WEC: Thoughts about Jewelry

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...

Love Tokens are real coins which have been altered by engraving. While craftsmen in every country have altered coins, the most collectible love tokens are from Great Britain, the United States and Canada. My focus is primarily on U.S. love tokens and all of the examples shown here are American. The first love tokens appeared in the U.S. in the mid-1800s, just before the Civil War. At that time in American history there was a shortage of pennies, so love tokens were usually made from dimes, the most plentiful and available coin. Nickels, though half the cost, were too hard to engrave. Compare the...

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...

Do you wrinkle your nose at the mention of bugs? What about butterflies? They are in fact insects. They have four wings and six legs and like other insects, they have a  multi- stage life cycle. They have exoskeletons, but in the butterfly, this exoskeleton is the velvety looking wings which are made of pigmented scales. Enough science.Like many people, my internal filing system has one drawer for butterflies and one for all other insects. Today, I have the butterfly drawer open, so let's talk butterfly jewelry.   Caterpillar pin (larva stage) by Kenneth Jay Lane Insect collecting was widespread in Europe in the 1800s and...

Crowns, the preferred headgear of royalty. Turns out to be a popular subject for costume jewelry as well. Perhaps the most well known crown in costume jewelry is the Queen's Crown as seen below with matching earrings. It was designed by Alfred Philippe for Trifari and produced in 1944. This design was so popular that it remained in production for around three years. It was featured was featured in a Sak's Fifth Avenue Christmas ad. Trifari released many crown designs over the years, but none as popular as the Queen's Crown. Here is a sampling of other crown designs by Trifari. This...

With wood being readily available and easy to manipulate, it's no wonder woodchucks chuck it and artists use it to make jewelry. This blog post is all about wooden jewelry - from novelty to collectible. So let's get to the photos. This is a gopher, not a woodchuck, but it's a relative and it chucks wood too. He's carved and painted with leather ears. This wooden dog is wearing a felt hat. This mule has multi-colored rhinestone accents. A grid of 9 or 16 wooden pins like the examples above could easily be framed for a one-of-a-kind art piece. Novelty wooden pins...

Lisner is an affordable line of costume jewelry with some iconic designs and it's the perfect place for a beginner to start. Probably the most recognizable designs are the molded plastic maple and oak leaves. These leaf pieces were produced in fifteen color combinations including autumn tones and shades of green. The leaves were set in necklaces, bracelets, pins and earrings. Lisner made over a dozen other leaf shapes as well. Molded plastic was also used to make flower petals. Less common are Lisner's rhinestone pieces often found in familiar leaf and flower shapes. Some Lisner pieces lean toward bizarre. Lisner jewelry...

I was searching for something on the internet recently when I happened upon a list of "ugly" quotes. Several appealed to me and I decided to see if I could match the quote to a piece of jewelry. Make a game out of it. Turns out, I have some ugly jewelry, but the quotes don't really match. Nonetheless, this is the result: “My mirror never shows me what I want to see. I can't possibly be this fat and ugly!”- Michael R. Fletcher, from Beyond RedemptionClown pin by Lisner  “Even the most beautiful girl in the world becomes unsightly without depth...

Most online vintage jewelry sellers don't bother with cuff links. They are dated and no one wears them. At least that's the perception. I find it untrue. I sell quite a few sets every month. Half are shipped internationally and the remaining pairs are purchased by U.S. buyers. And those pairs go in equal number to men and women. Yep, quite a few women seem to be collecting and wearing cuff links. And why not? Like a pair of earrings, they can make an outfit. Unlike other jewelry, their origins are newer. The first cuff links appeared in the 1600s...