antique beads and bead styles shown

Antique beads and vintage bead styles shown here.

Beads have been around for centuries, our ancestors used seeds, bones and shells strung together to wear around their necks.
In today's blog, I have decided to look at some of the different styles of antique and  vintage bead necklaces available both costume and fine necklaces. Above is an antique Carnival Glass necklace.

The most simple beaded necklace can be made by threading beads onto a string type of material to produce a necklace that is long enough to slip over your neck. Once the beads are long enough the ends are tied together so no clasps are used.

These were popular in the 1920s with flapper revolution. Women wore their hair and skirts short for the first time and layered bead necklaces around their necks. 

Again in the 1960s, long beads came very much to the front of fashion for hippies. With their love beads, multicoloured clothing and jewellery to match - flower power very evident.

1960s vintage beaded necklace in green. From Hong Kong and signed on the hook clasp. Three strands of beads in plastic.

A long vintage bead necklace from the 1960s. Shaped beads of glass in a lime green colour.

Bright stone beads dyed in bright colours. Antique and very unusual.

Long necklaces can be made from many materials, pearls, faux pearls, Bakelite, celluloid, plastic, seeds, gemstones and wood to name but a few.
Today long necklaces can be wrapped around your neck once or twice to create a layered effect. Several different colours can be worn. Try a long black bead necklace with a faux pearl bead necklace. It looks great with a plain t-shirt and an over shirt worn as a jacket.

Long necklaces can also double as bracelets. Wrap one several time around your wrist for that fashionable layered look.

Opposite is a long red bead necklace circa 1980s

A single string of beads with a clasp fitted is I think the next type of necklace for popularity. My pearl necklace is probably the one that I use the most for the day and going out in the evening. The clasps can be plain or ornate. Vintage necklaces with an ornate clasp were often better made and more expensive when new. Designed to wear with a hairstyle that left the back of your neck bare, so the clasp was clearly visible. Audrey Hepburn was a classic beauty with her black dress, long black gloves and a beaded necklace with an ornate clasp. Very stylish in the 1930s and 1940s when everyone went to the cinema and the Hollywood stars were copied
The clasp need not be at the back of the neck. Today such a necklace can be worn with the clasp around the front in any position. Double stranded bead necklace of glass pearls with a blue rhinestone clasp.

Multi-layered bead necklaces have been fashionable for centuries. Even in this issue of December's Vogue UK, there is a multi-layered bead necklace by Chanel. The clasp has been replaced by a bow, quite easy to copy at home - if the ££££ price tag is a bit too much. Just attach a bow available from haberdasheries to a long slip over bead necklace or to a plain clasp on a shorter layered necklace. Coordinate the bow to match the necklace.

Coral bead necklace 1960s with an ornate clasp.

Milk glass beaded necklace 1960s with an ornate clasp fastening.

Antique Tigers Eye bead necklace - see the irregular shape of the beads that have been hand cut.

Yellow long bead necklace 1920s with metal pin links.

Unsigned beauties found jewellery

Why are unsigned jewellery beauties important?

Unsigned beauties in jewellery, I come across quite often. Many are well-made and are high quality jewellery that have a really fantastic style and are very beautiful to wear. But appear to be unsigned and I do not have any idea who made it.

I spend some time analysing the piece, to see if I can attribute the way it is made to a specific company or jewellery designer. Certain construction in the parts can pinpoint to a company. For example D & G have puddling at the back of some jewellery. Or maybe I spend time with a lens looking at the back or sides and all in the hope I will find that elusive hidden mark - that I might have missed the first time I took a look. So that it may pinpoint who made it. But it may still it remains a mysterious unsigned beauty after all my endeavour
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As a seller of vintage it makes a different in the price I sell it at. If I can attribute a piece of jewellery to a specific designer. It may be an unsigned Selro bracelet, an early Trifari piece. Maybe a Miriam Haskell brooch or a D & E earrings beauty? All command a higher price over something that is unsigned and a mystery. It also makes it so much easier to list and research its actual age. Sometimes it is even possible to find the piece’s name.

