Archive for May, 2009
6 things about vintage gold jewellery
Posted by: | CommentsWhen we look at a piece of antique vintage jewellery which is gold coloured, how do we know if it is real gold or not?
There can be a huge difference in value between a piece of gold coloured metal and a piece of real gold. For example : we have two vintage rings both gold in colour but one is just gold coloured metal and the other is 22 carat gold and they both weigh about 4 grams. The gold coloured metal ring is probably worthless – completely without value. The 22 carat gold one is worth at least the “scrap” value of the gold which is about £17 a gram as I write this giving out ring a value of at least £68.
vintage gold jewellery
Here are 6 pointers to help you decide if your piece of vintage jewellery is gold or just gold coloured.
1. Hallmarks. You will need a magnifying glass or loup to read these. Refer to my article on hallmarking or look up the marks in a hallmark book. If the piece has genuine gold hallmarks then there is no doubt that it is gold. You can use the hallmarks to determine which strength or carat of gold your jewellery is. By the way many marks you find on a piece of antique or jewellery are not real hallmarks – some have been put there to deceive or are simply the makers brand mark
2. Other marks : Does your piece of jewellery read “rolled gold”? or how about Gold filled, Gold plated or gold front and back? None of these are solid gold but all of them have some gold content. They have a thin gold layer on top of a base metal beneath. Rolled gold and Gold front and back items are still quite collectible.
3. Colour. Do not worry if your gold coloured item has a pinky colour or looks warmer in tone than modern jewellery. It might still be gold. Rose Gold has a little copper in the mix which gives the lovely colour. This was popular at the beginning to the last century. The colour does not help us to determine if it is gold or not
4. Visual clues: take your magnifying loup and look at the edges of your piece of vintage jewellery, especially at the places where it will rub. Are there any signs of wear and you can see through to the metal below. If so, sorry its not gold. Is there any greenish patches? if so then again its not gold. Overall does the gold look faded or dirty in places? Give the piece a light clean. Gold should clean up nice and shiny, if not its unlikely to be a real piece of gold jewellery.
5. Testing for gold. Testing an unmarked piece of vintage jewellery to see if it is gold is done with acid. you can get a jewellery to do this for you or buy a testing kit yourself. I personally would not recommend testing it yourself unless you wish to become an expert and spend many hours learning how the acid reacts with the gold and base metals. Also the acid is very dangerous and you have to use it with the utmost care and in the correct conditions as detailed on the kit you buy.
6. Yellow Metal. Yellow Metal is a term you often see in an auctioneers catalogue to describe a gold coloured piece of vintage jewellery. But is it gold? Well the answer to that is maybe. The auction houses are bound by law to describe something accurately. Unless the piece is hallmarked they cannot call it gold unless they can prove that it is. Providing proof ( eg testing) is too difficult and expensive for the amount of jewellery they handle and so they simply call it ” yellow metal” which no one can dispute.
Style Vintage, Antique, Retro – how old am I?
Posted by: | CommentsDo you collect old stuff? Antiques, vintage, retro, period or antiquity? Today I am taking a look at what each term means – how old is antique or vintage? Here are my definitions and why and how they are applied here on antiquesavenue blog and my antiques shop.
Modern anything newer than vintage eg less than 20 years old. Applied today that would be anything after 1989. These items could also be know as Second hand or pre-owned. I think the Americans refer to stuff of this age as “Estate”.
Antique or vintage?
Antique – the official legal definition of antique takes us to items of 100 years old or more. 19o9 is not a good cut off date for antiques . The official definition now includes all Edwardian items and many Art Nouveau ones too. Stylistically the end of the Edwardian era is not a good place to change from antique to vintage as style advanced very little during the 1910′s, presumably the first world war held back much of the design change which came in the 1920s . Some major antiques fairs are now allowing anything older than 50 years to be described as antique. I actually think this is too lenient as it means that items from the 1950s are antique where as stylistically they fit so closely with the 1960s that it is best to keep these in vintage. You can see I have divided my jewellery in the shop into antique jewellery and vintage jewellery – the cut off date between the two being circa 1920.
