Vintage Necklaces are featured this week on AntiquesAvenue vintage jewellery shop.  As a special offer for AntiquesAvenue blog readers I am giving away a vintage necklace and two vintage pendants – see the end of this post for details. 

Lets take a look at the range and types of vintage and antique jewellery you can wear around your neck:

Lockets, Ever popular for holding a picture or tiny memento inside. These are hung as a pendant from a chain or a ribbon

Vintage necklace

Pendants and Charms. When worn from a chain around your neck I believe that the difference between a pendant or charm is down to the size of the piece. A pendant would probably be over about 3 cms long and a charm under this length. The chain could also be a ribbon, cord or string of beads.

Necklace, Usually a string of beads, pearls or semi precious gemnstones or chain without a pendant attached. There can be more than one strand often in graduated lengths

Lavalier, A necklace with pendant drops attached. Popular in the Edwardian up until the 1920s

Chains, Can be made of precious metals ( silver and gold), costume jewellery  metal or plastics. Neck chains can be worn alone or with a pendant drop. Gold and silver chains are often worn by men as well as women.

Sautoir, A long chain worn from the shoulders and hanging down to below the waist. Often has a pendant or tassel on both ends. Popular in the art deco era

Chocker, A short necklace which is worn tightly around the neck. Popular with Victorian ladies and had a revival in the 1970s

Lets take a look at some of these as featured in www.antiquesavenue.co.uk this week:

vintage necklace for a bride

Antique Lavalier

An original  antique lavalier necklace. This is made of silver set with two real citrine gemstones and three pearls. A superb and genuine piece of antique jewellery.

The silver chain is 46 cms long the pendant drop adds a further 4 cms. The large citrine gemstone measures over 2 cms wide.

Antique Locket

 An antique silver locket which is fully hallmarked for 1883. This locket has Victorian aesthetic decoration which is typical of the time it was made. This antique silver locket opens and there is space for your own photographs or a small memento.

The locket comes on a silver chain which is much newer than the locket itself

Vintage Pendant

vintage 1960s daisy flower citrine pendant 9 carat gold
A special daisy pendant dating from the 1960s and made of gold set with Citrines. This is made of fully hallmarked 9 carat gold .  This stylish piece of vintage jewellery would really suit a retro outfit or todays boho fashions

 4.3 cms long including bail, 2.3 cms wide at the base

Vintage Necklace

 A lovely vintage bead necklace made of wedding cake glass beads which would have been made ion Murano Italy. These beads are know as wedding cake beads due to the way that the decoration looks like it as been iced onto them. This necklace dates from circa 1920s and has been re-strung using the original beads and clasp.

This highly collectable necklace measures 58 cms long

Free Necklace give away

vintage necklace give away

I have a vintage diamante necklace and two pendants to give away, these can be sent anywhere in the world . The giveaway goes to the reader who visits my vintage jewellery shop and chooses their favourite piece of neck jewellery which is NOT already featured in this blog post. Simply come back here and leave a comment telling which is your favourite piece  why. I will select the best comment to send all three of these pieces of vintage jewellery to.  This Give Away runs from today until the end of October 2009 when I will announce the lucky winner. No purchase required.

Anne