Antiques

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend…
but give me vintage costume jewellery for creative, affordable and collectable glitz and glamour!True to its name, costume jewellery was created to match the fashions of the day, dating back to Victorian times, but really flourishing when designers like Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli created affordable jewellery to match the high styled costumes of their day. While pieces were crafted with quality manufacture and fittings the idea was; they could be thrown away when the fashion went out of style. Thrown away – heaven forbid!!

Wars in the early 20th Century made precious metals and stones hard to find and so creative and innovative ways were found to create pizzazz and style. Sometimes called “faux jewellery”; crystals, coloured glass beads, rhinestones and diamantes imitated precious stones and the demand from the middle class drove mass production.
They were often distributed through house parties, mail order and department stores.

The bold designs of the ‘30s and ‘40s and the “Golden Age of Hollywood” movie stars, such as Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Jean Harlow further reinforced the public’s demand for large, bright and bossy cocktail-style pieces.

So much sparkle!
Luckily for collectors, the top designers of the day would often sign their pieces making it easier to track down the date and area of manufacture. Trifari, Weiss, Coro, Hobe, Robert, and the pinnacle of design, the famous Miriam Haskell are musts in any respectable collection! While some of the pieces now seem to be prohibitively expensive, similar styles can be found at reasonable prices. As a bonus, they are still very wearable.

The possibilities for a collector are so vast that many select particular designers or genres. Focussing on bird designs, brooches or parures (matching sets of necklace brooch and earrings) will still leave you with a lot of scope to create a large and interesting stash!
Daphne Geisler of Vintage Treasures 4 Kansas St Martinborough