The most important source of jet has always been the eastern coast of England and Scotland, centered near what is now the community of Whitby. In this area people found small, black, rounded, light-weight stones along the shoreline. They discovered that these stones could easily be fashioned into beads and other objects and could be polished to a very bright luster. In ancient Egypt, small flat pieces of jet were polished to a bright luster and used as mirrors.
People have been making items from jet since the Stone Age. One of the oldest known jet objects is a necklace made from alternating jet and chalk beads found in a Neolithic burial in France. Necklaces of jet beads have been found in numerous bronze-age mound burials in England and Scotland. At two bronze-age sites in England, partially finished jet items, waste fragments, and the tools used to make them reveal an early jet industry.
During the Roman rule of Britain, much jet was collected along the beaches around Whitby and taken to York for manufacturing into jewelry and other items. These items were then marketed locally and sold to merchants in Europe. Items made with jet were marketed with stories claiming that the material had protective and healing properties. This inspired people to fashion jet into amulets and talismans that were worn for protection or good fortune.
The greatest popularity of jet began in about 1861 when Queen Victoria began wearing it in “mourning jewelry” after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. Perhaps inspired by the Queen, many people in England and other parts of the world began wearing jewelry made with jet. Jet was used to make beads, cabochons, cameos, intaglios, combs, hair pins, bangles, rosaries, cane handles, pens, seals, letter openers, candlesticks, silverware handles, and many other decorative and useful objects.
By this time, beachcombers in eastern Scotland and England had found most of the shoreline jet. Manufacturers then turned to mining the bituminous shales of the Upper Lias. These shales contained nodules and thin bands of jet. They were abundant enough that, in some areas, workers could tunnel into the shale and extract profitable quantities of jet. Jet mining began shortly before Queen Victoria called attention to jet and continued into the 1920s.
Deposits of jet were discovered in other countries beyond Britain, including Spain, Germany, China, Turkey, and Siberia. In the United States, jet has been found in Virginia, New Mexico, Utah, and Alaska. None of these locations produced jet that had the same working qualities and beauty as the jet found near Whitby.
In the 1920s, jet beads became very popular in the United States. Waist-length beaded necklaces made from jet were very popular. These necklaces were much lighter in weight than necklaces made from agate, jasper, or quartz beads with twice the specific gravity.
Jet found by beachcombing: Two pieces of Whitby Jet found by beachcombing along the eastern shore of England. They show the “rounded” shape and matte luster of jet that is collected along the beach. These pieces are about 2 centimeters in size and produce a brown streak.