Archaic Jewelry
The history of jewelry is filled with fascinating items that we no longer find we have a use for, but we still cherish and collect them. Take a walk through history and enjoy the items that once were oh-so useful and see how our forebearers adorned themselves. The Archaic Jewelry pictorial glossary below is filled with fun examples.
Vignettes
An interesting subset of the Art Nouveau jewelry movement was the design and production of medal jewels. Scrambling to recoup the losses incurred when cameos and intaglios became passé, jewelers began to imitate ancient Greek and Roman...
During the late 19th century jewels and hair ornaments were set into “en en tremblant” motion with the use of a small concealed battery. These tiny automatons included skulls with rolling...
Glyptography is the art of gemstone carving and the term applies to both intaglios and cameos. Begun in ancient times, circa 15,000 B.C., as one of the earliest forms of communication,...
Human hair has been incorporated into jewelry since at least the seventeenth century. Around that time, the hair of the dear departed began to be incorporated into memento mori pieces, as...
Cut-steel jewelry is jewelry “set” with tiny faceted and polished steel studs, fashioned to resemble gemstones and usually riveted in place. All manner of jewelry was produced from cut-steel: earrings, necklaces, brooches, bracelets, chatelaines, shoe buckles,...
Terms & Definitions
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Accessoires (or accessories) are items which men or women wear or carry with them that have a purpose. Historically these were utensils or nécessaire that were suspended from a châtelaine or a watch chain and often were...
Aiguillettes (also spelled: aguillette, aiglet, or aglets) are needle-like dress ornaments intended to secure a cord or ribbon to a dress. During the first half of the 15th century, these...
A châtelaine (from French: “lady of the castle”) in its original form is a belt hook, worn by the lady of the castle, from which the keys of the castle were...
A cigarette case is a box or pouch designed to hold cigarettes. During the 1920s through the 1950s smoking accessories were very popular. Elaborate gold, silver, platinum boxes, often studded with gemstones, were created...
A cigarette holder is a rather elegant accessory for both ladies and gentlemen designed to hold a cigarette. These elongated tubular devices were made from a wide range of materials...
A Croix á la Jeanette (from French: “John’s Cross”) is a pendant in the form of a simple Latin cross. The name is derived from the tradition whereby servant girls, usually hired on St....