Antique jewelry glossary

Welcome to our extensive antique jewelry glossary with around 1,500 jewelry related entries.If you feel you are missing an explanation, feel free to let us know and we will add it.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z     all

Hair spiral

A type of hair ornament in a spiral shape with 4 or more turns, sometimes terminating with ornaments, such as a female head on one end and a rosette on the other.

Such articles, made of gold, silver, or gold-plated bronze, are known from the Near East since the second millennium BC, in Minoan jewelry. Some examples from the 11th century BC have the wire bent double and then spiralled.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson