Beryl, Bone, Bronze, Brass, Butterfly

Rounding off  Antique jewellery and Vintage jewellery materials beginning with the letter B.

As we all know vintage jewellery can be made of so many more materials than the precious metals and gemstones.  Today as part of my A-z of vintage jewellery materials I am rounding off the letter B with Berly, Bone, Bronze and Butterfly. Previously with the letter B I have looked at Bakelite, Bloodstone and Baroque pearls.

Beryl, Beryl is the family name for some lovely gemstones including the green  Emerald and pale blue Aquamarine ( ooops, just realised that I missed out the beautiful Aquamarine under the letter A, will talk about this later today).  Beryls not only come in Green and pale blue other varieties can be pink ( morganite) or yellow ( Heliodor). Beryls can also be clear ( Goshenite).  All Beryls have a some common characteristics including their hardness ( 7.5 on the Mohs scale) and they are “double refractive ” which refers to the way they split light

Emerald ring

Brass and Bronze, here are two metals which are occasionally used in Jewellery but are not popular due to their weight and the fact that they can oxidise leaving green traces on the skin. Brass and bronze are also quite heavy and so they would only be used in small objects such as charms . Take care if you do buy brass or bronze jewellery that you know which metal you have. Brass can be polished shiny but bronze is meant to retain its green patina and this is easily removed by cleaning.

Here are two Antique Jewellery materials which are a little controversial as they are made from animal parts. I personally do not care for either and choose not to stock them in my shop of them . I include them for completeness sake. Neither of these materials is used in great quantity in modern jewellery.

Bone, Bone was popular as a jewellery material from ancient times. It was plentiful, easy to carve and much cheaper than Ivory. Its creamy colour made it look like ivory but due to its structure it could not be carved with as great detail as Ivory could. The bone jewellery we see today is usually Victorian or early 20th century .  You can also find more recent pieces which have been brought back as tourist pieces from places like Africa. Bone jewellery is not popular today so there are bargains to be had if you like this particular material.

Butterfly Wing, Especially popular during the Art Deco era when butterfly wing was used to provide shimmering blue colour to jewellery. The butterfly wings were normally set into silver jewellery which shows off  its colour well.  Butterfly wing jewellery can have a scene pained over the butterfly wing. Popular scenes include tropical beaches and art deco crinoline ladies. Look out for Butterfly wing jewellery which has the letters TLM as part of the makers mark on the reverse. TLM stands for T L Mott and their butterfly wing jewellery is of very good quality and quite sought after.  The butterfly wings in jewellery are easily damaged by damp and over exposure to sunlight.  Examine any potential purchases with great care to ensure the wing has not faded or gone brown. Also only use a dry cloth to clean this jewellery as any liquid will ruin the piece.

Butterfly wing pendant