There Are a wide range of necklace and bracelet catches, like brooch catches these have changed over the years and looking at them can help us to accurately date our piece of jewellery. Remember when I say that a type of catch was introduced at a certain date that it will be many years ( if ever) before it completely replaces the types of catch that came before it.

Perhaps one of the earliest forms of catch is the simple hook or shepherds crook shape which passes through an O ring. During the Victorian era we find box catches on bangles and spring O rings on most things which need a catch.

Barrel catches which screw the two ends together seem to have been introduced in the earlier 1900s and have lasted Allin side Box catches and O rings right up until relatively recently – the 1970s and beyond.

open barrel clasp

The style of box catches has changed with the prevalent style of the day for example they were very square in the art deco era and in the 1950s when pearls were popular they were highly ornate so that they could be worn at the front as part of the decoration.

Spring Clasp

One clasp we should take not of  is the lobster catch – These are newish whilst I am not exactly sure when they first came into use they have not been around for more than 30 years and probably much less.

Lobster catch

One special type of bracelet catch is the heart shaped padlock which has been around since the Victorian era ( collectors look out for ones set with hard stones or of unusual shapes). These are usually found on vintage charm bracelets and often have a full set of hallmarks which would enable us to date the piece of jewellery accurately.

bracelet with heart padlock

The toggle clasp has also made a comeback recently – this has been seen in Victorian Jewellery but is more widely used nowadays.