Archive for July, 2009
Victorian costume Jewellery
Posted by: | CommentsPart 2b of AntiquesAvenue’s guide to the history of costume jewellery covers The Victorian Era.
The Victorians loved jewellery of all kinds and when they couldnt afford precious stones and metals they wore jewellery made from non precious materials which we now know as Costume Jewellery.
Victorian Costume Jewellery Influences:
There were two main influences on the jewellery during the Victorian era :i) Queen Victoria herself and ii) new discoveries and innovations
i) Queen Victoria’s influence on Jewellery style can be seen with mass market copies of the Jewellery which the queen wore herself. When she had a interest in all things Scottish then celtic and pebble jewellery became fashionable. This influence was seen in both the materials used in jewellery and also in the shapes with Penannular shields, Kilt pins, Dirks, Scottish Crosses and buckles all being popular. When she went into mourning following the death of Prince Albert then the whole country took to deep mourning following the death of loved ones and the fashion for black jewellery was created. Victorian Jewellery of this kind is highly sought after these days.
ii) New discoveries and innovations. New materials became available ( see below) and these were quickly used in costume jewellery also with technological progress new manufacturing techniques were invented. These manufacturing techniques meant that costume jewellery could be mass produced making it cheaper and more widely available. The new techniques included: the machine stamping of parts so that not everything had to be handmade as it was in previous eras. It was possible to inlay silver and gold into tortoishell . Aluminium was commercially produced from the 1860s and new discoveries of semi precious gems and new ways of cutting them brought their prices way down.
Costume Jewellery materials of the Victorian Era:
Jet Brooch
1. Jet, Gutta Percha, Bog Oak: The best Jet was from Whitby. A highly polished form of black glass known as French Jet was a cheap substitute. Gutta Percha is a natural material derived from rubber . Bog oak from Ireland is fossilised wood and often carved with shamrock shapes. All these have a dark black colour and were used in mourning jewellery
2. Rolled Gold , Gold Plate , Gold coloured metal, Iron. Used as substitutes for Gold and silver. Pinchbeck was still available but gradually faded from popularity.
3. Glass and Glass mosaics. Glass was used widely – as covers for locket panel, as beads in black and deep red, as paste stones . It was also formed into artificial cameos. Tiny glass tiles in different colours were put together to form micromosaic pictures mainly made in Italy.
4. Coral, Shell, Fish bone, pearls, tortoiseshell, mother of pearl. Materials from the sea once rare become more widely available as transport links improved. Shells were popular for carving into cameo jewellery
5. Early Plastics : celluloid, imitation coral, Parkasine. The Victorians invented plastics however the early plastics have not survived the years well , it has faded, cracked and generally disintegrated. Little Victorian plastic jewellery remains of any worth today.
6. Agate , semi precious gemstones and other hardstones: Popular for celtic type jewellery. new innovations and discoveries made it possible for these to be offered on the mass market. There is quite a wide range of Genuine Victorian hardstone and semi precious set costume jewellery available for us to buy today.
agate brooch
7. Hair, Teeth, claws, Horn, Bone, Ivory: Animal parts. The Victorians loved natural parts materials and wore them without the squeamishness that some of us (me included) would have today about such items. Hair jewellery was often made from the hair of a departed loved one – worn as bracelets, watch chains or in a locket. Tiger tooth brooches, animal claws and and teeth all mounted as brooches. There was no concern over conservation of elephants and ivory was widely .
8. Porcelain and pottery. Ceramic cabochons could be painted at home and decorated with flowers before being set into jewellery but most often porcelain plaques were printed with a scene from a classical European painting. These were popular holiday souvenirs.
The Jewellery Style of the Victorian Era
When Queen Victoria first reigned there was a naturalistic, romantic feel to jewellery. The Language of Flowers became popular with different flowers having different meanings for example Forget-me-nots were for true love. Once Prince Albert died the fashion became black and somber. This lasted until the later Victorian era (1880′s onwards) when colour once again appeared in all things.
There was also the influence of Gothic and medieval in early Victorian times . By the time of the Great Exhibition in Crystal palace (1851) design had become very ornate and heavy with almost everything being over ornamented. The Victorian aesthetic of the 1870s with its Japonaise feel was more simplistic.
At the very end of the Victorian era even simpler more naturalistic shapes and forms were revived with medieval and Scottish and Celtic themes being popular once more. This was part of the stylistic rebellion led by Ruskin pushed away from this heavy Victorian ornamentation and led to the arts and Crafts movement with its return to artistic values.
porcelain brooch
Why Antique Furniture?
Posted by: | CommentsChris Seidl currently works as a blog writer and webmaster for English Classics, purveyor of fine antique furniture. He lives, works, and plays in Atlanta, and can be contacted at webmaster [at] english-classics.net. Here is a piece he has written for AntiuqesAvenue which is all about why you could consider Antique Furniture for your home
Why Antique Furniture?
Antique Bookcase
If you asked yourself, “Why furniture?” two categories of answers would surface: need and desire. Of course, there is a practical need for furniture around the home and office, dating all the way back to when the first person decided it was better to sit on a plank of wood than squat on the floor. But then there are the more complicated “needs” of the mind: desires. Furniture has a way of completing a space, of pulling a collection of rooms together to make a home. Accessories and collectibles have a way of doing this, too, but it is the sustained combination of function and aesthetic pleasure that sets furniture apart as a superior organizer of space. A desk, for instance, serves an obvious and important need, but whether the desk is a gorgeous antique with rich wood and leather, or whether it is simply a hunk of junk with surface area, can make the difference between an inspired workspace and one lacking all creativity and cheer whatsoever.
So now we arrive at the second part of the question: “Why antique?” Everyone probably has their own answer for this, but I’ve found that antiques have several key advantages over contemporary furniture (good reproductions aside). The first is the most obvious: quality. In general, antiques hail from a time before quality became expendable, when furniture was carefully made to not only endure, but to look beautiful. Of course, there must have been droves of shoddy pieces, pumped out by unscrupulous cabinetmakers, but then, most of the furniture belonging to this category has already passed away into the oblivion of scrap and garbage that history forgets. The furniture that remains has withstood the test of time, and so there’s bound to be something good about it.
Antiques also tend to hold their value. I myself am redecorating around the house, and it makes it much simpler (and easier on the wallet) to sell one piece and use that money to buy another. Over time, too, it makes sense to have your money invested in something that is almost guaranteed to at least retain the same value, especially in today’s market.
Last but not least, antique furniture organizes space in a way that I have come to believe is healthy for the mind. If the spaces we inhabit affect how we feel, then in some small part, they determine who we are. Consider, for instance, your idea of home: isn’t it more in the mind that in one place? It is the feelings and memories with which we invest a place that makes it home, and furniture goes a long way to creating that ambiance. Antique furniture in particular so often represents the ideal synthesis of nature and craft—carved wood being the perfect example—and I believe it is this combination that we look for in our homes. When we surround ourselves with the crafted beauty that only antiques can provide, it tends to affect us in a way that makes us happier people, and in the end, that’s what furniture should do.