Jewelry as Wearable Art

 

QUESTION: My mother loved costume jewelry and had many, many pieces. But, years ago, when she asked if I wanted her necklaces, pins and earrings, I responded, "That junk!" Recently, I was going through some of her things and found a jewelry box full of the stuff. Is it worth anything? If not, I’m going to give it to Goodwill.

ANSWER: Believe it or not, your mother’s costume jewelry may be worth more than you ever imagined, depending on its condition and who made it. Many collectors consider it a form of wearable art and a reflection of the wearer’s personality.

Essentially, costume jewelry has been around for a long time. Artificial jewels and adornments have been worn for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians wore bib necklaces and chokers. The ancient Greeks wore hoop earrings as well as studs and pendants. The Romans wore glass and gold bracelets. 

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, women wore brooches, necklaces and hairpieces of real and imitation materials. Men wore earrings and paste buckles an their shoes. By this time, jewelry represented social status and wealth as well as political and religious importance. Queen Elizabeth I wore gowns encrusted with sewed on paste (rhinestones), glass, and pearls in the 16th century. 

And during the Victorian Era, women desired small, tasteful, gold, pearl and diamond jewelry. Along with rigid mores and controlled expression went the "repressed" designs of that era drab, dark and understated.

Not everyone could afford the real thing though, so middle and working-class women wore "imitation" paste jewelry, or items made out of less inexpensive materials such as   coral and jet. Yet, it took the same amount of labor to create these "false" gems as it did to produce the real. Victorian jewelry makers hard set glass in claws rather than glued in hand painted brooches. As labor was cheap, women of leaser means could afford something beautiful. And jewelry makers attempted to make imitation jewelry as close to the real thing as possible so no one could tell the difference.

Through the Edwardian Era, most jewelry was understated and dainty, although some    Edwardian clothing was heavy with beadwork to display a woman's wealth and status. Edwardian women loved costume jewelry as well—glass imitating emeralds, rubber appearing as jet, and marcasites posing as diamonds.

But then came the Jazz Age in the 1920s. . Women stepped out of their corsets and into the automobile. Strict Victorian codes of behavior fell by the wayside. Further, the austerities demanded by World War I caused the interest in precious jewelry to fade. Finally, costume jewelry began to come into its own.

Some say it was Coco Chanel who ordered specific jewelry to go with her latest "costume."  Designers created so-called "fashion jewelry and sold it at jewelry counters in department stores. Costume jewelry, considered low-line, was sold in the notions departments.

It was designer Coco Chanel who, first mixed faux jewelry with real, urging women to layer of bracelets and use other pieces with her   clothing collections. By the end of the 1920s, most couture houses such as Lanvin and Schiaparelli, had teamed up with jewelers who created faux lines to accompany their collections. 

The discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 spurred the popularity of Egyptian-style jewelry that endured to the end of the 1930s. Women preferred black and white, so jewelry designers began using combinations of crystal and onyx, and ivory, marcasite and ebony. The cultured pearl first appeared in the 1920s and Bakelite, celluloid and other synthetic plastics had already been invented. Women wore jewelry in numerous colors of plain, multicolored and carved plastics, some accented with rhinestones and pearls. 

American women welcomed the new costume jewelry craze, and during the 1920s and 1930s, such designers as Hattie Carnegie and Miriam Haskell, who created high-end, beautifully made costume jewelry sold in such retail outlets as Saks Fifth Avenue. The working girl wasn’t forgotten, however, and in spite of, or maybe because of, the Great Depression, she wanted to put some glamor in her life, too. Maybe she couldn't afford to buy a new outfit, but she could save her money and purchase a paste or marcasite pin for 19 cents to liven up an old dress. 

Eisenberg originally made rhinestone dress clips and pins to enhance his line of Eisenberg Original clothing. But as pins continued to be stolen off his dresses, it was suggested that he maintain a store to satisfy demand for the pins. That was the beginning of the Eisenberg rhinestone jewelry business. Eisenberg always used the finest, most flawless Austrian stones from Swarovski. There are few stones of this quality anywhere, at any price today. During the 1970s, an Eisenberg necklace sold for $50. Today, that same necklace can go for as high as $1,000.

