Jewelry

Turn Of The Century Antique Jewelry

July 26th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Art Nouveau Ring - image Jewelry, like everything else we wear, is subject to the whims of fashion. It doesn’t take long for jewelry to look quaint and old-fashioned. By the same token, it takes a long time for old rings, necklaces and bracelets to become dignified with the title ‘antique jewelry’. Ironically enough, by upgrading its staus to ‘antique,’ jewelry returns to fashion, rises in value and aquires the most precious quality of all human artifacts - a story.

Art Nouveau Jewelry

Art Nouveau, the willful style of sinous lines and stylized organic forms that came to prominence in the closing years of the nineteenth century, returned to fashion throughout the Western World at the end of the 1980s. It has held on to its charm and allure ever since. Jewelry of this era became more aesthetic rather than functional, concerned with form that required a fine eye and a superb level of skill to craft. It was perhaps the last gasp of a craft about to be swallowed by heavy industry and mass-production. Hundreds of years earlier, gem stone jewelry focused on the stones. The precious metals used to hold the stones were regarded as little more than a setting. Antique jewelry of the art nouveau style is about the flowing forms that unites opals, semi-precious gems, metal and enamelling. The dragonfly became a popular theme for brooches as it has again today. Precious stones became less fashionable and molded glass, horn and ivory were used. The design was paramount.

Art Deco Jewelry

Art Deco Ring Image In the interim years between the first and second world wars, art deco evolved. Antique jewelry from the 1920s and 1930s has a more streamlined, geometric look which reflects the new industrial processes that produced its artifacts, and the aspirations of a society hoping to be liberated from drudgery by the promise of mechanization and technology. The sinuous lines of Art Nouveau jewelry gave way to the straight lines and sweeping curves of Art Deco. Chevrons and sunbursts defined the look. Materials like stainless steel and aluminum reflected the interest in manufacturing and modern building techniques. Lacquer and wood inlays were used instead of precious stones. Hollywood adopted this brash new style, espousing the rise of a new confident age in which a young man or woman could step off the bus at the foot of the Hollywood hills and be transformed overnight into a star. The look was sleek and clean like the skyscrapers and cinemas that fascinated the people of the time. The Chrysler building in New York City is perhaps the jewel in the corwn of Art Deco’s achievement.

Hollywood Jewelry and the Importance of Style

Hollywood remained an influence on antique jewelry from the 1940s and ‘50s. In Europe and America, designers copied the look of the movie stars, the brave new world’s fresh aristocracy, both on and off the silver screen. Opulence made its return as the handful of stars lived out the fantasies of millions of ordinary people. At the other end of the scale, the post World War II rationing of metals led to an increase in the market for costume jewelry. The juxtaposition of high-falutin glamour with inexpensive mass-produced jewelry is a clear feature of this era. In spite the relative youth of this period’s antique jewelry, the large quantity produced and the use of inexpensive materials makes it very collectible.

Whether you appreciate antique jewelry for its value, beauty or collectability, it speaks volumes of the age in which it was crafted. The appeal is as much one of story than precious object. After all, what are the great cathedrals of Europe if not a collection of wonderful stories that have twisted and grown over the passage of time? Antique jewelry is one way of learning those stories, holding them close and keeping them precious.