Vintage Costume Jewelry

Vintage Costume Jewelry

The price of fine jewelry made today leaves those of us with modest budgets at a disadvantage in rounding out a nice collection. Much of the discount store Vintage Costume Jewelry are poorly made of inferior materials. However, there is a middle ground, where beautiful quality pieces may be found without breaking the bank. This is the vintage jewelry market.


Some Vintage Costume Jewelry can be very expensive, but there are many beautiful pieces made with less expensive materials that are reasonably priced and a credit to any woman's jewelry box. Many women have made a sort of hobby of searching out these pieces, gathering jewelry pieces appropriate for almost any occasion.
When shopping for vintage jewelry, there are several pointers which will help you determine true value.

For our purposes, we'll look at vintage jewelry produced since the 1930's. These are the pieces most often found in today's Vintage Costume Jewelry shops.

The Art Deco jewelry style was popular in the days of Flappers and Prohibition, with multiple necklaces worn at once. Perhaps you remember seeing pictures of your grandmother in one of those fantastic short dresses with lots of fringe, and a bevy of bright necklaces “tied” in a loose knot near the end of the strands? New plastics, enamel accents and amber, along with bright colors are characteristic of the time. Chokers were another popular jewelry item.

The 1940's brought the Retro style, snapped up in Hollywood society. Large rings with large stones, precious or not became all the rage. Necklaces, bracelets and watches were large, elegant and flashy, a good backdrop to the sleek and tailored styles of the day.

In the post-World War II of the 1950's, costume jewelry provided a practical but glitzy alternative to their 1940's counterparts. Rhinestones took center stage, the faux diamond of the day, made of quartz mined from the Rhine River. Rhinestones replaced diamonds, appearing in abundance and decorating necklaces, pendants, bracelets and brooches. Gold plating meant a more affordable piece, and non-tarnishing Rhodium plating was used on silver colored pieces.

The 1960's ushered in a period of handmade jewelry by individual craftsmen, ranging from inexpensive but unusual designs of hammered over sized brass and silver earrings to Renaissance style ornate pendants and rings. Lost-wax casting was also a popular technique.

One French costume jewelry designer, Lea Stein, came on the scene in the late 1960's, making a big splash with her cellulose creations featuring cats, big and small, flower and leaf motifs, a variety of animals, music note designs and the like, formed into brooches that cinched her place in jewelry history. Her jewelry is a hot collection item, even today. Watch for these gems of your vintage jewelry searches!

So you see there's no need to settle for cheap, poor quality jewelry from a discount store. A little searching and perserverance, over time can make you the proud owner of some very classy vintage jewelry, with a fun new hobby to boot!