With the advent of World War II, costume jewelry factories were converted into producing supplies suppliers for the military. Many materials used in the production of costume jewelry became unavailable. Jewelry makers were forced to use sterling silver as white metal was being used in the war effort. Some designers used wood or leather as alternatives and vermeil (gold wash over sterling) was also popular. But sterling silver wasn’t only expensive but it tarnished. So after the War, most costume jewelry producers dropped its use and returned to using metals such as rhodium which is extremely durable and keeps its original shine. That’s why jewelry made with rhodium 45 years ago still has the brilliance it had the day it was made. White and gold-colored metals have remained in use for costume jewelry up to the present.

After the war, women wanted to glitter up. The biggest change came during the 1950s and 1960s, when women broke with tradition and began to wear sparkling jewelry during the day as well as in the evening. Femininity and the look of luxury were in. Politics aside, this revisionist time produced some of the most beautiful costume jewelry ever. Huge pins, large rings and bracelets, dangling earrings were de rigeur at any time of day or night. The big pin explosion large, gem-encrusted spirals, comets and stars-brightened the simple, tailored day clothes of the early I960s.

Designers to look for include Castlecliff, Lisner, Mazer, Emmons (forerunner of Sarah    Coventry), Ciner, Jomaz, Weiss, Richter and Schreiner, to name but a few.

Techniques for making fine costume jewelry remain time-consuming even today. Casting, molding, and stone settings are still done by hand for the best pieces, and they become collectible and increase value almost as seen as they disappear from the marketplace. While machines made lesser lines which can be found by the hundreds in department and variety stores. The jewelry treasured today, such as early marcasite and plastic jewelry, were also made by machines With the imprimatur of age, nobody  calls costume jewelry junk anymore.

It used to be that costume jewelry could be found at garage and yard sales in bags marked “Junk Jewelry—$5 takes it all.” Today, that’s most unlikely, especially in the suburbs around big cities. The early 1990s saw a rapid escalation in prices as marked costume jewelry became a "hot" collectible especially high-end big city shopping areas and popular tourist destinations. Prices escalated into the stratosphere as collectors searched for less common examples. This was the result of European buyers paying huge sums to dealers for American-made costume jewelry, then selling it for even higher prices overseas. But over time, prices began to settle. And while those for the best pieces stayed high, the prices for mid to lower-range pieces dropped.

As with many vintage collectibles, reproductions by some former jewelry makers, such costume jewelry makers, such as Eiisenberg, affected the costume jewelry market by the end of the 20th century. These piece, using leftover materials from former production lines,  are often sold a special limited editions and come with a certificate of authenticity. As with other limited edition collectibles, these pieces usually sell to novice collectors and rarely appreciate in value. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Halloween Horrors" in the 2025 Fall Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

What's All the Fanfare?

 

QUESTION: I was digging around in my mother’s attic the other day and discovered a flat box containing two very beautiful fans. I imagine these must have belonged to her mother or grandmother. What can you tell me about them? Do they have any value?

ANSWER: Fans have been around for a long time. As a piece of functional art, they go back as far as ancient Egypt. 

The Egyptians saw them as sacred instruments used in religious ceremonies. They also became a symbol of royal power. But it was the Chinese who evolved the fan into a complex, decorated instrument. The Japanese took the fan one step further and produced a folding version, supposedly based on the folding wings of a bat. When Marco Polo returned to Venice, he brought with him fans made of vellum, paper, swan skin with blades of gold, silver, and inlaid mother-of-pearl.

The original purpose of hand fans was to create a breeze, but they had many other uses. They could be used as protection against rain, as a tray for offering or receiving refreshments, and to hide bad teeth. European women would use fans to hide their faces during mass.

By the 18th century, the folding fan had come into its own in Paris. Delicately hand-painted floral motifs, on a structure of decorative sticks, came into common use. In fact, any wealthy lady worth her salt had to have fans as accessories to her wardrobe.

These wealthy women developed a whole language of salutations and signals around their fans. For instance, carrying a fan in the left hand signified "desirous of acquaintance" while allowing it to rest on the right cheek meant "yes" and on the left "no." Drawing a fan across the forehead meant "We are watched" and drawing a fan across the eyes meant "I am sorry." Opening a fan wide meant "wait for me."

Dropping a fan meant "We could be friends." If a lady fluttered her fan, it meant “I am married.” But if she placed the handle of her fan to her lips, it meant "kiss me."  An open fan held in the right hand in front of the face—the ultimate form of seduction— meant "follow me"

The blades of these delicate instruments could be of carved ivory or tortoise shell inlaid with precious inlaid metals and elaborate jewels. Less expensive fan sticks were usually of sandalwood or fruitwood. These rococo fans were the finest ever made, and many fo the designs took the form of stylized art.

