Archive for January, 2010
5 pieces of Vintage Valentines day jewellery
Posted by: | Comments5 pieces of Vintage Valentines day jewellery
Have you bought that special valentines day gift for the lady in your life yet? Here are a few lovely pieces of vintage jewellery which would be certain to make her smile. There is still plenty of time to order your valentines day jewellery from AntiquesAvenue. I will be taking orders up until mid day on Thursday 11 February for next day special delivery ( included in cost) and with valentines gift wrap from only £1 extra. I will be back tomorrow with some suggestions of vintage jewellery valentines day gifts for the man in your life.
1. Vintage rings
The number one romantic gift has to be a ring and a vintage ringwould be appreciated as it show that though and effort has gone into selecting a special unique piece of jewellery . Rings do not have to be pricey either – There are nice silver rings from about £25 upwards. Here is one of my favourite rings at the moment:
vintage ring
Vintage 9 carat gold ring
This vintage ring is made of fully hallmarked nine carat gold and set high with a pearlescent hardstone cabochon which measures about 0.8 cm long. This is a very pretty ring in a delicate colour which would look great worn as a cocktail ring. UK ring size O, USA ring size 7.25
2. A bunch of flowers to last a lifetime?
Exquisite flower brooch pansy bouquet
A very pretty enameled flower brooch – a bunch of pansies. This brooch was made by Exquisite and dates from circa 1950s. I believe that this was made as part of the birthdays series and I think that this one is for May. This brooch measures about 6.5 cms long
3. Give her your heart
Gold heart pendant and earring Jewellery set
A pretty gold heart pendant on chain and matching pair of gold earrings. These have the .375 mark for nine carat gold and were made in Italy. The pendant measures about 1.5 cms long with the chain being 45 cms long. This gold jewellery set is quite dainty. The earrings are for pierced ears
4. Red is the colour
1960s red pink two strand bead necklace
Vintage double strand necklace with plastic beads Fastens with box clasp longer string 57 cms long Dating circa 1960s sparkling party jewellery
5. Stupid Cupid
It measures about 3 wedgwood blue jasper brooch sprigged with Cupid. The brooch is mounted in silver and comes in its original wedgwood
cupid brooch
Cinnabar Lacquer Jewellery
Posted by: | CommentsCinnabar Lacquer Jewellery
I really want to show you this wonderful bangle and brooch set made of Cinnabar Lacquer. This is original vintage costume jewellery dating from the art deco era. During the 1920s / 1930s this type of jewellery was quite popular but is becoming much rares and hard to find these days.
Cinnabar is a naturally occuring mineral with a brick red colour and has been used since the ancient times but it was the Chinese made these pieces which have been hand carved.
cinnabar brooch
vintage costume jewellery
A to Z Vintage Jewellery, Anniversaries
Posted by: | CommentsGive vintage jewellery A to Z, Anniversaries and Aunts
The first part of my A to Z guide of occasions, reasons and people to give vintage jewellery for. A = Anniversaries and Jewellery for Aunts
Anniversaries:
Vintage Jewellery and Antique Jewellery for Anniversaries. Traditionally Jewellery has been given at wedding anniversaries but is equally suitable for other special anniversaries too.
vintage Jewellery
For wedding anniversaries the following pieces are traditional:
1st Anniversary is Paper – plain gold jewellery. A ring or a lovely brooch
2nd Anniversary is Cotton – Garnet set jewellery – a nice pendant or a pair of cufflinks for your man?
3rd Anniversary is Leather – Pearls are the traditional gift – Earrings or necklace or tie pin for men
4th Anniversary is Linen – Blue Topaz Jewellery -A lovely range of blue shades available
5th Anniversary is Wood – Sparkling Sapphires are given
6th Anniversary is Iron – Amethysts – choose a lovely deep purple one
7th Anniversary is Wool – Onyx – A Victorian Scottish Celtic brooch or dirk set with hard stone
8th Anniversary is Bronze – Tourmaline – Wonderful colours available
9th Anniversary is Copper – Lapis-Lazuli – the traditional art deco jewellery stone
10thAnniversary is Tin – Your Diamond Wedding – how about a Victorian rose cut diamond for something special?
