<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="2" > the return of "Vintage"</h1>
After the sharing of the last issue, I believe that you have a lot of understanding of the era style of antique jewelry and classical jewelry in front of the screen (friends who have not seen it remember to click the link below to jump to make up the lessons~).
After reading this article, I will get started | Antique Jewelry, Discerning Treasures (Part 1)
Today, let's raise a magnifying glass to experience the insight in that "carving time".
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="59" > process magnifier</h1>
The value of antique and classical jewelry depends on a number of factors, and in addition to their age and provenance, craftsmanship and aesthetic characteristics also have a very important impact. In each period, the craftsmanship used to make jewelry is different, which also provides a reference for us to further identify and appreciate antique jewelry.
So, what other tips can help us locate the age and origin of antique jewelry?
Gemstones · Gemstone
Cutting - Cutting
There are two common types of diamond cuts in 19th-century antique jewelry: old SLR and rose, and there are also two ways to cut the center stone, old mine style and old European style. By the Edwardian period, Swiss cutting had appeared, and by the Art Deco period, the frequency of new SLR cuts in the fitting diamonds had become higher.
Rose cutting is characterized by arches, flat bottoms, and the sections on the arch are triangular and resemble roses. The old European style was closer to today's standard round diamond cuts, but with small countertops, deep pavilions, and larger bottom tips.
Fig. 1 Old European cut & standard round drill cut
Mosaic - Setting
In antique jewelry before 1820, most of the back cover was set, and later the craftsmen realized that the back cover would greatly weaken the diamond fire, so after the 1820s, the back cover of the diamond gradually no longer used the back cover design; but the colored gemstone back cover lasted longer, because it could be placed under the gemstone with a thin colored lining, so as to make it more colorful.
Metal · Metal
Material - Material
Before 1854, the United Kingdom only had two standard contents of 22K gold and 18K gold, and 15K gold as the british gold standard was usually used in late Victorian jewelry until it was discontinued in 1932. Platinum first appeared in the early twentieth century and was not widely used until around 1920. The surfaces of gold and platinum can be seen as "pulp-wrapped Patina", the unique color and luster given to the metal surface by age.
Craft - Craft
The craftsmanship in antique diamond jewelry in the 19th century includes gold and silver mixing, fried beads, engraving, cannetille, embossing (Repousse), enamel craftsmanship and so on. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the widespread use of platinum, the filigree process also matured. A new Millegrain technique appears in Edwardian antique jewelry. There are very fine beads on the edges that surround the gemstones, making the jewelry look softer and lighter.
Figure 2 Ball edge (Millegrain)
Marking · Mark
The marks are mainly divided into purity marks, personal marks of the makers, and time and place marks.
Different logos represent unused metals and purity, and the imprints change over time, for example silver now marked "925" used the words "Sterling", "Ster" or "STG" until the 1940s. The metal imprint logo of the United Kingdom can be seen in the image below.
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 3-4 CLASSIFICATION TABLE OF UK PURITY MARKING (demarcated by 1975, affected by location)
The manufacturer's imprint sometimes appears in the metal part and sometimes on the box. The box can also provide some other marking information about the time, place, craftsman, etc.
Accessories · Fitting
Structures such as snaps, ear plugs, pins, hinges, hooks and loops will change with the development of the times.
Some structures appear only in specific eras. For example, the earliest hook fastener used on a brooch was the C-shaped hook ("C"-catch) that appeared in the 1850s.
Fig. 5 Evolution of the C-shaped hook buckle
In the Art Deco period, the famous "double clip brooch" appeared.
Fig. 6 Double clip brooch in platinum set with diamonds, 1930s from Roberto Capra
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="61" > brand time machine</h1>
The vast majority of famous jewelry brands were founded in the Victorian era. Cartier (Cartier-1847), Bulgari (BVLGARI-1884), Tiffany (1837), Boucheron (Boucheron-1858), and later Van Cleef & Arpels (VCA-1906) all took advantage of the economic take-off opportunity and developed into a well-known master jewelry brand.