Guides
Jewelry eras, from Victorian to the 1980s
Every antique piece belongs to a moment. Learn to place a ring or a brooch in its era by its metal, its stones and the way it was made.
The timeline
Two and a half centuries, in order
- 01
Georgian
1714 – 1837
Entirely hand made, closed-back settings and foiled rose cuts, worked in high-karat gold and silver. Little survives, and almost none of it left a maker's mark.
Read the guide - 02
Victorian
1837 – 1901
Three moods in one long reign: romantic gold and turquoise, sombre mourning jet and hair work, then lighter late-Victorian stars and crescents.
Read the guide - 03
Art Nouveau
1890 – 1910
The whiplash line: irises, dragonflies and faces in plique-a-jour enamel and horn. Craft mattered more than carat weight, so the material is often modest.
Read the guide - 04
Edwardian
1901 – 1915
Platinum made lace possible: garland swags, millegrain edges and knife-wire settings holding old European cuts and natural pearls.
Read the guide - 05
Art Deco
1920 – 1939
Geometry, symmetry and contrast. Platinum with calibre-cut sapphires and onyx, step cuts, and the first machine-age precision in the setting itself.
Read the guide - 06
Retro
1939 – 1949
Platinum was requisitioned for the war, so gold came back heavy and sculptural: scrolls, bows and tank-track bracelets in rose and yellow gold.
Read the guide - 07
Mid-century
1950 – 1969
Textured gold, starbursts and sprays, and the rise of the signed house piece. Diamonds return in clusters rather than as single stones.
Read the guide - 08
1970s and 1980s
1970 – 1989
Bold links, generous gold weight and open, architectural forms, with far more signed and dated work than any earlier period.
Read the guide
Art Deco jewelry: a complete guide
1920 to 1935, when jewelry stopped imitating flowers and started imitating architecture.
9 min read
Victorian jewelry: a complete guide
1837 to 1901, sixty-four years of jewelry that was made to be worn every day and usually shows it.
8 min read
Edwardian jewelry guide, 1901 to 1915
Platinum lace, millegrain and diamonds that appear to float on almost no visible metal.
9 min read
Art Nouveau jewelry guide, 1890 to 1910
Enamel, whiplash curves and the human figure in gold, made to be looked at rather than appraised by carat.
8 min read
Vintage 1970s and 1980s jewelry guide
Textured gold, bold color and the signed designer pieces that are now firmly collectible.
8 min read
Georgian jewelry guide, 1714 to 1837
Hand-wrought gold, closed-back settings and diamonds cut for candlelight, from before machines touched jewelry at all.
9 min read
Retro jewelry guide, 1935 to 1950
Rose gold, sculpted volume and big colored stones, born out of wartime scarcity.
6 min read
Mid-century jewelry guide, 1950 to 1970
Textured gold, clean solitaires and the first modern brilliants.
6 min read
Written in the workshop
Everything here is written by the people who buy and restore these pieces
No stock copy and no invented history: if a fact is not on the piece or in its paperwork, we say so.
From the reading to the piece
