Another popular style for operculum jewelry was to set the shells into ornate filigree necklaces and bracelets. The word “filigree” derives from filigrana meaning a wire thread (filum in Latin) and granum meaning grain or small bead. Very intricate and delicate openwork patterns can be created in this way, much like lace but using metal…
This second in a series of four posts about operculum jewelry focuses on the popular stylistic combination of opercula with tortoise shell, and here’s where things start to get murky. Although the combination was certainly not unknown in the Victorian era, it continued into the 20th century and beyond. It was discovered fairly early on…
When I first encountered operculum jewelry, my reaction was ‘What the heck is that?’ It certainly didn’t resemble anything I’d ever seen before; for one thing, they looked almost eerily like “eyes” of some sort. But were they manmade or natural? They are indeed natural; in fact, they are part of a special type of…
“Pools of light” – isn’t that a marvelous description of a piece of jewelry? The first time I heard the term I had absolutely no idea what in the world it could be, but it sounded absolutely magical. Having a weakness for gems that interact in special ways with light (hence my blog series about…
As described in Exploring Vauxhall Glass Jewelry, most of the examples seen nowadays date from the Art Deco era (1930s) and the majority of them were made in Czechoslovakia. Sometimes a necklace will be signed “Czech” or “Czecho” on the clasp but many were not. Whether signed or not, the excellent quality of vintage Czech…
Within the realm of antique and vintage jewelry there exists the special genre known as “Vauxhall glass”. I discovered it several years ago and was instantly captivated. Sometimes also called ‘mirror glass’, the name Vauxhall glass is actually applied to three different types of jewelry. In basic terms these are colored glass stones produced in…
This is a follow-up to my previous two posts about vintage Featherweights celluloid jewelry pieces; a reader discovered a pair of pierced earrings still on their original clear plastic manufacturer’s card and contacted me with some photographs which I was thrilled to receive! As you can see, ‘Featherweights’ was a registered trademark rather than just…
In my blog post about vintage Featherweight, Featherlite, Bubbleite circa-late 1940s/1950s jewelry I discussed the various brand names found within this genre. However, I recently discovered that a number of online sellers are attributing certain clip back earrings in this style (both with and without rhinestone and/or faux pearl enhancements) as having been produced produced…
The Chatsworth Lady 