11th Anniversary is Steel – Turquoises – one of my favourites – a vintage ring or a charm is excellent
12th Anniversary is Silk -Jade – Jade bracelets were popular in the art deco era
13th Anniversary is Lace – Citrine – a bight yellow stone that looks good set in gold
14th Anniversary is Ivory – Opal – Black or white the choice is yours – try a brooch or cuff links
15th Anniversary is Crystal – Ruby – excellent stone for rings for both men and women
20th Anniversary is China -Emerald – a beautiful shade of green – how about a necklace with an Emerald pendant?
25th Anniversary is Silver – plain silver jewellery – appreciated by both men and women
30th Anniversary is Pearl – A better quality set than for the 3rd anniversary I think
35th Anniversary is Coral – Best to go Victorian here so that we are not damaging the environment
40th Anniversary is Ruby – Big and bold to celebrate 40 years I think
45th Anniversary is Sapphire – Sapphires come in white and pink and other colours if you dont fancy blue
50th Anniversary is Golden Jubilee – Gold and lots of it please
55th Anniversary is Emerald – 55 years – wow that deserves and Emerald ring
60th Anniversary is Diamond Jubilee – Lots and lots of them for 60 years
65th Anniversary is Blue Sapphire – Sapphires again!
70th Anniversary is Sapphire Jubilee – More Sapphires?
75th Anniversary is Platinum Jubilee – A bit heavy so make it a ring
80th Anniversary is Ruby Jubilee – Twice the size of the one you gave for a 40th anniversary
Vintage Jewellery for your Aunt
Aunts of all ages will appreciate a gift of vintage or antique jewellery. What sort? How about antique brooches or vintage necklaces? Heres a thought, how about choosing something in her favourite colour or from the era ( or even year) she was born in?
A to Z of vintage jewellery
Posted by: | CommentsA to Z of vintage Jewellery.
Last year I wrote several series’s on antiquesavenue blog including buying at auctions and the history of vintage jewellery. This year I though it would be fun to compile an A to Z of Vintage jewellery and give this an interesting twist and to build into a type of encyclopedia or dictionary for jewellery lovers.
Instead of just starting at A an listing everything I can find under each letter I am going to compile at least six different A to Z listings. So far I have Materials, Styles, Makers, Occasions , Type and Accessories. If I ever manage this I may even add a historical jewels list and terms . Can you think of a couple more ? It would be great to compile 10 lists.
Materials, Abalone to Zircon
Styles, Art Deco to Zoomorphic
Makers, Armarni to Zuni
Terms, Adularescence to Zircon cut
And three where I need some inspiration for the X, Y,Z:
Type or function, Arm to Wrist and Albert to watch chain ( same thing different name!)
Occasion, Anniversary to Wedding
Vintage Accessories from Amulet to Watch
I’m hoping to source lots of photos for each so its quite an undertaking here but it should be great fun and a wonderful reference work when complete. I would welcome any contributions and ideas for the mission X, Y and Z’s. First off will be occasions starting soon so do check back to see the progress.
Vintage Jewellery news update
Posted by: | CommentsA Vintage Jewellery news update from antiquesavenue.co.uk
Its a while since my last vintage jewellery news update. Over the past few weeks I have been searching out more fresh stock of vintage jewellery for you.
Vintage Charms:
Recently I have added lots of vintage silver charms and gold charms to the shop including some quite unusual ones. IN gold look out for the opening Adam and Eve in an apple and the strange ” Happy days” opening vintage Caravan. The most unusual silver charms include an opening dressing table by Nuvo, a Nuvo penguin waiter and interesting charms such as Don Quixote and St George and the dragon.
