Silver-Backed Child's Hairbrush with Embossed Rabbit Medallion, c. 1925–1950

The Piece

A small hairbrush made for a child, with an oval back in bright silver-coloured metal and a slim tapering handle that rises from it in one clean line. The handle is plain, faintly ridged along its length, and swells slightly before it flattens at the tip, where a small hanging hole is pierced.

Set into the centre of the back is the reason to own it: an oval medallion, struck in low relief, showing a rabbit standing upright in a jacket, arms lifted. It is drawn with real charm and the detail is still crisp — ears, coat, the turn of the head — surrounded by a fine double-ruled border. Everything else on the back is left plain, so the rabbit sits alone in a field of polished metal.

The brush itself is set into a cream base plate, the tufts arranged in concentric oval rows and flaring outward at the perimeter. The bristles are pale, long, and soft.

History & Provenance

The child's dressing set is a vanished category of object. Through the first half of the twentieth century a brush, comb, and sometimes a mirror in silver or silver plate were standard gifts at a christening or a first birthday — given to be used daily and then kept, which is why so many survive with worn bristles and unworn backs.

The rabbit is the giveaway. Animal medallions were the standard decorative vocabulary for nursery silver: rabbits, ducks, chicks, and bears appear again and again on brushes, cups, spoons, and porringers, always in a small struck oval. A rabbit in a jacket, standing on its hind legs, belongs to the storybook tradition that ran through children's design from the Edwardian period onward.

The handle profile — plain, tapered, lightly ridged, with a small beaded junction where it meets the brush — is restrained rather than ornate, which places it in the second quarter of the twentieth century rather than the fussier decades before.

No maker's mark, quality stamp, or hallmark is visible on the back, the handle, or the collar. We have not found a STERLING mark, and we are not going to describe this as solid silver on the strength of its colour.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

This is a gift object, and it has been one twice — once when it was given to a child ninety-odd years ago, and again now. It suits a new baby, a christening, a nursery shelf, or a grandmother who will recognise it immediately. Nobody manufactures anything like it any more, and a small silver-backed brush with a rabbit on it says something a gift card cannot.

It also stands on its own as an object. Laid on a dresser beside a jewellery dish, propped in a shadow box, or set on a stack of books, the oval back and long handle make a shape that reads as considered. The tarnish is worth keeping — it sits in the low relief of the medallion and makes the rabbit legible in a way a bright polish would flatten.

A note on care: if you do polish it, use a soft silver cloth and work only the flat areas, leaving the darkened recesses of the medallion alone. Never use a dip or a liquid tarnish remover, which will strip the relief and can seep into the join between the metal and the base plate. Do not wet the bristles or the base; brush the tufts out with a clean dry toothbrush instead. If you intend to use it on a child's hair, wipe the bristles with a barely damp cloth and let it dry fully, bristles down, before it goes near anyone.