Antique Jewelry

See our: Antique jewelry.

To know something about antique jewelry or antique jewellery one really has to dig into many (sometimes complex) factors. Some of these will be touched upon in the About Antique Jewelry section of the Adin website and in Adin's Antique Jewelry Glossary. Although we do not intend here to delve into matters in depth, the following chapters give a good idea on antique jewelry and what it's all about.

The word "antique" comes from the Latin word "antiquus", meaning "old" and the word "jewellery" (British spelling) or "jewelry" (American spelling) is a derivation of the word "jewel", which was anglicised from the Old French "jouel" some 800 years ago, in around the 13th century. The word "jouel" itself comes from the Latin word "jocale", meaning "plaything". Jewelry can be made out of almost every known material with the purpose to adorn nearly every part of the body.

Antique jewelry is jewelry that has reached an age of 100 years or more and that makes it a witness of a previous era in human history. It is in generally used for previously owned jewelry and for pieces of jewelry made in earlier (style-)periods and not necessarily pre-worn jewellery. It is not a dequalifying designation as many pieces of antique jewelry typically feature fine workmanship and high quality stones, as well as one-of-a-kind pieces.

Antique jewelry includes many decades or eras. Each era has many different designs. These eras include Georgian, Early Victorian, Mid-Victorian, Late Victorian, Arts and Crafts era, Art Nouveau, Edwardian, Art Deco and Retro.

The following is a recap of the most interesting antique jewelry subjects:

Antique jewelry and its function:
Jewelry are objects, whatever material they are made of, that we use to ornament ourselves. Whether put, pierced through, or hung on our body, their function is to show or pretend our status. It is obvious that ...
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Materials used in and for antique jewelry:
What materials do we use to make ourselves look prettier? 'Metals' is the obvious (though not exclusive) answer. These we can divide into: precious metals (gold, platinum, silver), non-precious metals ...
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Different alloys used in and for antique jewelry:
What is an alloy and what can you achieve by influencing it? Which alloy is better and which worse. Is it worth more or less etc.? An alloy is a mixture of different metals, which for jewelry has to contain ...
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Combination of metals used for antique jewelry:
The use of the different metals together isn't arbitrary, or at least not originally. About 2-300 years ago it was common for diamonds to be set in silver. Jewellers of that time believed that only a silver mounting ...
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Reasons for wearing antique jewelry now and in the past:
Jewellery is often created for a special occasion or reason to show that the wearer follows a certain sport, belongs to a certain club i.e. free masons, to a certain part, in memoriam etc. Or a special happening ...
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Laws and regulations concerning antique jewelry:
Around 1800 Napoleon abolished the guilds and left the regulations of gold and silverware to the legislator. But what was the role of the guilds? The guilds guaranteed the integrity of the concerned trades ...
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Hallmarks to be found on antique jewelry:
There are many (hall-)marks to be found in antique jewelry. Some 19 different sorts in all. The chance of finding them struck all together in one piece is non-existing. Normally there will be between two and five ...
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Designs of antique jewelry:
Over the years it was royalty who commissioned and set trends for the different fashions. Obediently followed by the nobility and bourgeoisie. The church too was a very important commissioner, although more ...
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Antique jewelry devided into style periods:
In this chapter on antique jewelry styles you will find an overview that shows the different antique jewelry styles and their names in the different countries over the ages ...
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Fakes and counterfeits in antique jewelry:
Not everything known as fake is actually a fake. There are many kinds of fakes that have an intrinsic value of their own. Take the original Russian silver object that may have a fake Fabergé mark ...
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Antique jewelry, birthstones, monthstones and healing power:
Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist traditions mingled with pagan legends led to the association of certain stones with different months, astrological signs, Tribes of Israel and Apostles ...
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Ring size comparison list for antique jewelry from various countries:
Here you will find an extensive list for the comparison of all ring sizes as used in all countries in their local units, both for new as for antique rings.
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Extensive antique jewelry glossary:
The Adin Antique Jewelry Glossary is an extensive explanatory list of subjects that are related to jewelry in general and antique jewelry in particular and is still growing every day ...
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Commonly misspelled antique jewellery terms

Want to know more about antique jewelry styles? Go to our antique jewelry style overview.