But many pieces remain just unsigned beauties. They could have been produced by the many companies that made designer. But have been made under their own name and unbranded. Then sold to a store or smaller shop for re-sale. Delightful but always to remain in the shadows but treasured for what it is. Below is an unsigned Art Deco bracelet and necklace. 

 

 look as I may. Many items of jewellery I come across will always remain elusive. Their provenance lost in time and memory. But I never give up hope. Storing the image and information to memory in the hope that one day the puzzle will be solved.

A double stranded vintage bead necklace in a pretty coral pink colour. Unsigned and definitely a vintage beauty.

Pretty and unmarked vintage yellow bead necklace. The beads are in early plastic and graduate in size. Rich colours despite its age.

Cool Jewellery For The Summer

Summer is definitely here in the UK, with tropical sunny days and just a little rain. On Sunday I came to put on my vintage jewellery and as the day promised to be very hot, ended up choosing a cool gemstone necklace. Best choice as even when I felt hot, the necklace remained cool.

Here are just a few to consider:)

Bloodstone jewellery has always been popular.

Amber is not cool to the touch, it has a warm waxy feel. But there are quartz crystals in this modern necklace in a cream and amber flecked colour to cool you down. Short length of 40 cm or 16 inches. 

Agates now come in all sizes and colours. Many are dyed vivid colours. But they are also still available in their natural state and transformed into beads. Cool to the touch. This necklace has moss agate beads and is vintage with a screw fastening. Short length of 16 inches or 40 cm. 

A mix of two natural materials. Mother of pearl and hematite. Both cool to the touch. Pretty dainty two piece jewellery set. With an added bonus as hematite is said to protect against all harm!

When we first held this necklace it was like a heavy metal bead piece but the beads are in fact spinels and probably Picotite. Rare brown beads with black gemstone beads combined. Long necklace of 80 cm or 32 inches. Very cool to the touch and very natural in style.

Contemporary rose quartz and hematite necklace

Moonstone orange & hematite necklace

Two hematite necklaces combined with gemstones of rose quartz and beautiful orange moonstone beads. Hematite I feel is underrated. It has a "Cleopatra" or Egyptian style when in these fringe designed necklaces.

Wear with a white top or dress for an exotic contrasting look.   

Necklaces of small beads or chips are so versatile as they can be used as necklaces or wrap around your wrist as a bracelet. they can also be pinned to a hat as a hat band. Wear one on its own or more than one in contrasting colours. Here are two with real turquoise and jade. Many pieces of turquoise now is not the actual stone but a coloured look a like, so be careful when buying it.  

A 1990s not quite vintage necklace and pair of earrings. This set has pearls with white opaque jade and quartz of rose, amethyst and a pale blue. Very pretty jewellery set. the earrings are clip on with a screw for extra comfort. I have just brought a set that has screw on earrings that I would not wear a I like pierced ones. So I have matched up some earring findings and will change then to become pierced earrings as soon as the findings arrive. Remember that some necklaces can be made longer with an additional extender chain.

Craft Show NEC November 2010

I love going to the different shows at the National Exhibition Centre, just by Birmingham's airport.

Clear rhinestone 6 mm

So last week, my daughter and I took our selves off to the Craft fair which also had Christmas craft gifts and Art supplies included. It was an ideal opportunity to visit many craft stalls and see lots of different things that can be made.

 Panda sew on patch to list shortly

My daughter likes paper crafts and art, so she was in her element buying things to use for Christmas cards and for her scrap booking. Although there were less knitting, beading and sewing stalls. I still found plenty to see and buy!!.

 Vintage buckles

Came back with lots of ideas that I want to try out but now need to find some time.....

At long last Google shopping has stopped blocking Jewels and finery Craft and our items are now appearing in the directory (some even on first page)
Have a good week.......   

Beads beads and more vintage beads

The history of beads goes way back
Our ancestors relied on them for their supposed magical powers.

Beads were used to trade through out the world. Maybe we should take up this age old tradition? Though I don't think it would work now - "swap you this vintage dusky pink pearl necklace for two cans of beans and three bottles of vodka" would definitely be an escort out of the supermarket. But by trade, beads from China and Italy found their way into this country in ancient times.

