The Hallmark Society A field guide to antique and vintage jewelry

Tools

Date your piece

This asks the questions a dealer asks, in the order a dealer asks them. Have the piece in your hand and a loupe if you own one. Answer only what you can actually see - guessing poisons the result faster than skipping.

01 Tube hinge, C catch before c. 1890 Pin runs past the frame 02 Trombone catch c. 1880 to 1920 Mostly Continental work 03 Roll-over safety catch from c. 1910 Standard after the 1920s 04 Screw-back earring 1894 to the 1950s For unpierced ears 05 Clip-back earring patented 1934 Nothing clip-backed is Victorian 06 Post and butterfly common from c. 1950 Often a later conversion
Fig. 01 The fittings, drawn from the back. These are the fastest datable parts of any piece, and the parts most often replaced, which is why the tool weighs them alongside everything else rather than trusting them alone.

How the answer is reached

Two kinds of evidence go in. Some answers are soft: a snake motif leans early Victorian but proves nothing on its own, because snakes were revived twice. Others are hard: a clip-back earring fitting was patented in 1934, so nothing wearing one was made before that, whatever the rest of the piece looks like. Hard evidence eliminates whole eras; soft evidence only shifts the odds between the survivors.

That is why the result shows what it ruled out as well as what it chose. The elimination is usually more reliable than the choice.

Where it fails

Three situations defeat it, and they are common enough to name.

  1. Marriages. A Georgian brooch converted to a pendant in 1910 and re-stoned in 1985 is three objects. Every answer you give will be true and the combination will be nonsense.
  2. Revivals. The nineteenth century revived the Renaissance, the 1970s revived Art Deco, and the current market revives everything. A good revival piece is meant to fool you and often does.
  3. Repairs. Catches, clasps, shanks and posts are the parts that wear out. A 1950s safety catch on an 1870s brooch is normal, not suspicious.

If your answer feels wrong, it may be. Work through the full method, which explains what each piece of evidence is actually worth.