By the latter part of the 18th century, fans had gained popularity as a fashion accessory in the upper circles of American society. While fan makers imported finer sticks, they made their own wooden ones.

The earliest fans made in any large quantity in the United States were paper souvenir fans depicting historical scenes. as well as current events. Lithographers portrayed views of New York's Crystal Palace, 1853, the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, printed in black on a cream background, and the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

By the late 19th century, fans displayed images of nearly every product. Every department store and every manufacturer advertised on fans, including such products as coffee, milk, bread, carpet sweepers, restaurants, cafes, theaters, sewing machines, etc. 

Before the advent of air-conditioning, funeral parlors gave out fans t mourners. These were as much to keep mourners cooler in warm weather as they were to wave the stink of the corpse away. These mourning fans became a social necessity. Manufacturers often fashioned them in black materials to coincide with the black clothing worn during recognized periods of mourning. Of course, it didn't hurt to print the name and address of the mortician on the guards of a cheap wood fan.

Fans are still relatively inexpensive—except the jewel-encrusted ones—so they’re ideal to collect, especially for the novice collector. Many sell for $5-$20 online. Some of the most sought after fans came from the E.S. Hunt Company, later called the Allen Fan Company. In 1868, Hunt patented the process by which he assembled the fan sticks and the fan leaf in one step. This included folding or creasing and gluing the leaf to the fan sticks at the same time under pressure. This was America's first fan to appear and unfortunately folded, like its fans, in1910.  

Serious fan collectors often prize the simpler fans with printed leaves and plain sticks and guards. Many of these simpler folding fans provide a glimpse of particular times in history. Some once served as records of special occasions, such as births and marriages. Often fans celebrated military and naval victories. And some did the same for national holidays. Collectors find such a quantity of fans that many specialize in one particular subject, such as advertising fans. Unlike many other delicate antiques and collectibles, folding fans have survived for decades and often centuries in superb condition. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Art Deco World" in the 2024 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Weighing In

 

QUESTION: Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve had a fascination with scales. I love weighing things. Now that I’m older, that fascination has turned to a passion for collecting old scales. Currently, I have about 10 scales of varying ages that I acquired from various sources over the years. I’d really like to expand my collection, but I don’t know much about the history of scales and don’t really know where to start. Can you help me?

ANSWER: You have a very unique interest. Scales and other weighing devices are forms of scientific instruments. Scales have played an important role in economies around the world throughout history. 

The earliest known weighing scales date back to ancient Egypt and Rome. Some of the earliest examples of weight measurement consisted of a simple rod suspended by a string in the middle. The user attached a pan to each end. In one pan, he placed  the item, such as a sack of gold coins, to be weighed and in the other stones representing a known weight until he balanced the rod. By calculating the total of the known weights, the user could determine the weight of the object in the other pan.

The ancient Egyptians used balance scales for trade and commerce Scales were also important religious symbols. The primary role of the Egyptian goddess of justice, called Maat, was to assist Osiris in the weighing of the heart in the judgement of the dead. The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead depicts a scene in which a scribe's heart is weighed against the feather of truth.

The original form of a balance consisted of a beam with a fulcrum at its center. For highest accuracy, the fulcrum would consist of a sharp V-shaped pivot seated in a shallower V-shaped bearing. Balance scales that required equal weights on each side of the fulcrum have been used by everyone from apothecaries and assayers to jewelers and postal workers. 

The Romans also used balance scales for trade and taxation purposes, as well as in the production of coins. 

During medieval and Renaissance times, more precise weighing scales appeared. Beam scales, for example, used a lever system to increase precision and accuracy. In the 16th century, the invention of the steelyard, a type of lever scale, allowed for even greater accuracy in weighing objects. Ddesigned to be mounted to a wall, the most ingenious ones could be folded against the wall and moved out of the way when not in use.

Coin-operated weighing machines also became popular during this time, allowing merchants to charge customers based on the weight of the goods they were purchasing. Weighing scales became essential for commerce during this period, with merchants using them to ensure fair trade and prevent fraud. 

