The Story of Antique Jewellery
antique necklace
Antique jewellery means old-fashioned jewellery. There are different types of antique jewellery. The most common ones are estate antique jewellery, Victorian, Edwardian, Art deco and Art nouveau.
Estate antique jewellery pieces are recent pre-owned ones. The pieces are generally low priced compared to new jewellery. The elegance of the Victorian era is captured in antique Victorian jewellery. A unique type of Victorian jewellery was hair jewellery. Locks of hair were saved and later on turned into ornate hair jewellery such as watch chains, bracelets and rings.
Long earrings were a popular part of Art deco jewellery. The antique Art deco jewellery is studded with emeralds, sapphires and rubies. Art nouveau jewellery was popular in the years between 1890 and 1919. Motifs used in this jewellery were inspired by nature. Widespread usage of precious and semi-precious gemstones, horn, copper shell, tortoise shell, ivory and shells was the norm.
Buying Antique Jewellery
The older a piece of jewellery is, the more expensive it gets. This is the reason that there are many antique jewellery collectors in the world today.
Dealing with the amount of money required to invest in antique jewellery needs a bit of finesse. Most experts agree that the value of antique jewellery always depends on its condition. The rock may look good, but is the condition of the jewellery actually sound? No forger is stupid enough to make fake antique jewellery look bad.
The seams of antique jewellery often say a lot about the condition of a piece. Seams may also indicate the fact that the antique jewellery has been repaired. If a piece of antique jewellery has been repaired, then it is either in a better condition or it is in a worse condition. Badly-repaired jewellery often has different colored seams.
The Elegance of Antique Jewellery
Antique jewellery is always used to signal power, distance, control, prestige, status and place in hierarchy.
Most cultures combine different gems and metals with different level of status, hierarchy, medicine, stars, destiny and the likes.
Symbolic meaning and jewellery also associates power with the beauty, value and magic. Even if each culture intermix and exchange ideas, their cultural representation and different traditions, religion and way of control can be identified through the study of jewellery.
As long as all members of a culture love songs and stories about the beauty and bliss of jewellery, they play a role in making symbolic meaning narrated in a meaningful way. Hereby binding together culture, history and hierarchy.