Vintage - anywhere between the modern and antique . By my current interpretation of antique that is 1920s to 1980′s. This period encompasses art deco and modern design of the 195os, 1960s and 1970s. Following the first world war and its immediate aftermath came the 1920s and a drastic shift in design to art deco – stylistically this fits best with the modern design rather than the antique.
Retro - This refers to style rather than age of an item. Retro refers to the high style of the 1950s through to the 1980s but can also refer to new items in that style
Period – these are items which genuinely come from the age they are styled for rather than reproduction. So if a vase is referred to as Period Art Deco it is from the 1920s/ 1930s rather than a newer piece. The opposite to this is to call a piece Art Deco style, if you see this beware it is most likely much newer than the art deco era.
Antiquity – items from the ancient world – the Romans and Greeks for example.
Revival – here is an interesting term. Revival means when a style cam back into fashion. Hence we had an art nouveau revival in the 1970s and I think that there is a little art nouveau revival going on right now – just take a look at some of the swirling designs popular in fabrics and on websites at the moment. Some other revivals are: Egyptian in the 1920s, Japanese -1870s, medieval gothic – 1860s and art deco in the 1980s.
I’m onthe look out for more interesting antique time scale terms – can you suggest any?
Victorian Jewellery – how it was influenced by the Queen
Posted by: | CommentsVictorian Jewellery – Queen Victoria’s influence on the fashion of the time
Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) was a hugely popular and fashionable figure during the Victorian age. In all things, whatever she chose was quickly followed by her subjects wanting the same thing – Jewellery was no exception and whatever the Queen was seen wearing soon became the must have high fashion item of the day. When we look at Antique Jewellery today we can still see this influence in the abundance of particular types of jewellery and the dates at which they were most popular.
Snake Jewellery
From what I can find the first big influence the Queen’s Jewellery had on Victorian Society was when Prince Albert gave the young Queen an engagement ring in the form of a snake which was set with an emerald. Of course this would play to Victorian sentimentality and hidden meaning – the snake or serpent for “Eternity” and an Emerald for “Hope”. How very romantic. They married in 1840. The snake was popular in jewellery for the rest of the Victorian era – you can find ring and also bracelets , brooches and necklaces all with a snake or two. How about a stick pin with two snakes heads?
As wedding gifts Victoria and Albert exchanged wedding gifts. Victoria gave Albert a “collar of the Garter” and Albert gave Victoria a Sapphire and diamond brooch. Both the Garter motiff and the Diamond brooch became widely worn after this event although diamonds were not quite as abundant at that time as they became following the finding of diamonds in South Africa in the late 1860s.
Victoria and Albert both loved all things Scottish and during the 1840s spent a lot of time there eventually buying Balmoral Castle in 1848. This set a trend for all things Scottish and traditional Scottish Jewellery became widely worn. Much of this Scottish jewellery is made of silver or gold and set with Scottish agate hard stone panels and semi precious stones such as citrines. Much of this is of traditional design – a Scottish dirk or a kilt pin, you certainly can see the Celtic influence in many pieces.
Prince Albert died in 1861 and Queen Victoria’s mourning set the fashion for wearing black for long periods of time following the death of a loved one. Along with the black clothes came black jewellery . Victorian black mourning jewellery was made from Bog Oak, Gutta percha, black enamel and a favourite due to the way it could be carved and polished was Whitby Jet. Victorian mourning jewellery is big and bold quite different from the dainty mourning jewellery of the Georgian eras.
Victorian jet brooch
Queen Victoria celebrated a couple of important jubilee’s – 1887 and 1897 – you can fin brooches, medals, charms, fobs and stick pins all celebrating these big events in her life.
Towards the end of her life Victoria had a lesser influence on the fashion trends of her subjects. Mourning became less deep and as the fashions for clothing became lighter so did jewellery. Take a look at your jewellery from the Victorian era – can you see the Queens influence?
