merchants braved the deserts of North Africa in search of Ethiopian copper.

The Age of Bronze radically changed Ireland, made farming and hunting easier & ensured that the early Celtic Age would glitter.

With bronze plowshares farming became easier, with bronze axes trees could be felled and larger, sturdier, boats could be built. And with bronze swords, spear tips and arrow points war was irrevocably changed.

However, even at the dawn of the bronze age early artists recognized the creative value of bronze as well as the practical value of bronze. Harder than pure tin or copper, with the satiny smooth texture of tin and a warm autumnal glow unlike any other metal, bronze offered early craftspeople a world of possibilities; bronze could be polished to a high sheen and crafted into mirrors or fittings for chariots that were both durable and decorative.

And, of course, jewelry; torcs, finger rings, brooches, buckles, hairpins and pendants were all produced in vast quantities throughout Western Europe as early as 2,700 years ago. (And throughout the Middle East and Orient as early as 3,500 years ago.)

In various forms, bronze has been with us ever since the Age of Bronze. Inexpensive, durable and beautiful bronze remained a favored metal for functional buckles, buttons and brooches (as well as door knockers and fastenings) well into the Iron Age.

During the first decade of the twentieth century bronze enjoyed a brief revival in the jewelry world when craftspeople working in the Arts & Crafts style eagerly embraced the old-fashioned unostentatious metal as a medium that would allow art and skill to take center stage.

In the early twenty-first century we at Nagle Forge & Foundry decided to revive the use of bronze in jewelry by reproducing designs that were first made --in Bronze-- during the first decades of the Roman Empire. Immediately entranced by the timeless qualities of bronze --the lovely texture, durability, magnificent patinas, etc.-- we have since expanded our bronze line with new designs and new interpretations of timeless designs.