Vintage Jewelry

Lauren · Sep 26, 2005

Hi gals.

Just wondering, what are your favorite articles of vintage jewelry? What do you long for, and what do you own?

And does anyone know the basics of the ages of vintage jewelry? I am such a newbie at this avenue of collecting vintage.

For me, I long for a bakelite cherry or other fruit necklace and bracelet- you know- the kind with the chain with the fruit dangling from it.

My favorite pieces I own are a 30's chain necklace with turquoise strands of round beads hanging from it. And I am fond of my fish and my champagne screwback earrings.

swinggal · Sep 26, 2005

I have accumulated a nice selection of 30s and 40s jewellery over the years ans have a penchant for marcasite items (and butterflies) including rings and brooches and I have some lovely ones. My collection includes a parrot, butterflies, flowers and bows. The 1930s rings I have are very geometric with Onyx and greenstone. Also have a few pairs of screw on earrings with pearls and some bakelite brooches.

I have a celluloid tropical jewellery set consisting of a bracelet of flowers, matching earings and brooch which is very cute and a red and white necklace made from glass and stone.

30s and 40s diamonte dress clips are nice to collect too and I have a few of those. They dress up an ordinary looking dress and turn it into a cocktail frock.

I think my two favourite items are the late 30s bakelite 'ski lady' brooch that my friend from the 20s to 40s Syndicate sent me from Switzerland and a 40s silver and marcasite parrot brooch that I got in Melbourne. he even has a little ruby eye.

CherryRed · Sep 26, 2005

Most of my vintage jewelry had belonged to my Grandmother and is what ever survived me having played with it when I was little. I really need to gather it all together to see what I have.
One of my prized pieces is a silver necklace and earring set that is German Rheinekiesel (genuine rhinestone) It as the most beautiful pink and blue striped stones and I have the original box and Romance card. I did have the earrings convered from screw back to pierced back when it was given to me. It was given to me by my boss when I worked for a jewelry store. He also gave me a silver marcasite Gotham pin watch. Those would have to be my most valuable pieces.
Then I also have a nice collection of Hollywood Collection Jewelry, mostly rings, a pin and a bracelet and some modern reproduction estate style pieces.

CherryRed · Sep 26, 2005

Picture

Here is a picture of some of my pieces:
The pin on the right was my Grandmothers and is missing a stone, the one on the left is Hollywood Collection. Gothom watch in center Rheinekiesel in box and ring on the right is repro estate.

Lauren · Sep 26, 2005

Absolutely lovely! I love the watch in the center! Isn't it fun to think how cherished the vintage pieces must have been originally? And the Hollywood Collection looks looks very nice from your photograph!

Swinggal, it seems you have one of the fruit sets I adore! I love the old bakelite and celluloid pieces.

jitterbugdoll · Sep 27, 2005

Right now my favorite pieces are of the celluloid variety.

I have a great piece of WWII sweetheart jewelry, which consists of two ?¢‚Ç¨Àúgold?¢‚Ç¨‚Ñ¢ star dress clips connected by three red, white, and blue celluloid chains.

My favorite necklace is a choker of large pink celluloid flowers on a thick pink chain; this piece dates to the 1930s-40s.

I have about 15 brooches from the 1930s-40s, most are of the novelty wooden or celluloid variety. My favorite is a little bluebird with a pink ?¢‚Ç¨Àúdoll hat?¢‚Ç¨‚Ñ¢; she always gets compliments!

I also have a brooch of Venetian glass oranges on a branch with a celluloid chain. I picked it up super cheap, and it's matching bracelet (which I didn?¢‚Ç¨‚Ñ¢t bid on) will be featured in a jewelry book.

Sounds like you ladies have some nice collections! I love the pic, CherryRed!

swinggal · Sep 27, 2005

Oooh I forgot. I also have a mid 1920s long beaded necklace that could also be worn as a low slung belt. It has tassles on the end of it and was given to me by my boyfriends Aunt. So, it belonged to his grandmother. Frankly, I was amazed that she would give it me and not keep it in the family. She knew I would treasure it I guess.

Something you might like on ebay Lauren
http://cgi.ebay.com/CELLULOID-Neckl...Z5035569685QQcategoryZ502QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

OcNikki · Sep 27, 2005

I have a vintage make up case filled with most of my grandmothers costume jewelry. Unfortunately it was given to me after her death so I never got to go through it with her. How do I determine the era of the pieces?

lynne · Oct 11, 2005

hi -
i guess after collecting and dealing in vintage bakelite jewelry for over 25 years - my mom and i are partners - you could say this area of vintage jewelry is our all time favorite - enough to have had bricks and mortar shops and now an online shop - where we deal almost exclusively in vintage bakelite jewelry - any others out there who share our passion??

our shop is currently having a sale - 15% off with free shipping on jewelry (in usa) - stop by!

