No, it doesn't have a lot of pretty pictures. It has just enough. It's not big and heavy and it doesn't make me look like an intellectual. It just clearly and simply pictures and defines all those little parts and pieces (or findings and settings, for the purists) of jewelry. And it's small enough to fit in my purse.
This book is one that I normally wouldn't have purchased because I already have a large library of jewelry reference books. I've taken classes at NYU on costume jewelry, appraising jewelry and the identification and history of jewelry. But you know what? After all that I still find myself running back to my book for the correct term or the correct spelling. Why?
Well, there's a very simple reason why Leigh Leshner's Secrets to Collecting Costume Jewelry has become the most useful book in my library. It's simply the fact that the book so well laid out and so easy to use that it's always the first thing I reach for.
Leshner begins with a general discussion of collecting costume jewelry, including where to buy, tools, and some helpful hints and secrets. She manages to wrap up her expertise of years of collecting in less than 40 well written and easily read pages. If you know absolutely nothing about collecting costume jewelry you can't go wrong with her advice.
She spends the next portion of the book delineating the era's of costume jewelry beginning with Victorian times. Although she only illustrates these era's with one or two pieces of jewelry, she has somehow managed to select the most perfect and typical example of each.
From the discussion of eras she moves on to the discussion of manufacturing and techniques used to create different types of jewelry. She gives excellent examples of enameling techniques, shapes of rhinestones and types of findings that our commonly (and uncommonly!) used in costume jewelry. Each has item has one of two small pictures that make identification easy.
The final portion of the book include definitions "Specific types of Jewelry, Materials and Styles". There she defines and gives examples of such items as duettes, sautoirs and prison rings. It's most useful when you come across that oddball piece and you'd love to know what it is.
There's lots more in the book to enjoy, but as a basic reference book it can't be beat!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Gather Ye Rosebuds...
I was going through some of my collection and I was struck by the fact that some motifs in jewelry that have been around forever. Flowers, for example have been used for beautification ever since the first cave woman stuck a flower in her hair for cave men to admire and other cave women to envy.
Of course there are a lot of different species of flowers and jewelry reflects nature's diversity. For example, you will find daisies, black-eyed susans, chrysanthemums, dahlias in both fine and costume jewelry. However, one of the most enduring and favorite flowers used by jewelry designers are the rose and rosebud.
Here's a perfect example of a great use of material by a designer to depict a very realistic rosebud. The designer has used both gold and silver tone metals to bring out the details. Through the intelligent use of materials, this piece conveys a very natural feeling. Alas, this piece is unsigned, so we will never know who made such a wonderful creation.
A completely different approach was used on the little carved white brooch below. The rose is much more stylized because of the nature of the material used for the rose. The leaves are much more realistic. Both the rose and petals are contained in a twisted circle of gold. This is a classic piece of costume jewelry from the 1950's - 1960's that would look just as good on today's fashions as it did then.
Of course, rosebuds weren't just used for brooches. Roses for the ear proliferate just as much as roses for the bosom. There are many examples of roses and rosebuds for the ears. Small rose earrings were particularly popular in the 1950's and remain popular today. I'll leave you with this interesting pair of Coro earrings that are embellished with rhinestones. These particular earrings are a bit unusual because the earrings have a full stem and two large leaves. It's much more common to see just a single rose with perhaps one or two tiny leaves peeking through from the back.
Perhaps there is a matching brooch out there somewhere for these earrings?
Of course there are a lot of different species of flowers and jewelry reflects nature's diversity. For example, you will find daisies, black-eyed susans, chrysanthemums, dahlias in both fine and costume jewelry. However, one of the most enduring and favorite flowers used by jewelry designers are the rose and rosebud.
Here's a perfect example of a great use of material by a designer to depict a very realistic rosebud. The designer has used both gold and silver tone metals to bring out the details. Through the intelligent use of materials, this piece conveys a very natural feeling. Alas, this piece is unsigned, so we will never know who made such a wonderful creation.
A completely different approach was used on the little carved white brooch below. The rose is much more stylized because of the nature of the material used for the rose. The leaves are much more realistic. Both the rose and petals are contained in a twisted circle of gold. This is a classic piece of costume jewelry from the 1950's - 1960's that would look just as good on today's fashions as it did then.
Of course, rosebuds weren't just used for brooches. Roses for the ear proliferate just as much as roses for the bosom. There are many examples of roses and rosebuds for the ears. Small rose earrings were particularly popular in the 1950's and remain popular today. I'll leave you with this interesting pair of Coro earrings that are embellished with rhinestones. These particular earrings are a bit unusual because the earrings have a full stem and two large leaves. It's much more common to see just a single rose with perhaps one or two tiny leaves peeking through from the back.
Perhaps there is a matching brooch out there somewhere for these earrings?
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