Many of the pieces of jewellery that Queen Victoria influenced can still be found today – genuine antique Victorian Jewellery need not cost more than the modern jewellery of today so Happy Hunting.
Vintage Jewellery information on AntiquesAvenue
Posted by: | CommentsAbout Vintage Jewellery:
I know many of you come here looking for more information on Vintage jewellery. I have written several introductory guides which I think you may find interesting which can be found in the relevant departments in my shop www.antiquesavenue.co.uk.
General guide to vintage Jewellery
What sort of vintage brooches came from which vintage era?
A little introduction to vintage costume jewellery
About vintage bracelets including a sizing guide
About vintage rings including sizing guide
Types of vintage necklace including length guide.
Hope you enjoy these and I will be writing more about vintage jewellery soon
Pearl necklaces – How to choose
Posted by: | CommentsPearl Necklaces – how to choose the right one to wear
So you fancy a vintage necklace? Pearl necklaces are very fashionable now but how do you choose from the huge variety available. As with all Jewellery is is nice to buy vintage jewellery as you will have something more unique and most likely at a better price and with a wider range to choose from.
Lets take a look at some terms associated with vintage pearls to help guide you:
Natural pearls:
These have been formed in the oyster without any interference from man. These are the original pearls sought after through the centuries and quite rare and expensive these days especially if you want a large matched necklace. If you are going to buy a natural pearl necklace I suggest that you take some expert advice from a jeweller so as not to be mis-led. Seed pearls are tiny natural pearls and baroque or fresh water pearls are natural but normal mis-shapen
Cultured pearls:
These are formed in the oyster just like natural pearls but the formation of these is started by a tiny bead being introduced into the oyster shell. The oysters are farmed in large beds – The most famous name is cultured pearls is Mikimoto. Cultured pearls are much cheaper than natural pearls and unless you examine them very closely look just the same. If you see the term SouthSea pearls these are also cultured pearls
AntiquesAvenue always offers a selection of vintage pearl necklaces. Please do press the search button below to view them:
Faux Pearls:
Faux Pearls, Imitation pearls, Majorcan pearls, costume pearls these are entirely man- made either from plastic or glass. Faux Pearls are costume jewellery, they are much cheaper than natural and cultured pearls and for a while can look the part . “Faux” is the French term for false or imitation.
Pink Pearls, Black Pearls:
Whilst natural coloured pearls can be found these have almost always have been dyed they could be cultured or faux pearls
Knotted String of pearls:
Pearl necklaces are often sold as “Hand Knotted”. This means that each pearl is knotted onto the string so that there is a tiny know between each pearl and its neighbour. Knotting in this way spaces out the pearls and prevents wear when they rub up together and also it prevents you from looking many if the string breaks. Good knotting is to be expected on a string of high quality pearls but beware can also be found on cheaper costume jewellery strings of pearls.
Creamy Pearls and White Pearls
Pearls can normally be found in creamy colours and in white. It is nice to choose a colour which goes well with your skin tone. Try both colours on and decide which looks best
Vintage Costume Jewellery – 10 top facts
Posted by: | CommentsVintage Costume Jewellery – 10 top facts
I have talked on here a lot about jewellery but not much specifically about costume jewellery. What is it and why is it different from normal vintage jewellery. Here are my ten top facts ( in no particular order)
1. What is costume Jewellery and how does it differ from other vintage jewellery?
Costume jewellery is made of non-precious materials – that is it is not made of Gold, silver, platinum or precious gemstones. It is made to be worn rather than to be stored in a bank vault as an investment.
vintage costume jewellery brooch
2. What is costume Jewellery made of?
Non -precious metals, Plastics, Wood, Glass, non precious stones such as agate or shell
3. How old is costume Jewellery?
Whist Coco Chanel is attributed with being the first designer to bring costume jewellery into her collections you can find costume jewellery going right back to the ancients with glass and ceramic beads. The Victorians even invented new materials such as Pinchbeck for costume Jewellery.
