Pottery, Ceramic, Porcelain, China: Breakable Jewelry

Throw a rhinestone necklace against the wall and you'll probably loose a few stones, maybe even bend a piece of it; but the damage you've done can likely be repaired. Not so with ceramic and porcelain jewelry. That's the stuff that fractures and breaks off in shards and slivers. If the pieces are large enough, you can glue them back together, but you're going to have visible seams. Maybe fragility is the reason it's so hard to find ceramic and porcelain jewelry at flea markets and collectibles shows. They just don't exist in large quantities.

Ceramic and porcelain jewelry pieces are out there, you just have to look a little harder for them. And they can be worth hunting for. 

Let's start with definitions:
CERAMIC  articles made from clay hardened by heat
CHINA  hard white material that is made of baked clay
PORCELAIN  white vitrified translucent ceramic
POTTERY  made of earthenware or baked clay

HUH? They sure sound similar to me. And looking up the definitions didn't make it any easier for me to tell one type of jewelry from another. So, for my purposes, I'm going to focus on breakable jewelry -- breakable in that it will shatter if I throw it against a wall.

I don't have a lot of examples but I have some interesting pieces from around the world.

My favorite piece, and the cover photo for this post, is a porcelain fan pin from Toshikane Arita of Japan. This figural pin has a lovely floral chrysanthemum design. It has a metal backing frame on which the clasp is mounted.

 
Toshikane Arita, earrings, Japan

Toshikane Silver Bracelet from Japan

Elzac of Hollywood, commonly referred to as Elzac, produced whimsical and unique figural costume jewelry brooches during the 1940s. One of the company's founders was Eliot Handler who, along with his wife Ruth, created the Barbie doll.

            
4 Designs by Elzac

Ceramic Set from Alice Lund, Denmark

Bracelet and 2 necklaces by Kenneth Jay Lane for Royal Worcester 

Coro Flower Pin

Pendant Necklace from Anton Michelsen, Denmark

Brondsted, Denmark

Ceramic on Copper

Fyrbo, Denmark

NEWER PIECES

Flounder Pin by Artist Cynthia Chuang

Artist Signed Raku Pin

 
Unsigned Set

HAND-PAINTED PIECES

     
Rosenthal, Germany

  
Coalport, England

Unsigned

Unsigned Pin

Unsigned Pin

Unsigned Pin

Unsigned Pendant

NOVELTY PIECES

Unsigned Christmas Tree Set

  
Unsigned Snake Pins

Uncle Sam Pin by ExClayMations

1980s CERAMIC EARRINGS

  
Collection of Unsigned Earrings

Hopefully I've inspired you to keep your eyes open for jewelry pieces made of ceramic and porcelain. Stored with care, they will be collectibles for the next generation.