Wordless Wednesday - Some of my Favorite Vintage Jewelry Items

Mosaic Jewelry Seminar to be held in Chicago

Mosaic jewelry is one of my favorite forms of Italian jewelry (along with cameos of course.) The workmanship and attention to detail is just stunning, and the designs appeal to the romantic in me.

The Chicago Mosaic School is the only non-profit fine art school in the world dedicated to preserving and promoting the mosaic art form through education and community partnerships. The school was formed in early early 2005, and has been committed to providing an inspirational and creative environment that fosters an appreciation and awareness of both classical and contemporary mosaics.

On August 18.2010, the school will hold a hands on seminar where the participants will make two mosaic jewelry projects showcasing the designer's personal, one-of-a-kind sense of fashion. Earrings, pendants, rings, and belt buckles are all styles that one can construct.Rudimentary mosaic techniques, methods, and application will be covered in the seminar. No prior mosaic experience is necessary! All materials and use of tools provided by the school.

For more information on the seminar, you can contact the organizer at info@chicagomosaicschool.com Their website is very information and has some lovely gallery pictures. It's almost like a virtual museum of mosaics of all types.

Vintage Jewelry lane has mosaic jewelry as one of its specialties. We offer many lovely micro mosaic and pietra dura styles at affordable prices.

Today's Vintage Jewelry Words - Pietra Dura

There are many styles of mosaic jewelry. One that I particularly like is called Pietra Dura. In this type of design, which is similar to Micro Mosaics, the tessarae or tiles are much larger and are made from hard stones such as chalcedony, jasper, lapis lazuli, and other nice stones.

These large tiles are then set into a solid back ground such as sandstone or black marble for a pictoral effect. The surface of the design is flush with no protruding tiles or grooves between the tiles.

Floral scenes are the most common, but any design can be used, such as butterflies, human figures, birds and architectural buildings.

The settings are generally silver or genuine gold, but plated settings and brass are also used. Most settings are open backed to show the back of the background stone used.

The popularity of Pietra dura pieces dates from the early to mid 1800s. This type of souvenir jewelry is known as "Archeological Jewelry." Mosaic jewelry of all kind became fairly widely available after the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Pietra Dura jewelry was found in Italy - especially Florence, but was also available around the same time in England and other European areas. I've also seen some examples of it in pieces from Taxco Mexico.

This type of mosaic jewelry is highly collectible and fuels much of the tourist trade today in Italy.

Be sure to visit my website Vintage Jewelry Lane. I have a large range of mosaic jewelry, including some of the Pietra Dura pieces shown in this article.

Photos are courtesy of ebay sellers anteaklovr, clelak and Adin Fine Antique Jewelry and vintagejewelrylane.com

Collecting Vintage Jewelry - Part 7 - Pin Clasps

As promised, I am continuing my ongoing series about what you should be looking for and understanding as you put together a collection of vintage costume jewelry. In the last chapter, we talked about necklace and bracelet clasps used. Today, I will talk about clasps used on brooches.

It is easier to date some vintage and antique brooches, compared to other types of vintage jewelry, by inspecting the clasps used. This is because some clasps were used on much older pieces, and the date of introduction of some of the newer clasps is definite.

There are many varieties of clasps used on vintage brooches - C Clasps, Trombone or tube clasps, Safety pin clasps, Early safety clasps, and modified C Clasps.

The C Clasps are the earliest type of clasps used on brooches, although a modified version of them can be found on newer pieces. Early C Clasps were used in the mid to late 19th century until the very early 20th century. The looked just as the name indicates - like a C. Some were just a curved wire which held the pin, and others were a more flattened wider C. In both cases the pin part of the clasp slid under the C and held the brooch in place.

Early locking safety clasps consisted of a C clasp surrounded by a swivel top which was compact and rounded. These safety clasps look quite different from the modern locking C clasps and were routinely used on Art Deco and Art Nouveau pieces in the early part of the 20th century through the middle of the last century. They were patented in 1901.

Trombone or push tube clasps consisted of a barrel shaped on one side of the clasp into which the pin was inserted. The tube moved from left to right for insertion and then slid back to hold tightly. Patented in 1850, they were routinely used in Europe until the mid 1950s.

Safety pin clasps were just that. Small safety pins, either as part of the metal, or embedded in lightweight wood or vintage plastics. Cheaper versions of them are still used, but the most common vintage ones that I have seen are on micro mosaic jewelry and wooden Artist signed Russian pins.

Finally, the modern locking safety clasp was used. You will find it on jewelry from the 1920s until the present day. The construction of it is similar to the early safety clasp, but it has a more "separate" design in the swivel part of the clasp. There are a number of designs of this safety clasp. It has a swivel locking piece over the C, but isn't as compact as the earlier version.

While the pin clasp can be used to give an idea of the age of the piece, once again, it needs to be used in conjunction with other design techniques to give a definitive date of manufacture.

I will examine earring backs in the next chapter of this series. Please check back soon.