Costume Jewellery by Judith Miller - a book review

Okay I have tried to write a review on this book several times, but I am really having difficulty because its one of the worst books on costume jewellery I have read ever!!

The content is available readily on the Internet. Many vintage costume jewelers and historians have very comprehensive and correct factual information available that is free to view.  

Red aurora borealis vintage brooch signed Exquisite

AURORA BOREALIS rhinestones were first made about 1955. So any jewellery with this is not 1930s/1940s but would date from the late 1950s onwards........

 

Vintage brooch with faux pearls, aurora borealis rhinestones and citrine coloured navettes 

With the title "Costume Jewellery" I expected relevant information on UK costume jewellery. and especially written by someone from the UK, but no the book is also published with the "Costume Jewelry" title aimed at the US market. There is very little written about UK costume jewellery apart from Butler and Wilson and Vivienne Westwood.  Most of the jewellery is only obtainable from the US and most is now quite rare and expensive. You also need to be wary of fakes.

This is a lily flower in marcasite and enamel. This brooch is available in a wide range of coloured enamel. They were made from the early part of the twentieth century until the 1970s. One size does not fit all. The earlier ones are of pot metal, not rhodium plated and the clasp is very different C shaped not the roll over clasp.


Unbelievably the "Unsigned Gems" chapter contained signed vintage jewellery- not sure what that was all about?? It would have been extremely helpful to show the backs of the jewellery and clasps.

Ciro vintage earrings

The only thing I can say without being terribly rude, is that if you like to look at pretty pictures of jewellery only - then buy this book. But if you are a complete novice and want to actually learn about costume jewellery -  then there are many other good quality books available.,Ones that are well researched and contain excellent information that is correct - the Warman's Series is an excellent place to start.  

 Purple vintage long necklaces

Art Deco Jewelry Jakob Bengel by Christianne Weber-Stober - Jewellery Book Review

One factory that imported jewellery into the UK up to the Second World War, in huge amounts selling in stores like Woolworths was in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Jakob Bengel produced large quantities of costume or fashion jewellery from metal and galalith. Extremely collectible now all over the world.

This large book has page after page of photographs of the Art Deco jewellery of the 1920s and 1930s from Bengel. Because at the onset of WW2 many Jewish workers downed tools and never returned. The factory retained its history, unfinished and finished jewellery with many order and pattern books, allowing identification and dates of manufacture.

For an introduction to Jakob Bengel's jewellery this book is invaluable. However the translation of German to English and the fact that half the book is in German and the other half the English translation makes the first few pages hard to read. But get past that and the full colour photographs are well worth it.

 Art Deco Necklace Jakob Bengel

This is not the only book available on this subject but a worthy one to have in your collection.

    Purple Art Deco glass bead vintage necklace

Emmons & Sarah Coventry Jewelry fashion Show by Deborah A Robinson

This is another book review on the subject of vintage jewellery

This week I have decided to look at the book on Emmons and Sarah Coventry jewellery by Deborah A Robinson, because in the UK the vintage jewellery is not rare and you will often find brooches, necklaces, bracelets or earrings. They also did a range of men's and children's jewellery. Less found in the UK are the scarves and accessories.

On a previous blog I have written about the history of the company and so will not look at that here.

This book is one of several that can be bought. All the authors are collectors and enthusiasts in the US, so although the jewellery is in most the same, you do come across pieces that are marked UK that may not be in the books.

Silver Blue Flower vintage brooch by Sarah Coventry

For me this is one of my most used books. It has helped to find the names of jewellery that I find, age and also what is available in that set.
It is written in an easy to read format with hundreds of coloured photographs for reference.It has a section in the back on International jewellery produced by the company from 1960 to 1980.

Candelite necklace by Sarah Coventry

Price guides do fluctuate and although the prices are displayed in dollars, this book was written in 2006 and the prices for Sarah Coventry jewellery have risen.    

Vintage Jewellery Book Review - Kenneth Jay Lane, Faking It

I have a fast growing collection of books on jewellery from all over the world. To increase my knowledge I read about all sorts of jewellery; antique, fine, costume and trinkets to name just a few topics

On the Jewelry Ring Yahoo Forum, recently a person from the UK unscribed because "didn't realise it was an American group" I felt very sad for this person as they have missed a wonderful opportunity to learn so much from jewellery enthusiasts and specialists from all over the world. There is a large number in the group from the US, but also from Canada, Europe and the UK. The photographs of jewellery in people's collections or for sale I would not have had the opportunity to see unless I spent hours on hours searching the net, but then would not have come any where near.  This book falls into the category of not seeing a great deal of American KLJ jewellery but well worth knowing about.

Kenneth Jay Lane's jewellery is not so well known in the UK as Butler and Wilson but is very much in the same style.

                                                         Snake bracelet from book 1970

I had to send for the book "Faking It" by Kenneth Jay Lane from the USA as it was a lot cheaper (even with postage) than the UK prices.  The book is now out of print but copies can still be purchased from book dealers

Kenneth Jay Lane was born in Detroit, US and started out with a background in art, designing shoes. He began adding rhinestones buckles and before long started experimenting on adding stones to cheap plastic bangles. This was the sixties and from there progressed to designing jewellery worn by former president's wives (Jacqueline Kennedy, Nancy Regan) film stars (Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn) and Royalty (Princess Margaret, Duchess of Windsor, The Princess of Wales) and many other rich and famous people.

