Horse-shoe shaped hairpin made of silver-gilt with applied ornament representing butterfly, coins, birds, flowers, bamboo and <i>lingzhi</i> fungus decorated with kingfisher feathers.
Hanging down the back of the hairpin are strings of imitation pearls threaded by red silks. The imitation pearls are made of hollow glass beads, coated on the inside with essence d'orient in lacquer and the hollow then filled with wax for support. Each string has two stylised <i>shou</i> (longevity) characters decorated with kingfisher feathers and a red glass pendant.
Stamped on the back of the pin is a maker's mark, <i>Bao</i><i> cheng</i> 靌成Hair ornament, horse-shoe shaped, silver-gilt decorated with kingfisher feather, with strings of imitation pearls and glass pendants, China, Qing dynasty, 1880-1883