When looking at antique jewellery and vintage jewellery one of the things which help me to date a piece and place it in its original time frame is its style.  This is a technique which helps with most other vintage and antique items as well.  Before specialising in Jewellery I spent many years as  antique dealer handling ceramics and glass from the last 200 years and the style of these antiques was just as important as it is with Jewellery. Learning to identify different styles is one of the key skills for any antique or vintage dealer or collector.

There are several ways you can learn about style, I spent many years doing courses about antiques and Jewellery, reading books and talking to antiques dealers. One great way to learn about style is to visit a real life auction house when there are having a catalogued sale devoted to one particular style. For example Art Deco and Art Nouveau are styles that often have specialist sales.

Victorian Style

Which styles to learn

For anyone buying antique and vintage today there are several key styles which are essential to know and to learn how to differentiate the original from modern copies. There  are several more styles, I would suggest you start with these:

Georgian,Victorian, Victorian Aesthetic, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco 1950s, 1960s and 1970s

What do you need to know about style?

When it first became popular and when it had revivals

The colours and materials and manufacturing techniques used

The main influences

The important designers and artists

Art Nouveau

 

Some good books on Style

This list of books are one on my bookshelf which I have found useful:

The elements of Design Ed: N. Riley Pub: Mitchell Beazley

Arts & Crafts Style Ed: I. Anscombe Pub: Phaidon

A century of Design Ed: P Sparke  Pub: Mitchell Beazley

The new Look Design in th Fifties  L Jackson Pub Thames and Hudson

The Look of the century M. Tamblin Pub: Dorling Kindersley

Some of these may be out of print but I am sure you are resourceful enough to track down a copy on the Internet

A note of caution

When dating an antique style is not everything it is just one of several factors which help us. Once a style has first flourished it can be copied for many years later. There will be differences between the original style and the copies and copies do not have the same desirability as originals.