He is renowned for his fantasy jewellery and OTT style. But he has many more demure pieces.
I enjoyed this book as it tells his life story and is illustrated with loads of photographs which explains the pieces and also gives dates. Although I have seen very little KLJ pieces over the years it is a very good book to read, if you want to increase your knowledge on vintage costume jewellery.

     Brooches in shell and snail motif - the snail is an update from the 1960s version, reproduced in 1992
                                                                 Taken from the book. 

Mr Lanes jewellery can still be purchased new from QVC and vintage pieces are available from the jewellery sellers on the net. 

  Heart Earrings signed KLJ

It is a beautiful Saturday morning and this weekend will be spent in the garden. So until next blog bye...

Antique & Vintage Insect jewellery - Victorian view

The sunny weather this week has seen us rediscovering the greenhouse. We hacked through bushes and a few tree seedlings and there it was... A bit battered and in need of a good wash, but maybe this year we will have some tomatoes and a few cucumbers?

The poor old garden has been neglected over the last 3 years and I have really missed growing our own vegetables and fruit. But this year has been very different. New treatment has meant I can move a bit easier and help much more. Tomato photographs to follow...

Now to insect jewellery - very apt as the greenhouse was full of them

You either like insect designed jewellery or you do not. My mother heard an antiques expert on TV say that it was a small minority of people that wore spider brooches or butterfly necklaces. I do like insect jewellery especially dragonfly brooches and have a growing collection.

In 1860 Victorians had a passion for wearing all things insect. This description taken from "Victorian Jewellery" by Margaret Flowers (first published in 1951) says it all

"More remarkable was the vogue for insects. Mr William d'Arfey in Curious Relations mentions that in the late sixties 'Bonnets and veils were covered with every kind of beetle; that at least was the beginning of the mode, but it soon extended itself from rose-beetles with their bronze and green carapaces to stag beetles...Parasols were liberally sprinkled with ticks, with grasshoppers, with woodlice. Veils were sown with earwigs, with cockchafers, with hornets. Tulle scarves and veilings sometimes had on them artificial bed bugs...' These insects appeared on necklaces, bracelets and earrings, as well as on veils and parasols. Flies of gold, coloured with enamel, were set under crystal to form jewels. Butterflies, dragonflies and beetles in gems were worn as brooches and shoulder knots. Bees too, were fashionable, some people thought because they were the emblem of young Prince Victor Bonaparte, who was a great favourite in Paris society"

When I first read this paragraph - it just conjured up images of Victorian society. Then thought I really would not recognize half these insect species!

Here are a few insects in jewellery form on Jewels and Finery

 Jewel Bug vintage brooch

Beetle Bug Brooch Vintage jewellery

Enamel dragonfly brooch - vintage modern contemporary jewellery

Maybe not on veils today but they look great on bags, jackets and hats. Also can decorate a curtain tie back or in a shadow box. Jewellery does not just have to be worn.

     

Cameos Old & New Anna M Miller - Book Review

At the beginning of this year, I decided to buy a book a month. Each book would be to increase my knowledge about antique and vintage jewellery. So far I have brought 2 books a month - okay so I can't count LOL

The truth is I love book and can not wait for my latest purchase to arrive. So when the 4Th edition of Cameos Old and New by Anna M Miller which has been revised and updated by Diana Jarrett caught my eye - It just had to buy it.
I already have the 3rd edition and was very pleased to find the latest books on cameos contained more excellent information

The book is for anyone new to cameos, experienced collectors, jewellery dealers and also curators.
It is a fully comprehensive reference guide to:

• Where to hunt for cameos
• How to recognize - old from new, imitation and newer synthetic materials from original shell or stone cameos
• How to differentiate between ultrasonically produced and hand carved cameos

 The book has loads more pages of photographs than the last, with the new cameo's illustrated that are being made today. Extensive and well written chapters on cameos from their history, materials past and present to today's worldwide cameo designers 
Overall well worth buying if you are interested in cameos.
Taken from the book three examples that are included in the list of the twenty most common subjects of cameos:
The three muses, Medusa and profile of an anonymous female; the lady cameo that is mass produced in stone and shell.

My interest in cameos has included the twentieth and twenty first century costume jewellery type.
Particularly the one profile that is seen most often, I have christened her the popular goddess!
She does differ across productions as some vintage and second hand ones tend to be plainer, where as some ones she is molded more beautiful with flowing clothes, hair and flowers.  Some of the ones produced have a point at the end of her nose instead of round.

 

Seventies vintage cameo earrings clip on style

Notice the profile of the popular goddess is quite plain

Again the cameo on this choker - she is plain in detail

Estimate the choker is sixties to early seventies.

 

  

 

  

 

Note the last three have a sharper point to her nose

These cameos have been produced in all different types of jewellery with a variety of coloured backgrounds. From bracelets, necklaces, brooches, earrings and scarf clips. Even on the heel of  a shoe or front!

http://www.zazzle.co.uk/cameo+shoes
Link for above shoes

http://www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk/collections/themes/2333/theme/2440/object/2685#2685
Elegant shoe produced by Wedgwood and information on their cameos 

Jewels and Finery Vintage Cameo Jewellery
Selection of our antique and vintage cameo jewellery. More jewels to be added soon as we have them photographed and ready to list

Just have fun collecting and wearing cameos what ever they are made of or age.

Next book review will be one about Kenneth J Lane's jewellery and life, so please feel free to bookmark this blog