The Hallmark Society
Eras
Jewelry is made of fashion, technology and materials, and all three change at datable moments. These guides cover what each period made, what it made it from and how to recognise it.
- Victorian jewelry Victorian Jewelry: How to Recognise the Three Periods The Victorian era lasted sixty four years and changed completely three times. How to tell Romantic from Grand from Aesthetic, and what each period used, made and left behind.
- Retro jewelry Retro Jewelry: What Wartime Scarcity Made Why Retro jewelry is big, gold and sculptural, how platinum rationing and Hollywood shaped it, and how to tell period Retro from 1980s pieces that borrow the look.
- Dating antique jewelry How to Date Antique Jewelry: The Method Dealers Actually Use A step by step method for dating antique jewelry from its construction, findings, metal, stone cutting and motifs, with the date each piece of evidence actually proves.
- Georgian jewelry Georgian Jewelry: What Survives, and How to Know It Closed backs, foiled stones, silver-topped gold and rose cuts. How to recognise genuine Georgian jewelry, why so little survives, and the one thing that will destroy it.
- Edwardian jewelry Edwardian Jewelry: Platinum, Millegrain and the Garland Style What makes Edwardian jewelry recognisable, why platinum changed everything after 1900, how to read millegrain and pierced galleries, and how to tell period work from later copies.
- Art Nouveau Art Nouveau Jewelry: The Twenty Years Everything Curved Plique-a-jour enamel, whiplash lines, insects and women. What Art Nouveau jewelry is, why so little survives, and how to separate period pieces from the endless reproductions.
- Art Deco Art Deco Jewelry: How to Tell Real from Reproduction What genuine Art Deco jewelry is made of, how calibre cutting and millegrain give it away, and the five checks that separate a 1925 piece from a 1975 or 2015 copy.
- Antique jewelry Antique or Vintage? What the Words Actually Mean Antique means one hundred years old or more. Vintage means old but not that old. Here is where the line falls this year, why retro and estate mean something different again, and where the definitions are simply marketing.