WEC: Thoughts about Jewelry — Costume Jewelry

4/20 (pronounced four twenty) is a code phrase referring to the consumption of marijuana. Four-twenty in the afternoon, they say, is a great time to get high. And April 20th has informally become known as "Weed Day." Whether it's cannabis, opium or tobacco, smoking has a long history in the world. Cannabis use in the Middle East dates back 5,000 years and opium use in the Far East dates back 4,000 years. In the U.S., tobacco grew in the wild and was smoked or chewed during religious ceremonies over 2,000 years ago. Tobacco as an industry dates to the 1700s.The 20th century has seen...

The Feast of St. Patrick is a cultural and religious holiday during which it is said the whole world turns Irish. In honor of the day and all things Irish, I've put together a blog of costume jewelry. IRELAND St. Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland. Hand-Painted Silver Charm Silver Medallion HARP The harp is the national symbol of Ireland. Goldette Harp PinSilver Harp Charm Gold Harp Charm with Connemara Marble LEPRECHAUNS and RAINBOWS A leprechaun is a fairy-like creature in traditional Irish folklore. Dressed in green, a leprechaun is usually seen as a bearded old man of dwarfish proportions. He loves...

The April birthstone is diamonds. We all know that "diamonds are a girl's best friend." While I don't have much in the way of fine jewelry to share, I do have a quite a nice collection of costume pieces. So I'm fudging a bit and sharing photos of clear rhinestone jewelry. Some are set in white metal; others in yellow metal. These pieces are of good to excellent quality and they sparkle in the light just like the real thing. Who says you need color to look fabulous? Sometimes the best color is no color.    Rhinestone Bracelets Unsigned Circle Pin...

Brown? Yep, there is brown jewelry and for this post, I'm going to post photos of what I can find. It will be a short post though. I happen to like brown, but I don't have much in the way of brown jewelry.  Unsigned Pin and Earrings Set Carved Bakelite Pin Brown Beads (possibly seed pods) Enamel Pin Pale Beads Necklace Strands Plastic Pin Vintage Pn Plastic Pin Destino Cuff Links Matisse Renoir Set Trifari Earrings Pin and Earrings from Germany Unsigned Pin Bangle Bracelet Looking for brown jewelry? Please check my shop to see what's available.

For this post in my series Color in Costume Jewelry, I'm focusing on multi-colored jewelry and defining multi-colored as three or more colors. I hope you enjoy the photo selections.  Trifari Pin Hollycraft Bracelet Michael Golan Pin Unsigned Pin Monet Pin Unsigned Set    Unsigned Clip Earrings Unsigned Bracelet Set from Austria Pin from Czechoslovakia Unsigned Pin Unsigned Set Unsigned Necklace Czech Pin Unsigned Set Unsigned Set Unsigned Bracelet Watch Fob Czech Pin Pin from Original by Robert Silver and Enamel Pin by David Andersen Pin from Israel Unsigned Set Necklace and Earrings by Vogue Unsigned Pin Be sure to check...

Selro was a jewelry company founded by Paul Selenger. The name Selro was a combination of the first syllable of his last name and the first two letters or his mother Rose's name. Some years later, he started a second line called Selini. They are two different lines and all those listings on eBay labeling jewelry Selro-Selini are wrong. It's either Selro or Selini, but not both. There are some very similar pieces in both lines so it can be confusing. To add to the confusion, many pieces by both Selro and Selini were hallmarked only with a paper hang tag. Selro...

The 142nd running of The Kentucky Derby. If you follow horse racing, enough said. If you're in Kentucky, you probably know most of the facts already. If you're a horse-racing novice, I'll tell you a bit about it. The Kentucky Derby is the most famous of horse races. It has been dubbed "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports." and "the Run for the Roses." The Kentucky Derby is a one and a quarter miles (2 km) race for 3 year-old thoroughbreds. The race and the after parties are the culmination of a two-week festival in Louisville, Kentucky which rivals Mardi Gras in scale. This year's Derby Day...

Antique malls, flea markets and collectibles show are a great place to search for antique and vintage jewelry of all kinds. Finding Judaica is easiest in areas with large population centers but the savvy searcher will be able to locate great items any place jewelry is being resold. What should you look for? Just like shopping for any item of jewelry - look first for a design you like then study the item's condition. Used jewelry will often have an uneven patina and may show some wear. Decide if you're okay with the condition you see. And if you are,...

The subject of Christian jewelry may be too broad a topic to tackle, but I'm going to give it a go. The focus and examples I'll present are from my inventory (past and present) so in that way, I'll be able to limit my remarks. And, since this is primarily a photo blog, I'll divide my presentation into categories: Cross, Crucifix, Rosary, Saints, Faith Hope, and Charity and Other. Religious jewelry is plentiful and fairly easy to locate on the secondary market. Whether you acquire pieces for spiritual reasons or aesthetic reasons, you should have no trouble finding crosses and other items in...

Hattie Carnegie was an immigrant to the U.S. from Vienna. She worked as a shop girl at Macy's, changed her name to Carnegie, (she chose the name after Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in America) and became the head of multi-million dollar empire. Five design companies under her name produced hats, perfume, couture clothing, ready-to-wear clothing and jewelry. The clothing was the most successful. Today, it's the jewelry that is highly prized by collectors. Her designs are often intricate and her materials are of good quality. Pieces can be found on the secondary market with prices ranging from average to high. Animal figurals...