In 1669 the Frenchman Gilles Personne de Roberval presented a new kind of balance scale to the French Academy of Sciences. His scale consisted of a pair of vertical columns separated by a pair of equal-length arms and pivoting in the center of each arm from a central vertical column, creating a parallelogram. A peg extended from the side of each vertical column. To the amazement of observers, no matter where Roberval hung two equal weight along the peg, the scale still balanced. In this sense, the scale was revolutionary: it evolved into the more-commonly encountered form consisting of two pans placed on vertical column located above the fulcrum and the parallelogram below them. The advantage of the Roberval design was that no matter where equal weights had been placed in the pans, the scale would still balance.

In the 18th century, spring scales appeared. To produce these scales, a manufacturer would use the resistance of a spring to calculate weights, which could be read automatically on the scale’s face. The ease of use of spring scales over balance scales was what led most post offices to outfit their clerks with spring postal scales.

The Industrial Revolution brought about the development of mechanical weighing scales. Spring scales, invented in the 18th century, used a spring to measure weight. Industries such as agriculture and manufacturing commonly used them. Platform scales, invented in the 19th century, used a lever and counterbalance system, enabling manufacturers and merchants to weigh heavy loads such as industrial machinery. 

The traditional scale consists of two plates or bowls suspended at equal distances from a fulcrum. One plate holds an object of unknown mass, while objects of known mass, called weights, could be added to the other plate until the plates leveled off, indicating the masses are equal. The perfect scale rests at neutral. 

A spring scale, on the other hand, made use of a spring of known stiffness to determine mass. Suspending a certain mass will extend the spring by a certain amount depending on the spring's stiffness. The heavier the object, the more the spring stretches.

One of the most common types of spring scales was the kitchen scale—also known as a family or dial scale. Designed for horizontal surfaces, these vintage kitchen scales used the weight of goods in a pan at the top of the scale to force the spring down. Such scales, sold by Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, became common in early-20th-century households. Many had flat weighing surfaces but some had shallow pans on top. Companies such as Salters, Chatillon, and Fairbanks made both.

One specialized type of spring scale was the egg scale, which grocers used to compute the weight of one egg or a dozen eggs. It also made it possible to classify eggs as to size—small, medium, large, or extra large. Jiffy-Way scales, made in Owatonna, Minnesota, beginning in 1940, became popular with collectors for their attractive red painted-metal housings. Another Minnesota company, Specialty Manufacturing Company made the Acme egg scale.

The weights used to balance scales varied from round, coin-like objects, each weighing a different incremental amount, to fancier ones shaped like bells. During the 19th and early 20th century, most scales were made of brass and/or cast metal. 

One of the most common antique scales is the postal scale. While those used in post offices were more elaborate, the basic design of inexpensive postal scales, sold in office supply stores, hasn’t changed since the late 19th century. 

In the 19th century, some merchants used portable suspension balance scales to weigh coins. Often the value of the gold in a coin exceeded the coin’s stamped denomination. These antique scales, designed to fit into wooden or metal cases, could be hung from the nearest hook. They included brass pans and cast iron or lead weights.

Another type of balance scale had a weighing pan on one side and an arm on the other. Known as an unequal arm balance scale, this variety had the counterweight built into the device. 

Counter scales used in dry-goods stores featured Japanned cast iron and bronze trim. Made by companies such as Howe and Fairbanks, the footed tin pans of these scales were often oblong, some encircled at one end so bulk items could be easily poured into a bag. Seamless pans were typically stamped from brass and given style names like Snuff, the smallest, and Birmingham, the largest. Manufacturers designed some counter scales for measuring spices while others weighed slices of cake.

Scales come in all sizes and varieties and prices, making them an excellent item with which to begin or expand a collection. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The  Vernacular Style" in the 2024 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Miniature Relief Portraits in Stone

 

QUESTION: When I was very young, my mother would take me to visit my great grandmother. The first time I saw her she was wearing a beautiful pin with the picture of a lady carved on it. She later told me it was a cameo, given to her by her mother. She also had several others in different colors and designs. Needless to say, she has since passed, leaving her cameos to me. They are so beautiful but seem outdated by today’s standards. I may begin adding to the ones she gave me and would like to know more about their history and how I can tell how old they are. 

ANSWER: While cameos may not be in style today, they are nevertheless a great thing to collect. They span all periods from ancient to the early 20th century.

Cameos have been around since 15,000 B.C.E, appearing first as carvings on rocks to record significant events in ancient Egypt. 

