Christmas Jewelry - Past and Present

It's that time of the year. It seems to come around more quickly each year, doesn't it? This is the time of the year when there doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day.

Out come the decorations, and off to the store for shopping. It's also the perfect time of the year to bring out your seasonal jewelry from past years, or to shop for a new item to add to your collection.

Anyone who collects vintage jewelry probably has a few Christmas pins - particularly Christmas tree pins, which seem to attract most collectors. There is a whole collecting field in vintage jewelry devoted to it, and many books have been written as reference books for collectors.

Two of my favorite books are Christmas Jewelry by Mary Morrison, and Christmas Pins, past and present by Jill Gallina.

Many of the popular vintage jewelry designers had at least a few pins in their range of jewelry. Some of the most popular ones who put out quite a number of them are Gerry's, Tancer, Mylu, and of course Eisenberg.

The number of ways that a Christmas tree can be fashioned into a jewelry item seems to be limitless. The trend continues through today's designers with Kenneth Lane, Ron, and Christopher Radko being some notable designers of more recent Christmas tree pins.

Many of the older designs also seem to find their way into today's jewelry. Collector's often note, with either delight or disdain, depending on one's point of view, that the old pieces have been refashioned into new designs.

It is not only Christmas trees which find themselves designed into a jewelry piece, but bells, reindeer, sleighs, Santa Claus figures, snowmen, and all myriad of Christmas themes.

Here are a few designs from my stores. You can find more selections by just using the word Christmas as a search in any of my stores. I have dozens and dozens of designs to choose from in all price ranges.

New Selection of Rhinestone Pins in my Ruby Lane Shop

This is the time of the year when the jackets and blazers come out and this makes it the perfect time for the addition of a new rhinestone pin for your collection. Nothing looks better on the lapel of a jacket than a fabulous brooch!

I've just listed a few vintage brooches in my Ruby Lane shop - The Finishing Touch Vintage Jewelry. They are all very affordably priced and have a wonderful array of all sorts of rhinestones in fabulous colors.

Here are a few to whet your appetite. You can view the whole range of rhinestone pins in my Ruby Lane shop. If you can't find one to suit you at the Finishing Touch Vintage Jewelry shope, I also have a large range of rhinestone pins in my Ruby Plaza shop Jewelry Lane too.

Hottest New Earring Trend - Basketball Wives Inspired Hoops

If you like reality TV, you are probably a fan of the VH1 Cable Network program called The Basketball Wives. The show features the lives of a group of women who have all been romantically link in some way to professional basketball players.

The designer of the original Basketball wives earrings is POParazzi. But there are now dozens of imitators (at much reduced prices) so the trend has really taken off.

I have just listed a big range of Basketball wives inspired earrings in my eBay store and also in my Ruby Lane store Jewelry Lane.

These earrings are not for the faint of heart. They are big, bold and will make quite an impression when worn. The size is at least 3" for most of the pieces I have listed. In spite of this big size, though, the earrings are not heavy when worn.

Here are a few designs. You can view more by visiting my Jewelry Lane shop.

Feather Jewelry Continues to Set Trends

Each season, there seems to be some new style or material in jewelry that takes off and becomes a fashion trend. For the last few seasons, it has been feathers and fur. And this fall will be no exception. Feathers are still prominent on the fashion runways, and my suppliers are offering more and more of it each time I go to see what is new.

Feather jewelry was confined to mainly earrings for the spring and summer season, but this fall, I am seeing necklaces, sets, rings, bracelets, earlaces, (another new trend which is very popular), and of course lots and lots of styles of earrings.

Here are a few styles to give you an example of what is available. You can also head on over to Jewelry Lane at Ruby Plaza, or my ebay store for really large selection which changes daily.

Gemstone Imposters - The Name is the Key

Go surfing online for genuine gemstone jewelry, whether it be antique, vintage or contemporary, and you will more than likely come across a jewelry title with very descriptive words added to the gemstone which is, sadly, often an impostor.

Picture this - your best friend has just told you that she got a real steal on an American Ruby. Do you have the courage (or the knowledge) to tell her that she may have just purchased a garnet instead?

Diamonds are notorious for being described with additional words in the title, when they are actually various forms of quartz. Here are a few which are all quartz in some form:

• German diamond
  
• Herkimer diamond
  
• Bohemian Diamond

And it is not just diamonds that are the culprits. Colorful gemstones being sold with descriptive words in their title are also very misleading to consumers too. Sometimes the added word will make a simple piece of glass sound more like the real deal and other times, it will be used to signify one precious or semi precious stone, when a lesser value one is actually being sold.

Here are some common gemstone impostors. There are dozens more if you do your homework:

• Oriental Emerald (green sapphire)
• Australian Jade (treated quartz)
• Roman pearls (glass beads)
• Ceylon Opal (moonstone)
• German Lapis (dyed Jasper)

All of the above may be the item that is just what you have been searching for, albeit not the real deal, and in that case, go ahead and purchase it. But do your homework first to help you understand what you are really buying, lest you purchase a Spanish emerald, only to discover later that it is a piece of colored glass.

A quick search on Google of the name of the advertised gemstone with its descriptive add on will usually tell you what you may really be buying. And use common sense. If it is a deal too good to be true, it may very well be a fake. Synthetic stones are usually moderately priced simply because they are not as rare as real gemstones.