The dominant colours in Italian traditional jewellery are red and gold. Throughout the south of Italy, the main material used to add a red colour to jewellery was coral. The production of coral jewellery was a major industry in the south from prehistoric times. Tourists loved to buy coral jewellery in fashionable shapes, but it was also very popular with Italian women, who valued it for its colour and amuletic qualities. Coral branches were often left in a natural state for amulets, but beads for necklaces, or combs, were always shaped. The facetting on these beads is typical of 19th century Italian work.

In Italy the way a woman dressed her hair, and the jewellery she used to fasten and decorate it, conveyed many meanings. It described her marital status and might help to protect her from spiritual harm, as well as showing off her wealth. Married women wore the most elaborate head dresses, and the largest and most expensive hair pins, to demonstrate their status.

In the south of Italy, particularly in those places which had been under Spanish rule, many women wore decorative combs in their hair. These combs were not restricted to traditional costume, and would have been worn just as readily with fashionable dress. This comb was bought as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867.