Styles of Jewelry Over the Past 300 Years.
The most recent style of jewelry that left a major mark on society followed the Art Deco period of around 1920-1935. It was dubbed Art Retro and reigned into the 50's. It is characterized by wavy lines, large stones, rose gold, and a love of diamonds, synthetic rubies and aquamarines.
We have several examples of Retro jewelry in our online store, but the most spectacular is actually a costume jewelry piece by Eisenburg shown below.
The earlier Art Deco period is one of the most popular and spectacular style periods in history. It was a revolt against the even earlier Art Nouveau style which was, itself, a revolt against the classic forms of the Victorian and Georgian periods. It loves geometric shapes and stylized figures. Here's a fine example of an Art Deco bracelet from the stock of our store.
The term, Art Nouveau, comes from the name of a gallery established in Paris in 1985 by Samuel Bing. The line and form of this style actually came from the British Arts and Crafts movement which broke away from the traditional, imitative realism of the classic styles from the Victorian period. The primary difference lay in the use of the female face and figure which was predominant along with motifs taken from nature. Here is an example of Art Nouveau taken from our stock. It is a silver slide on a long silver watch chain.
Both of the above styles came out of the social reform movements at the end of the last century embraced by the intellectual elite. They were considered avantgarde. However the social elite, with the money, clung to tradition which was modified somewhat because of advances in technology born out of the industrial revolution. The result is a style of jewelry that became known as "Edwardian", named after King Edward. Where Arts and Crafts jewelry was made out of silver, enamel and many colors of semiprecious stones, Edwardian jewelry stuck to pearls, diamonds, gold and platinum in skillfully worked designs giving it a lacy, delicate appearance. Here is a fine example of Edwardian jewelry though unusual in that it uses green Chinese turquoise.
We now come to the style of jewelry named after Queen Victoria which covers most of the 1800's. It has been broken down into three different styles termed Romantic, Grand and Aesthetic which can be looked up in a number of fine books on the subject. The majority of the antique jewelry found on today's market will be found coming from these three periods. Much of it is beautiful, rich in color, and carries a glow only found in old jewelry that has been worn and admired by many people down through the ages. An example are these Victorian wedding bands discovered in the basement of a long closed jewelry store and so tarnished that no one thought they were gold. They tested out as 9k yellow gold, a favorite source of inexpensive jewelry still used in England today.
The 18th century and early 19th century saw the reign of the many King Georges, hence the term "Georgian" jewelry. It was a period of discovery and innovation. Glass paste copies of real gems were developed as well as a substitute for gold called "pinchbeck" named after its inventor. The fashion called for the use of large, gaudy stones set in an elaborate rococo style and paste made it possible to make inexpensive copies of the real thing to guard against theft by highwaymen. Both the paste pieces and the real thing from this period are very rare, and even the paste will bring high prices from collectors. Here is a fine example of Georgian jewelry in a ring made from 18k gold set with diamonds, pearls and a large jade stone in the center.
If you are interested in looking at more examples of antique jewelry like the pieces on this page, you are invited to visit our online store located at www.headress.com .