4. Where can I find vintage costume jewellery?
Vintage costume Jewellery is relatively abundant and can be found at all antique fairs, collectors markets, car boot sales, auctions, eBay and any even Charity shops. The problem is to learn how to tell what is good vintage costume jewellery from nearly new poor copies made recently.
5. What vintage costume Jewellery should I buy?
You can either spend a lot of time learning about costume jewellery before you start or buy a few pieces that you really like in your favourite colours and in very good condition. I would always check the condition of a piece and now buy damaged costume jewellery unless I was going to use the pieces to make something new.
6. Whos Who in vintage costume Jewellery
As I have mentioned Coco Chanel was the first designer name in costume jewellery. Look out for some less well know names which can be found more easily and at a cheaper price. There is real quality to be had from Coro / Corocraft and Tiffari . Personally if I was starting to collect now I would look at Spinx and if you like the celtic look Miracle jewellery is still reasonably priced.
7. What about a themed collection of vintage costume Jewellery?
How about a collection of vintage costume brooches? Perhaps insect or bug pins. Vintage glass necklaces are very popular at the moment as are vintage plastic bangles. If you can wear clip-on earrings a great collection can be had quite cheaply as many ladies prefer to wear earrings for pierced ears.
8. How do I care for my vintage costume Jewellery?
The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to keep it dry. Most costume jewellery will suffer if it gets damp, metals will tarnish, paint will flake, stones will come loose. If it needs a clean do it very carefully, brush with a soft dry brush and a lint free cloth to start with. Still not clean then use an almost dry soft brush with a tiny dab of jewellery cleaner and pat dry quickly. Remember perfume, hairspray and makeup will spoil your vintage costume jewellery.
9. Can I see some vintage costume jewellery?
Here are two nice pieces:
- donkey brooch
- Theater masks brooch
10 How can I find out more about vintage costume Jewellery?
I will be bringing you more about vintage costume jewellery here but in the mean time pop into you local library or book shop. Here are a couple of books to start with:
Judith Miller Costume Jewellery pub Dorling Kindersley
Julia C Carroll Costume Jewellery 101 pubCollector books
Happy Hunting
Vintage rings – Style, choice and value
Posted by: | CommentsVintage Rings – Style, choice and value
Rings are possibly the most popular form of Jewellery and that is not surprising given that they are the one piece of jewellery that the wearer can see as much as others can. Have you ever looked at the style, range of choice and the sheer value for money that you can find in a genuine vintage ring? Here is a selection offered by antiquesavenue which show just two of a huge variety at much less than the cost of new. buy vintage rings and you will be able to get a gold, gemstone set ring at the price of a new costume jewellery ring:
Vintage cocktail ring
The cocktail ring or dress ring is a showy gemstone set ring which would typically be worn at a party, or with a special outfit. This ring is made of gold and set with amethysts down the shoulders as well as a central amethyst and diamond accents . I love the colour of amethyst which go well with the yellow gold
art deco ring
A truly wonderful and genuine art deco ring where you can change the colour of the central stone and complete in its original box. Here is something that you would not see new - you will look unique in this vintage ring
What other types of vintage ring are available? Vintage wedding rings, engagement rings, Diamond rings, eternity rings, signet rings. You can find vintage costume jewellery and wedgwood rings. Rings from every style and era – just take a look around the inertet and the choice is staggering.
Northampton has a new auction
Posted by: | CommentsI see that Northampton is to have a new auction following the recent withdrawal of Humberts to their Towcester base. According to a leaflet pushed through my door today : Freehold St Auctions will be held in the Nene Centre, Freehold street. That’s the same place as the old Humberts and previously Harps auctions were held.
The first auction will be on Saturday May 9th at 10.oo and every fortnight after that. Viewing is from mid day till 8.00 on Friday and on the moringin of the sale.
Well I will be popping along for a look at the viewing . I’m really not keep on Saturday auctions so my attendance at the actual event will be dependant on what I find at the viewing. I will report back tomorrow and hopefully have a little information on their commission rates as well.