Jewellery using exotic hummingbird feathers was first made in England by Harry Emanuel who took out a patent for his method of using the feathers in July 1865: ‘The object of my Invention is a new manufacture of or improvement in ornaments for personal wear, according to which I apply to an useful manufacturing purpose a production not hitherto so employed. . . . For this purpose I form a setting frame, back, or mounting in gold, silver or other metallic substance or rigid material, by casting, cutting or otherwise, and in any desired shape; to this I affix feathers or plumage of birds, preferring those which are celebrated for their varied effects of colour and light; I attach them by means of shell lac, or other adhesive substance. . . . The whole may be finished off by gems or other desired ornamentation.’

Quoted from C. Gere & J. Rudoe, ‘Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria: A Mirror to the World’, London, British Museum, 2010, see p.226-229.

Humming bird jewels are held in the collections of the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum.