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Welcome to Morning Glory Antiques & Jewelry
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We add articles, reference pages and recent acquisitions continually. Browse, enjoy, and feel free to email us with your comments.

We had a busy year last year with lots of wonderful jewelry coming and going as always. It is great to get to see and research such wonderful things, and this time we would like to share information on both Victorian jewelry and reverse carved plastics.

Victorian jewelry is as complex in its symbolism, sentiment and design as the fashion, architecture and decor of the time. Worn as an ornament, a love token or a remembrance, jewelry not only completed the well-dressed ladys costume but also denoted her position in society, her marital status and her sense of self.

Since the Victorian era stretched over six decades, many types of jewelry came and went in style. Mass production made jewelry available to the widest number of buyers in the broadest range of designs ever seen before in history. When it came to formal occasions, the "more is better" theme of the Victorian era carried over into how jewelry was worn by royalty and the aristocracy. Paintings of Queen Victoria and other royals at state occasions show multiple brooches, swags, earrings, bracelets and hair ornaments. But the jewelry of the everyday folk is collectible, fascinating and a lesson in history that enchants us even today.

Photographs from the Victorian age demonstrate how jewelry was worn, and how it related to the fashions of the time. Some pieces, like bars pins, were common accessories and can be found fairly easily today. Others, like full parures (sets of necklace, bracelet, brooch, earrings and sometimes ring) are much more difficult to obtain. Old catalogues and jewelry flyers are a source for dating and identifying jewelry, and can be a collectible category in their own right.

Whether a family heirloom or a recent find, Victorian jewelry continues to fascinate collectors and jewelry lovers alike. The sentiment, history, craftsmanship and whimsy lures new collectors and historians to this day. Everyday people treasured these wonderful echoes of the past, and we are fortunate that so many of them have been handed down to our generation to wear, protect and enjoy.

REFERENCE INFORMATION:

For more information please click HERE.

For Victorian Jewelry YOU CAN PURCHASE click HERE.

Carved Bakelite, Lucite and plastic jewelry and was made in home workshops and high school shop classes, as well as being done professionally. While it was most popular in the 1940-1950s, there are carvers who still do this kind of work today. Ron & Ester Shultz are my favorite examples. Instructions on how to make this kind of jewelry are shown in a wonderful 1947 catalogue of hobbies that we are lucky to have on our web site, and the workmanship can be wonderful and the colors really lovely.

To see the catalogue and more REVERSE CARVED jewelry please click HERE.

AND TO BUY SOME FOR YOUR OWN COLLECTION click HERE.

NEW ADDITIONS

Morning Glory adds recent acquisitions weekly and you can always see them here: http://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/