Whether
you're accessorizing for work or play, collecting the right jewelry
can go a long way in helping you project an image of confidence
and individual style. But how do you develop that style when
you're building your jewelry wardrobe from scratch?
According to the experts, developing your own style means "knowing yourself": what you like and dislike. To determine this, ask yourself "What is my ideal?" and "What turns my head?" Decide if that means contemporary or classic jewelry styles; streamlined or detailed; colored stones or white diamonds. Also, listen to style-related comments from others. What outfits or accessories do people compliment you on? This will give you important clues about the kind of jewelry that looks best on you.
Part of the joy of collecting old jewelry is determining the age of the piece. Estate jewelry available to the collector is readily divided into several historical periods.
Unless a piece is engraved with a specific date, a patent number, or a hallmark, arriving at a specific date is futile. Historians love to have beginning andending dates, but mass culture and taste have resulted in jewelry styles that overlap so-called jewelry periods.
The jewelry found on this website reflect styles from a historical period more than any specific time or date. For example, historians agree that the Victorian period ended with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, but Victorian-style jewelry was made well into the 20th century.
Nevertheless, old collecting jewelry holds clues, if not to specific dates, at least to the identification of a general collectible period.
Each period has jewelry styles that are easy to identify for collecting jewelry. The majority of old jewelry draws from the Victorian period mainly because it lasted so long -- starting in the late 1830's and continuing well into the 1900's. Collectable jewelry form this period parallels the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901).
Recurrent themes of nature, history, sentimentality, and symbolism are reflected in the jewelry of the Victorian period. Victorians, known for their closed lips, nevertheless wore their sentiments on their shirt sleeves, so to speak. Hair jewelry, mourning jewelry (onyx, jet, died horn, glass, plastic), name and message jewelry, hand jewelry, and love brooches (knots) were worn, as well as "anchor of hope" and "heart of charity" motifs.
Nature was a source of inspiration for Victorians in the form of flowers, lovebirds, animals, and insects. Good luck symbols are found in clovers, horseshoes, and other symbols like hands, snakes, love knots, and crosses.
During the Victorian period, a revival of interest in older periods found its way into jewelry, including Etruscan (granulation of beads), Renaissance, and Scottish. Jewelry, such as cameos and mosaic jewelry, was often purchased during trips to Italy.
Identifiable motifs include stars, crescents, slides, tassels on pins, fleur d'lis, stick pins, bracelets, lockets, and pocket watches. Gem materials used include diamonds, seed pearls, turquoise, agate, garnets, opals, moonstones, coral, and blue zircon set in yellow gold and gold-filled jewelry. Jewelry methods included black enameling called "taille d'epargne," use of man-made stones, and pierced earrings.
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