Vintage Brooches and Antique Brooches:
I’ve been looking out for vintage designer brooches and now have quite a nice selection including Napier, Trifari, Royal Crown Derby and Exquisite. There are also brooches by named Scottish and Scandinavian silver makers.
I am expanding my selection of vintage rings and antique as these seem very popular. These are in both gold and silver and set with precious and semi precious gemstones. Mainly these will be added to the site over the next ten days so please do keep checking back if you are interested.
Vintage Costume Jewellery
Coming soon a nice fresh selection of costume jewellery necklaces.
Vintage Jewellery for Valentines day.
I have made a short video on heart shaped charms and valentines charms which would be suitable as a gift for a loved one this valentines day
Gift Wrap.
Following several requests from customers I now have a gift wrap option which I will be adding to the site in the next week. Your jewellery can be presented in a pretty organza bag in one of a variety of colours and I have decided to charge just £1 extra for this service.
News Letter
Have you subscribed to my news letter yet? I dont often get the chance of sending one out but when I do there is always a Special offer on vintage jewellery which is exclusive to news letter subscribers. I am hoping a news letter will be on its way within the next week or two so dont miss out
Anne
Victorian silver Brooches
Posted by: | CommentsVictorian Silver Brooches.
Over a year ago I wrote a little about how special Victorian brooches are as they are wearable as well as being antique. Today I am going to take a look at a few Victorian silver brooches. Silver brooches were very popular during the Victorian ear, silver was cheap compared with gold and much more workable that other metals available at the time. The range of silver brooches the Victorians made was huge , the included name brooches, Mizpah brooches, mourning brooches, Scottish brooches, Sentimental or Sweetheart brooches. A few more are religious silver brooches, good luck and friendship brooches and commemorative for large events such as Royal Jubilees.
Victorian silver brooches can be purchased from around £25 to about £140 . It is unusual for silver brooches of the Victorian era to be by named designers and also rare for them to be set with precious jewels and so although some exceptional brooches can be found they are rarely priced over this level unless set with a particularly well carved cameo (for example).
Here are a few collectable Victorian silver brooches for you to look at:
Antique Brooch hand painted porcelain bird of paradise
A genuine antique brooch set with a porcelain plaque which has been hand painted with a bird of paradise. This brooch is set into a silver frame ( tested not hallmarked) and has an attached safety chain. I have checked the painting under a magnifying glass and can confirm that the picture is hand painted .
Antique brooch Victorian name Fanny
This antique brooch dates from the Victorian era when name brooches like this were popular. Made of silver “Fanny” is entwined with leaves/ This is an unusually large antique name brooch being 6.4 cms long. As with most brooches of the Victorian era, this fastens with a simple C catch
Where do you find Victorian silver brooches?
As with any sort of vintage or antique jewellery , I suggest you have a look over at www.antiquesavenue.co.uk for your Victorian Brooch. eBay is another source of antique brooches but please do make sure that you check what you are buying and the seller to ensure that you have the genuine item and are not being sold a much newer copy. If you have the time you can take a wander around your local antique fair or antique center too.
How to care for victorian silver brooches
Silver is quite robust, after all your Victorian brooch is over a 100 years old and it will still be around in a hundred years time if you take good care of it. Check the condition of the hinge and catch before wearing the brooch. The catches were a simple C shape which comes undone much more easily than today’s safety catches. Possible a safety chain has been added to the brooch, if not you could consider adding one if it is done with care.
I suggest that you keep your silver reasonably clean without over polishing it. A light and careful clean after wearing will help to keep the salts from your fingers fro attacking the silver. Use a soft dry cloth to polish the silver rather than harsh chemicals. Perhaps a occasional wash under the tap if you have spilt perfume or make up onto the brooch but never use a washing up liquid with lemon in it as citrus attacks silver.
Dont just throw your Victorian silver brooches into a jewellery box with all your other pieces of jewellery as they can easily damage each other . You could wrap each brooch individually in a piece of Acid free tissue paper or pin them to cushions to display them.
