This brooch was made in the midst of the bicycle craze that swept England in the 1890s. At the height of the suffrage movement, the bike became a symbol of women’s independence. The bicycle design depicted in this brooch is known as a “diamond-frame machine.” The brooch is designed with great accuracy and attention to detail, with movable handlebars, wheels, and pedals. With the wheels the designer was having some fun with the bike’s name, creating wheels featuring brilliant cut diamonds. It even has a small red ruby reflector on the front and a brown enamel seat that mimics leather.

This model of bicycle was likely ridden by a woman wearing a “rational” cycling dress. Offering safety and comfort, this costume included a voluminous garment known as a bifurcated skirt. Among the earliest “pants” designed for women, the garment protected the wearer’s modesty as she stepped over the high crossbar. The division of each leg meant the wearer didn’t need the slanted bar to accommodate the fabric of her skirt. This was a brooch designed for the “New Woman”— independent and on the cutting edge of female cycling fashion, she wore the brooch to express her feeling of empowerment.