Crowning Glory

Break out the crown jewels! Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, and antique dealers are anticipating a renewed interest in vintage costume jewelry with a royal look like crowns, scepters, and medallions.

The international celebration throughout 2012, marks the 60th anniversary of her accession to the thrones of seven countries upon the death of her father, King George VI, on February 6, 1952. Queen Victoria (1897) is the only other monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and a few other countries in the Commonwealth, to have celebrated a Diamond Jubilee. The first major event of the Jubilee celebrations will be the Diamond Jubilee Pageant, an equine-themed pageant in honor of the queen’s passion for horses, which will be held at Windsor Castle. The event will feature 550 horses and 1,100 performers from around the world. The show will be performed on May 10, 11, and 13 May.

More desirable than the new inexpensive imported jewelry, will be the jewelry issued in 1953, at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. All the renown costume jewelry manufacturers issued commemorative pieces which are difficult to find as many remained in families as favorite keepsakes. The high-quality pieces were issued by Barclay, Boucher, Butler & Wilson, Carnegie, Eisenberg, Jomaz, Rosenstein, Trifari, and Weiss. But mass production companies also issued their royal lines. Look for crown jewels also issued by ART, B. David, Castlecliff, Coro, Corocraft, Florenza, Kramer, Lisner, and Napier, just to name the more well-known. The appearance of these names will validate that it’s not a new piece, but in fact, vintage, and considered more regal.

The resurgence in popularity of grandiose rhinestone brooches, a few years ago (circa 1950s) with the emergence of the ‘bling’ era, has restored prices to book values…but those books are now over five years old. The Diamond Jubilee is expected to drive the prices up on the vintage jewelry to a level befitting its stature. The fact that this jewelry is now 60 years old and has weathered the test of time, attests to its quality. Mother’s Day is the weekend of the Diamond Jubilee Pageant. Treat her like a queen by crowning her with royal jewels.


Sourced from the Internet
Photo of Queen Elizabeth II sourced from Wikipedia
Jewelry photo & photo collage by Collage

All That Glitters

All that glitters may not be gold, but it can be every bit as beautiful. Brilliant over-the-top rhinestone jewelry is back in vogue as the result of the term ‘bling.’ The ultimate in ‘bling’ things is vintage costume jewelry from the early half of the last century. The term ‘rhinestones’ was used because the stones were originally rock crystals collected from the Rhine River. Georg Friederich Strass, an Alsatian jeweler, conceived the idea to imitate diamonds by coating the back side of the glass with metal powder in 1775. These manmade stones were blown glass, often colored, with foil backing that increased the reflective quality to enhance their brilliance.

Rhinestones differ from what is referred to as ‘paste,’ which was ground glass that was molded and melted, then polished and faceted. Paste stones resulted in a brilliant stone that did not require the foil backing due to the high lead content, but it was labor-intensive. In 1891, Daniel Swarovski invented a glass-cutting machine in Austria, which enabled rhinestones to be mass-produced with consistently high quality, and then produced a foil-application process thus eliminating the hand labor entirely. Swarovski rhinestones now dominate the market.

Rhinestone jewelry peaked during the Great Depression (1929-1939) as fine jewelry with precious stones, was no longer affordable. The early years of the Golden Age of Hollywood showcased paste and rhinestone jewelry magnificently as the jewelry had to be ‘over-the-top’ to be seen on the big screen. The movies were largely instrumental in popularizing flamboyant costume jewelry; one excellent example was “Auntie Mame” starring Rosalind Russell. It remained a popular accessory into the 1950s, when in 1953, a metallic coating produced an iridescent effect termed ‘aurora borealis,’ also invented by Swarovski. If a little is good, a lot was better. Women wanted matching pieces and would wear complete parures which consisted of four or more matching pieces that included earrings, necklace, bracelet, and brooch. Quite often just one piece of the parure might bear the mark, so if the pieces were separated over the years, the provenance was lost. Sometimes these matching sets, were often packaged in gift boxes bearing the name of the costume jewelry manufacturer, so the individual jewelry pieces were not stamped, much to the dismay of today’s costume jewelry collector.

Unfortunately the counter-culture movement of the 1960s saw a decline in opulence and materialism, resulting in a decline of showy costume jewelry. It wasn’t until the Disco Era with it’s mirrored-ball and flashy attire, that it experienced a resurgence in popularity. No well-dressed Las Vegas or Country & Western entertainer would be on seen on stage without bearing some bling. Rhinestones have become a mainstay on C&W attire, and fashionistas no longer reserve it for evening wear. One blinding piece of bling is enough to make a fashion statement on a woman’s business suit. Don’t just save it for the holidays. Bring out your bling!