During the reign of Alexander the Great in the 3rd century B.C.E., Greek and Roman cameos featured religious figures and mythological images. During the Greek Hellenistic era, women wore cameos to display their willingness to engage in intercourse. Quattrocento collectors, those from the 15th century Italian cultural and arts period, began distinguishing among the ancient cameos. 

Upper class women began wearing carved gemstones as a sign of wealth and prestige in the 18th century. Carvers soon realized they could use Plaster of Paris molds to recreate such gemstones as records of notable cameo collections. Scottish gem engraver and modeler James Tassie began using these molds recreate glass pastes that could pass as authentic, carved jewels.

Carvers realized just how easily they could replicate expensive jewels. They discovered Cornelian shells, which were soft, durable, and easy to carve. In the 19th century, England’s Queen Victoria popularized shelled cameos. As interest grew, Napoleon took a particular interest in them. He brought carvers to France from all over Europe to create cameo jewelry for both men and women. 

The Industrial Revolution produced an affluent middle class with plenty of money, and leisure time in which to spend it. Scores of Victorians broadened their horizons with travel, taking the Grand Tour of the European continent, and acquiring mementos and small gifts along the way to bring home for friends and loved ones. An essential stop on every Grand Tour was Italy.

A new type of cameo, made of petrified lava, also appeared in the 19th century. Colored lava extracted from an archaeological dig at Pompeii proved useful for highly detailed carvings. Women during this time were embarking on their Grand Tours, which were traditional trips were taken by wealthy young European men and women serving as an educational rite of passage. Women often purchased lava cameos as souvenirs of their travels, which established them as symbols of status and wealth.

But what exactly is a cameo? A cameo is a small piece of sculpture, often a profiled head in relief, on a stone or shell cut in one layer with another contrasting layer serving as the background. They could be made of any layered material capable of being carved so that the layers underneath were exposed. Over the centuries, cameos have been made of shell, stone, lava, gemstones, plastic and glass.

Cameos most commonly appear as portraits of women, although other popular subjects are men, groups, scenery, animals and flowers. Classic cameos, such as the ones Victorian women brought back to England, were made of shell and often depicted Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, recognizable by the various symbols placed in their hair or else-where in the portrait. An example of this was Diana, the Goddess of the Hunt, always depicted with a crescent moon in her hair, and sometimes carrying a quiver of arrows and a bow.

There are several ways to date a cameo. The first is its construction. A Victorian brooch. made before the invention of the locking pin clasp, has a simple "C" clasp, indicating it was made before 1900. Also, the pin shaft in a Victorian brooch extended out past the rim of the brooch and was visible when a woman wore one. 

The hair, clothing, and even the nose of the subject can also identify an older cameo. A Greco-Victorian cameo, while a short bob will appear on a cameo made during the early 20th century. Clothing styles change too, so looking at the subject's style of dress can help one date a cameo. And then there's the nose. During the Victorian era, the "Roman" or aquiline nose, a long nose with a straight bridge, was a sign of classic beauty. Later, society came to view a smaller, upturned nose as most attractive. 

The finest, most expensive cameos are those made from semi-precious stones. Agate is one of the most popular since it’s difficult to carve and requires significantly more skill to produce. 

The rareness of a cameo is a stronger determinant of its value than its age. For example, though the Roman Empire predated the Renaissance era, Collectors consider Renaissance cameos more valuable because there are fewer of them. The metal used can also give an indication of the age of a cameo. If the mounting is a pinchbeck—an alloy of copper and zinc resembling gold—it was likely made between the early 18th century and mid-19th century. Gold electroplating wasn’t patented until 1840, so all cameos that are plated were carved after this date.

The setting, or framing, is one of the most important determinants of age and value. Those that are remounted are considerably less valuable. The setting will be different depending on the era from which it was produced. For example, Victorian cameos often feature confined, simple frames as opposed to the jeweled, pearled versions that followed decades later.

Collectors today look for skillful hand-carving, exquisite detail and interesting subjects. Also, a cameo should be judged on the content and quality of the setting, its size and, most importantly, its condition. It's a good idea to hold a cameo up to the light to look for stress lines and cracks, before purchasing. Details such as the creative use of the coloring of the shell or stone, and the adornment of the subject with jewels or other accessories will also increase the desirability, and therefore the price, of a cameo.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The  Vernacular Style" in the 2024 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.