WEC: Thoughts about Jewelry

When I decided to start a series on colors in costume jewelry, I was surprised to see how many orange pieces I had. It's not a color I wear or decorate with yet I seem to have an abundance of it.  Orange is considered to be a happy color in many cultures, representing joy. It raises the spirits and invigorates the observer. It is a vibrant color that attracts the attention of the surroundings. It's associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics, and represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity and determination. Wired Bead Necklace from Germany Trifari PIn and Earrings Set Lightweight Plastic Necklace...

I have a love-hate relationship with Napier jewelry. I love it because there are so many beautifully designed and well-made pieces. I hate it because there is so much to choose from that it can be tough to narrow down. Napier is readily available on the secondary market. I look for it at antique malls, flea markets and second-hand stores. Some pieces can be very pricey, but for the most part, Napier is available at a good price point for both beginners and advanced collectors. NAPIER CHARM BRACELETSMy personal favorite Napier design is the charm bracelet. They have produced so many wonderful examples that one...

As fruit is essential to a good diet; it is, in my opinion, also essential to a balanced costume jewelry collection. If you've seen it in farmer's market or a grocery store, it's probably been refashioned into jewelry. I have quite a few photos, and I'm going to post most of them, so sit back and enjoy. AUSTRIAN FRUIT PINSMade in Austria during the post-war years of the 1940s and into the 1950s, Austrian fruit jewelry is realistic in appearance and very collectible. Most common are pins but many examples of earrings can also be found. Many factories produced these pieces and there is some variation...

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...

People love their own names and the names of their loved ones. Jewelry reflects that love in the form of name and initial jewelry and also via the personalized engraving of names, initials, dates and messages. Names go in and out of fashion. So does jewelry. Many of today's most popular names are the same names that were popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. So it's no surprise that Victorian name jewelry is collectible in today's market since many of the popular Victorian names are common once again.  NAME JEWELRY Here are several examples of Victorian name pins. Essentially they are bar...

If you've ever been a sales person, you've probably heard someone asking for a product and mispronouncing its name. That's certainly true in jewelry. Many designers' names and many jewelry terms aren't pronounced the way they look. Do you know how to pronounce VERMEIL? What about CINI? Check below and you may be surprised to learn you're right. Or maybe, you're wrong. And maybe like me, you're so used to saying it a certain way, knowing what's correct doesn't really change anything.JEWELRY DESIGNERS AND COMPANY NAMESGivenchyFrench luxurty haute-couture design house founded in 1952. The jewelry designs are classic and versatle.Pronounced...

Birds are a very popular jewelry motif and I have so many examples of birds in jewelry that I decided to subdivide them. This is my presentation on owls. Lots of photos to scroll through with a few facts along the way. Owls are birds of prey, but unlike other birds of prey, an owl has an upright posture and forward facing eyes. Their eyes are set in bony sockets so they can't turn them. That's why an owl turns its head. The bird has a 270 degree range of movement -- 135 degrees to each side. Iconic Owl Pin...

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...

Over the years I've enjoyed many visits to Las Vegas and like most of the 41 million annual visitors I usually came home a loser. But there was always hope that the next time, the cards would fall right and I'd come home a big-money winner. Sound familiar? Last night I fell asleep thinking about a heart-breaking blackjack hand I once played -- split eights, 3 on both cards allowing me to double down. The dealer placed an 8 on one hand and a 9 on the other. And then, just like that, the dealer gives herself a 21 and my...

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...