Antique rings and Vintage rings
Posted by: | CommentsAntique rings and Vintage rings
Of all the types of antique and vintage jewellery available rings are possibly the most popular especially genuine antique and vintage rings made from gold or silver and those set with both precious and semi precious stones.
In general I draw a division between antique and vintage jewellery where antique dates anything before circa 1920 and vintage between that time and the 1970s . Although with the 1980s now becoming 30 years old I suspect that these will soon be vintage too.
Antique Rings:
In general the collector or investor can find antique rings from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Now and then a genuine Georgian ring can be found but these are quite rare and expensive.
Antiques Avenue offers a selection of antique rings including those set with small gemstones such as diamonds and sapphires, semi precious stones including turquoises. There are also pearl and cameo set rings. Most of the antique rings we can find today are made of gold. It is particularly nice to find and antique ring with a set of hallmarks so that we can date the ring accurately and tell easily what carat gold it is made of. Unfortunately many antique gold rings are not hallmarked as the laws did not require this at the time they were made.
Which antique rings should you look out for today? I suggest that you find one that really appeals to you and just wear it on special occasions not for every day wear. It seems such a shame to damage something that has survived the past 100 years or more. Popular colours in later Victorian rings were red garnets, blue turquoises and sapphires and white diamonds and pearls. There are also multi coloured gemstone rings to be found where the initial letters of the stones spell out a word such as Dearest or Regard.
A word of caution, antique rings tend to be on the small side which is great if you have slim fingers. If you are thinking about buying an antiuqe ring and having it re-sized I suggest that you ask before you buy if it is suitable for re-sizing. My normal advice to customers is that they will be fine for resizing one or two sizes up or down but seldom do I reccomend more as the setting of any stones could be disturbed.
Vintage Rings:
Wedding rings, engagement rings, cocktail rings, dress rings, eternity rings, signet rings: all of these can be found from anytime during the 1900s. New materials for making rings were introduced and whilst gold is undeniably still the most frequent material found in 20th century rings there are also more rings made of silver and a few special platinum rings. Unlike antique rings, I think that many vintage rings are suitable for every day wear and certainly many of them can be found a prices cheap enough not to worry to much about this.
Gold is now very expensive so how about looking at vintage silver rings? Art deco silver rings made of silver and set with multicoloured crystals or marcasites can be found for under £40. Scandinavian designer silver rings from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and very stylish or how about a sparkling cocktail ring made of nine carat gold and set with semi precious but still colourful gemstones. The choice is quite vase.
AntiquesAvenue is extending its selection of vintage jewellery in 2010 to include more antique rings and vintage rings . IN the meantime here is a small selection of what can be currently found in the shop.
antique ring coral
A wonderful antique ring made of gold ( tests as nine carat not hallmarked) and set with carved coral stones. The head of this ring measures about 2 cms long .
This is UK ring size O , USA size 7.25
Antique ring Victorian turquoise gold hair
Here is a very beautiful antique Victorian ring. This is made of gold which testsat about 18 carats but is not hallmarked. The top is decorated with turquoise stones and there is a plait of hair intwined in the shank. This ring would have been a love token or used as a Keep safe for a lock of lovers hair.
Age: Victorian Approx Size: UK size M.25, USA size 6.5
Approx Weight: 2.3 grams
gold eternity ring with hearts
AntiquesAvenue wishes you Happy New Year
Posted by: | CommentsAntiquesAvenue wishes you Happy New Year
Happy New Year to all my readers and Customers. A new year and also a new decade. To celebrate I have an extra special piece of vintage jewellery reduced in price on antiquesavenue.co.uk. A 1970s silver charm bracelet reduced from £70 to £50.
This bracelet has some special and sought after silver charms including two money charms and an hour glass. The bracelet is fully hallmarked as sterling silver so dont miss out on this one.
Have you made an interesting New Years resolutions? Mine are to keep this antique blog up to date several times a week and to find lots of really interesting pieces of vintage jewellery for my shop.
Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year
Anne