regards,
linda
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/evelynnesoldiesbutgoodies
Vintage Bakelite Jewelry, Bakelite Kitchenware, Art Deco

http://evelynnesoldiesbutgoodies.blogspot.com

decodoll · Oct 11, 2005

I'm usually rather lost when it comes to jewelry. I do love bakelite, but most of it is out of my budget. I do have a growing selection of bakelite earrings however. I love the ones that have a small ball with a larger ball dangling from it with screwbacks (can't wear clip-ons), and you can usually get those rather inexpensively on ebay. I also have a black bakelite clamper bracelet with rhinestones that my aunt gave me when she was going through her mother-in-laws old jewelry. (Yay!....I guess I'll have to forgive her for giving those mid-century pink shantung upholstered chairs of my great grammas to the goodwill.....)

rubyredlocks · Oct 11, 2005

I have a quite a few vintage brooches,some jewellry sets,and a 1940s bulova wrist watch.
I love the bakelite jewellry,but find it out of my price range too.I may have to splurge on the occassional peice though.
I saw a vintage photograph at an antique mall and the woman in it was wearing cute little earrings made out of buttons.
I've never seen this anywhere else and am considering making my own.Wish I'd bought that photograph.

decodoll · Oct 11, 2005

Oh, I forgot my wrist watch. I have a Bulova as well that was my grandmothers.

swankysister · Oct 14, 2005

I'm not a vintage jewellery wearer, but modern and inherited watches (such as a rose gold 1940s/grandfather's watch) are a necessity. One watch even has a slight Alice-in-Wonderland feel, but it is such an odd shape that modern wristbands don't last terribly well on its oval shape.

Biltmore Bob · Oct 14, 2005

My wife has..

A freakin huge, I think at least 3 ct, Aquamarine from the 20s or 30s. It's set in Platinum, I think. Really big and gaudy, but it's really worth thousands. It looks like costume. But every time we visit a jewler they are impressed. We can't get a real straight answer on the value though. It seems that everybody wants it, jewlers that is. I think it's kink of ugly.

MJCalloway · Oct 15, 2005

Hi everyone! Newbie here. Saw this post and thought I'd respond.

I have a lot of jewelry from both of my grandmothers that I cherish. One in particular is a brooch. When I first saw it I fell in love with it, but when I looked at the back, I noticed there were springs and i couldn't figure out why. Apparently besides being a brooch, there are earrings attached on each end of the brooch that can be taken off and used or kept on to change the look of it. It's beautiful.

I have a lot of clip on earrings that were my grandmothers. I'm always afraid to wear them though. I feel that they will fall off somehow and then I'll lose them forever. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I could fix that? Just wondering. Thanks!

AllaboutEve · Oct 21, 2005

I LOVE vintage jewellery, this was my first line of collecting and it was only last year that I thought I'd better start buying some vintage outfits to wear it with!! My all time fav. has got to be Austrian Fruit jewellery from the 50's this was produced in Austria for the U.S and comes in numerous colours and forms. You usually find brooches or earrings and occasionally sets.The most common are berries, apples and strawberries made from coloured glass and backed with mirrored foil so that they seem to glow from within.....beautiful....(sigh)....

... I try to regularly wear the pieces I have and if I find I don't wear a piece then I give it to a friend as I can't bear the thought of all that glitter sitting in a dark drawer unloved and unseen!! I have some lovely necklaces from the 30's and way too many earrings. Some of my collection I have bought from Ebay but generally I go to a few specialists sellers near by, this tends to work out well as the more you buy the cheaper it becomes. A great book to check out if you are interested in getting an idea of valuations and dating pieces is "Costume Jewellery" by Judith Miller it really has some great pictures. Even if you don't end up collecting it's a great book to just browse through.

MissQueenie · Apr 21, 2006

Show us your jewelry!

Well, I paid too much for it, but I found the perfect necklace for my evening gown for the big dinner at the QM at an estate sale this morning. It's very simple, but it has a lot of sparkle and it sits on the collar bones, so it won't disappear into my gown. I don't know anything about it except that it's costume jewelry and that it's beautiful. Very sadly, there were no matching earrings or bracelets, but I might be able to turn something up by November. I'll post pictures of it when I get home! (Haha, my coworker came by and saw me wearing my new purchase and oooohed and aaaaaaaahed over it so I guess it's a keeper! She says it reminds her of "Cleopatra" -- not sure if she means the Liz Taylor film version or the Great Quuen herself...)

What are your favorite pieces of vintage or costume jewelry? I'd love to take a peek inside YOUR jewelry boxes!

maisie · Apr 21, 2006

Definatly post a picture, it sounds lovely!
I always find it so hard to find 40's jewellery, as it is quite hard to date, and the reallly nice items go for stupid amounts of money (bakelite!

)
I was lucky about this time last year I got a lot of about 25 pairs of earrings on ebay for about $15! And they were all lovely as well! And off the same seller i got 5 pairs of evening earrings for about the same price and they are super pretty!

I'll post pics of these later!

MaryDeluxe · Feb 1, 2007

Jewelry and watch auction

I love going to estate sales and auctions. In my quest for places to go, I came across this exciting auction! Check out the one on Feb. 10th. It looks very promising. It also happens to be my birthday! I think I'll go and buy myself a birthday present!

http://hess-auction.com/

Who wants to go???

beaucaillou · Feb 1, 2007

golly!! those purses are *great*! and some of those necklaces (especially the ruby glass one with the emerald-cut stone set horizontally) are killer. that little strawberry pin is too cute for words. i hope you get some beautiful pieces at a song, what with your birthday and all.

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