Vintage Glass Jewellery

Glass is one of my favourite materials for vintage costume jewellery, it has a huge variety of shape and colour. Glass jewellery can be moulded, or hand made. Glass can be made into beads, moulded as a cameo or faceted as a gemstone. I have seen glass jewellery of every type: brooches, necklaces, charms, earrings, bracelets and for gents set into cuff links and stick pins.

Glass jewellery is quite durable as long as it is not dropped or knocked onto a hard surface. This durability is one of the great appeals of antique and vintage glass jewellery as , unlike some other vintage costume jewellery materials, its colour does not fade and it does not tarnish naturally. You can also clean glass jewellery so that it is like new depending upon the other materials used in the piece ( see further down this article).

Types of glass in Jewellery

During the Georgiana and Victorian era there was a type of glass known as Paste which was used instead of real gemstones. Paste jewellery can be clear or coloured and is normally set with a closed back which has foil behind the glass to make it sparkle. Paste is often used in brooches and earrings. 

By the 1920s paste was largely replaced by Diamante which are a faceted glass ( moulded or polished) which have a foiled back and are often set with a more open back. Many diamante ( known as Rhinestones in the USA) come from Austria and they have a high lead content in the glass which adds to the sparkle.

Glass beads can be moulded or hand made . To my mind the very best glass beads come from Murano in Italy. Look for wedding cake beads. These special beads have been hand made and have lamp work decoration which looks like icing hence the name “wedding cake ” beads. Many murano beads are set with a metabolic foil and the come in a huge variety of colour.

Vintage glass necklaces

What an amazing range of vintage glass necklaces there is available today. You can find glass necklaces from the Victorian era in the form of French Jet or a sparkling black glass. There was a huge popularity for glass necklaces during the 1920s and 1930s and so there is a great selection available today. With many of these they have been re-strung and so as wearable today as they were 90 years ago. 

From the 1950s we find what are now called prom necklaces which are made from diamante set into silver tone metal. These prom necklaces are ideal for a sparkling occasion today  , they made great party or wedding jewellery . I believe that these prom necklaces are a real bargain at the moment, with prices from about £20 they could well be a great investment for the future.

Diamante brooch

Value of Antique and Vintage glass jewellery

You can buy a nice piece of vintage glass jewellery in good condition from about £20 upwards.  At the other end of the cost scale, Rennie Lalique made some wonderful pieces of glass jewellery in the art nouveau era and a piece of this jewellery could set you back Thousands of pounds. In fact even a new piece of lalique glass and silver Jewellery can cost upwards of a Thousand pounds.

For most vintage glass jewellery you are looking between £20 and about £150 depending upon the style, condition, detail and maker if known.

Care of Vintage Glass Jewellery

When looking after vintage glass jewellery one of the main things is to look at the other materials the piece is made of. The glass its self can usually be washed but you would never put closed back paste or diamante jewellery into water. Also check the finish applied to the glass, a pearl finish can flake easily so you shouldn’t get it wet  Glass set into costume jewellery metals should also not be immersed in water.

If you cant wash your glass jewellery how can you clean it? I recommend a soft tooth brush dipped into a clear liquid jewellery cleaner. Remove most of the liquid from the brush by dabbing it with a cloth. Then care full clean the jewllery with the brush. You can then dip the brush into clean water, dry the brush again and clean over your jewellery to remove any trace of the jewellery cleaner. Give your jewellery a gentle rub with a soft cloth ( take care with prong set diamante) .  Leave your jewellery in a warm room for a few hours to ensure that all moisture is removed.

As with all jewellery pieces should not be thrown into a jewellery box but stored carefully with space between one piece and the next.  you can wrap pieces individually in acid free tissue paper.

Glass Earrings

Where to buy Vintage Glass Jewellery

There is always an excellent selection of glass jewllery over at antiquesavenue.co.uk with a special section devoted to glass necklaces. Also take a look at the costume jewellery brooches and wedding jewellery where most of the pieces are made of glass.