Victorians stitched beads to their clothing and in the sixties, hippies used them to decorate their "pad"
Beading reflected the times. In the fifties beading household items such as curtains, lamps, coasters and crochet covers became popular. However during the sixties and seventies many returned to their roots; using natural materials for beads such as seeds, gemstones and wood. For example jade had a revival in the seventies

Today we are lucky to have access to many wonderful different types of beads in many materials form freshwater pearls to bright coloured plastic beads and vintage glass beads of every type. So why is it that many stores just stock the same looking types?

Traditionally "hard time" such as war and recession usually sees a turn towards bright beads and jewellery as people wish to feel happier. This is followed by an about turn from the very often plastic kitschy to a more somber natural materials. Watch and see........

Jewelry buying and selling information

Over the years that I have collected vintage jewellery, I love the big rhinestone brooches and necklaces of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
When my husband and I decided to start buying antique and vintage jewellery to sell, the learning curve for both of us was steep. From the start, it was always vintage costume jewellery that we were interested in.
What age is the piece, designer, condition, interest and price???
We source from sales, auctions, shops and from private collections. We also have brought many reference books on antique and vintage jewellery, cameos, bakelite, Avon, Sarah Coventry and other designers - building up quite a reference library.

During our buying, my husband and I were presented with many pieces of jewellery that were in need of restoration or for reuse.
Necklaces that needed re-stringing, bits missing from bracelets, stones missing from brooches and bent earrings. Gradually we amassed a small collection that we had mistakenly brought. Brooches that had a stone missing that we had not noticed on purchase. Clasps that did not work and other pieces of jewellery that needed repair. Already having replaced stones in my own jewellery, we were able to restore many of these pieces but some were not restorable. The choice was to throw them away or sell a job lot on eBay!! I hate throwing anything away so opted to recycle as much material from each piece and then sell for jewellery making. So we often use them in jewellery making projects and repairs.

Slowly Jewels and Finery emerged. We have a vision of a large site that has not only old and new jewellery but jewellery supplies that have been recycled. Also buttons and associated vintage accessories. With this, we also thought a large amount of sewing, craft and jewellery making books would be appropriate to use. We both love old books. The pre-war ones are so interesting. How to make was much more in vogue and so the information is much more detailed. We have lost much over the years with being able to buy new as much that is made does not last. And people used to recycle not as now just throw away.

Antique and vintage beads and findings are sorted into boxes. Then as with the buttons they are sorted into type, cleaned and bagged. Jewellery is dismantled first. Again as with the vintage buttons as the web site supplies grow and as we source more beads. We can match up the same beads over a relatively short time and then offer a larger amount per bag. Sorting takes place into special boxes with small compartments for storage.

We do collect all sorts of children's beads and other kitsch items (more on kitsch in another blog soon)

1930s vintage belt buckle

In the last few weeks, we have prepared about 100 or so packs for the website. Glass, plastic, wood type, seeds and metal. Lampwork and faux pearls to name a few. Mark and I have great fun identifying the material and how to describe the colour and shape!! Who would have thought paint colour charts would be handy!!
Unlike new items that come from the wholesalers with a description of sorts and the material, class etc on the bag. The beads were antique and vintage are not so easy to identify material and the actual shape. A large collection of lampwork beads were a challenge, they looked like animals or fish but not quite. How do you describe these!!

Lampwork beads

From the beads came findings such as metal spacers, clasps and other jewellery parts. In the findings se,ction we have listed buckles as they were in the grandmother's button tins and we have sourced some antique ones.

Joining many jewellery chat boards has been great for the information and companionship. Being unable to mobilise and mix as I have always been used to.
We use strict criteria for recycling. Named jewellery is never dismantled but restored. Beads that need stringing and ones that are badly made are dismantled. However, we have had a few bracelets and necklaces that are downright ugly and unusable. These have been dismantled with the thought that the beads can be reused in a more wearable piece of jewellery. One necklace stands out and I have been tempted to add it to the beads box more than once. But it would be ideal for a fancy dress. It is the Flintstone necklace that we have for sale. Other than fancy dress, I can not for the life of me see anyone wearing it for everyday use!!

Note - Jewels & Finery no longer sells beads and findings. Instead, we use them in our own handmade jewellery. Using up-cycled bits and pieces.