Art Deco Jewelry: How to Tell Real from Reproduction
Art Deco is the most reproduced style in the history of jewelry, which means most pieces described as Deco were made decades after the period ended. The genuine article is identifiable, and the tells are all in construction rather than design.
The style takes its name from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, although the word Art Deco was only coined in the 1960s, when the revival began. That revival never really stopped, which is the central problem: a great deal of what is sold as Art Deco was made in the 1970s or last year, and the design alone will not tell you which.
What the period was reacting against
Edwardian jewelry was white, soft, floral and symmetrical, all garlands and bows and lace. Art Deco is its opposite on every axis: straight lines, hard contrast, symmetry of a strict geometric kind, and colour deployed like paint.
The causes were not only aesthetic. The First World War ended the world the garland style decorated. Cubism and the Ballets Russes made abstraction and strong colour fashionable. The 1922 opening of Tutankhamun's tomb put Egypt into everything for a decade. And machine production had become something to celebrate rather than hide, so precision itself became a look.
What genuine Art Deco is made of
Platinum, above all. It is dense, white, and strong enough to hold a stone in a very fine claw, which is what allowed the period's characteristic thin geometric lines. American work is often marked PLAT or IRIDPLAT, meaning platinum alloyed with ten per cent iridium, and that mark alone places a piece in the first half of the twentieth century.
White gold appears from the mid 1920s as a cheaper substitute and is entirely legitimate on a period piece, but it is also what nearly every reproduction is made from.
Calibre-cut coloured stones. Small sapphires, rubies, emeralds and onyx cut individually to fit an exact space so they meet edge to edge with no metal showing between them. This is expensive, slow work, and it is the strongest single indicator of quality in the period. Reproductions almost always use standard-sized stones with metal visible between them, because calibre cutting costs more than the whole piece is meant to sell for.
Old European and transitional cut diamonds, with small tables, high crowns and open culets. A Deco-styled piece set with modern brilliants was either made after 1950 or restoned.
Baguettes, introduced in the 1920s, used to draw straight lines in stone.
The five checks
- Look into the diamonds from above. A visible culet dot means the stone is period. A wide table and no culet means modern, so either the piece or the stones are later.
- Look at the millegrain. Genuine millegrain is a row of tiny beads raised along an edge by running a knurling wheel along the metal, and under a loupe the beads are slightly irregular and sharply defined. Cast reproductions have millegrain that is soft, rounded and identical bead to bead, because it was moulded rather than worked.
- Look between the coloured stones. Metal showing between calibre stones means they were bought to size rather than cut to fit.
- Look at the back. Period platinum work is pierced and finished on the reverse to the same standard as the front, because the maker assumed it would be seen. Reproductions are usually flat, unfinished or show casting texture.
- Look at the marks. A French eagle's head, a British hallmark with a 1920s or 1930s date letter, or an American PLAT or IRIDPLAT are all consistent. A 750 or 585 with no other mark, or a modern country-of-origin stamp, is not evidence of period.
The three tiers of the period
The houses. Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Boucheron, Chaumet, Mauboussin, Lacloche, Tiffany. Signed pieces from these makers occupy an entirely separate market and are worth having authenticated properly rather than by internet consensus, because the signatures are the most forged in the trade.
Good anonymous work. The bulk of what survives and what most people own: well-made platinum or white gold pieces by workshops that never signed. Judged on the quality of the setting, the stones and the design rather than on a name.
Period costume. Chrome, bakelite, paste and marcasite, made in enormous quantities and sold cheaply at the time. Collected on its own terms, and some of it, particularly Czech and French glass work, now sells for more than modest gold pieces of the same date.
Deco is becoming antique
The hundred year line reached 1920 in 2020 and moves forward every year. The early Deco years are now formally antique, and the rest of the period crosses during the 2030s. This changes customs treatment, some insurance categories, and how the pieces are described commercially. See antique versus vintage.
Frequently asked questions
What years are Art Deco jewelry?
Roughly 1920 to 1935, with the style emerging in the late 1910s and fading into the more sculptural Retro look after about 1935. The 1925 Paris exposition gives the movement its name.
How can I tell if Art Deco jewelry is real or a reproduction?
Check construction rather than style. Period pieces are usually platinum, set with old European or transitional cut diamonds that have open culets, use calibre-cut coloured stones fitted edge to edge, and have millegrain edges worked with a wheel rather than cast. Reproductions are typically white gold with modern brilliant stones and soft, moulded millegrain.
Is Art Deco jewelry made of platinum or white gold?
The best of it is platinum, which is what made the fine geometric settings possible. White gold appears from the mid 1920s as a cheaper alternative and is genuine on period pieces, but it is also what almost all later reproductions use.
What is calibre cut?
Small coloured stones cut individually to fit an exact space in a setting so that they sit edge to edge with no metal visible between them. It is slow, expensive work and one of the clearest signs of a good period piece.
Is Art Deco jewelry a good investment?
The signed work of the major houses has held and grown in value over decades. Anonymous period work follows the general antique market and depends on quality of stones and workmanship. Reproductions have no antique value at all, which is why the identification questions above matter financially rather than academically.