When I spied Vintage Jewelry Design: Classics to Collect & Wear during a recent visit to Craft Test Dummies World Headquarters I knew I had to have it. You see, with all of the cleaning out we’ve done the past couple of years at my Mother In Laws home in the Poconos I’ve acquired a little stash of vintage jewelry and I’ve been trying to uncover more information about some of the pieces. You know, before I tear it apart. 😉 Jenny graciously allowed me to sneak away with it.

Here are just a few of the pieces I had close at hand.

From the website:

This gorgeous coffee-table book, with a foreword by influential jeweler Gerda Flöckinger, showcases classic vintage jewelry from the past 100 years. Featuring examples that epitomize the iconic styles of each decade, it offers an overview of the most influential designers (including Tiffany, Cartier, Fabergé, and Chanel), their sources of inspiration, and materials of choice. Photos display a selection of rare and remarkable pieces from museums and private owners, and a vintage shopping guide gives tips on spotting fakes, caring for purchases, and other important facts collectors should know.

This page shares the history of the cultured pearl.

While I haven’t found any of the EXACT pieces I own in the book I do have a better idea of the time period some of my pieces were created in, how they were worn and a sense of the styles of clothing worn with the pieces. Like this gold and pearl brooch above that is likely from the 1950’s which was the “era of pearls” and a pin like this was often worn to “accent simple tailored suits by day.”

Here are some other Vintage Jewelry Design stats:

• 213 pages
• Index for “Shopping and Collecting”
• Glossary of Jewelry Terms
• Index
• Broken down into time periods. For example, 1890-1910: Divinely Decadent, 1930’s Hollywood Glamour, 1990’s to Now: Future Collectables
• MSRP $30.00 USD but it can be purchased at amazon.com for $22.45 USD (affiliate link)

Not only is this book full of historical and collecting information I think it will also be a great source of inspiration for some of the pieces I create. A reference to keep on my work table for sure.

Do you have a penchant for vintage jewelry? What is your favorite style or time period and do you actually wear vintage jewelry? I’d love to know how many people are still wearing these lovely jewels.

If you would like to support this blog you can do that by doing your shopping on amazon.com by clicking on any of the links pertaining to this book either in this post, the widget below or the ad in my side bar.  Proceeds from my affiliate links go toward paying my web hosting fees and other costs associated with running this blog.

Thank you very much!