HOMEHeirloom Jewelry
Victorian
1837-1901
Queen Victoria was the trendsetter for jewelry and clothing. The fashions during this period were full skirts, long sleeves and lace collars. As woman became more active the dresses became more tailored in the late 1800s.The jewelry was romantic in style and would have sentimental motifs with bows, flowers, hearts, birds, serpents and sayings. Some would be made from the hair of a loved one. The most popular stones that were used were turquoise, garnet, amethyst, opals, seed pearls and coral. The goldwork had different textures and looks like chasing, engraving, filigree and granulating. Diamond set jewelry became popular after electric lighting in the 1880s. After the death of Albert in 1961, black enamel, onyx and jet was in demand.
Art Nouveau
1890-1915
The fashion of this era was of lightweight material and had a feminine S-shape silhouette. Actress Sarah Bernhardt was the trendsetter for the style of the fashions and jewelry.The stones used in the jewelry were pale in color consisting mainly of opal, amethyst, citrine, moonstone, peridot and freshwater pearls. Other popular materials were shell, ivory, carved glass, copper, bone and horn. New enameling techniques were used such as cloisonne (colored areas seperated by thin metal) and plique-a-jour (ribbons of silver and gold filigree wire are fused with special glass to look like stained-glass). Butterflies, dragonflies,snakes and florals were prevalent motifs as was the female head with long flowing hair.
Edwardian
1901-1915
Son of Queen Victoria, Edward VIII and his wife Alexandra set the trend for the "Edwardian" period. The feminine S-shape stayed, but the dresses were made even lighter with layers of lace.Platinum jewelry where very little metal was used to hold gems in place along with filigree and saw-piercing made the jewelry styles light and delicate as the gowns of this time.
Diamond and pearls set in platinum for a white on white look were also favored. Negligee pendants were the popular necklace to wear with the high collars and swept up hair fashions. When Alexandra went to India with Edward she became interested in the styles of the Indian princesses. This started the wearing of feathers as hair ornaments, chokers and long ropes of pearls or chain with a tassel at the end.
Art Deco
1920-1935
The "Roaring Twenties" started a new wave of fashion. Woman showed their arms, bound their breasts and wore dropped waisted short dresses that gave a boyish silhouette.Their jewelry style was loud like the times. They wore long dangling earrings, diamond watches, long strands of pearls, cocktail rings, dress clips and many bracelets adorning their upper and lower arms. The white on white style remained but ruby, emerald and sapphire accents were added. Some of the jewelry looked like a riot of color from the jumbling of many colored stones clustered together. Geometric diamond cuts were also used widely in Art Deco jewelry.
American Heirloom