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FEATURE: DECO MARCASITE JEWELRY, 1920-1990

MARCASITES used in costume jewelry are pyrites, similar to Fools Gold, and while they have been used in jewelry for centuries, they had a great spike in popularity during the Victorian to the Art Nouveau eras. They have been used both before and since, and are often but not always set in silver tone rather than gold tone. Some have trouble telling cut steel from marcasites, but it is really easy. Cut steel brads are faceted steel brads set into a metal backing. Once you see how that looks from the back, you will be able to distinguish the difference readily. Marcasites can be either prong set or glued in to a setting, and the older pieces tend to be pronged.Â

DECO is the decorative, architectural and jewelry style from about 1925 to 1940. Characteristic features are stylized forms, geometric designs and the use of metals, plastic and glass. Deco is both an era and a style, so pieces made later in the 20th century may be Deco inspired as well.


DECO jewelry can be purchased HERE.

And MARCASITE JEWELRY can be purchased HERE.

Our Jewel Chat Gallery of marcasites is HERE, where you can enjoy many pieces we have had over the years.

And the DECO Gallery can be found HERE.

Many who are interested in vintage jewelry enjoy assembling sets (parures) of things they love, and even more when finding pieces they never knew existed. One of the many things I love about my job is that there are so many new things to learn about and see almost every single day!

Some sets took years to assemble, and learning along the way made it such an adventure. Miriam Haskell sets designed by Frank Hess, for instance, often include the original hand painted advertising art work illustrating them, and they can be even more scarce than the jewelry itself. Victorian sets sometimes come with the charming turtle-shaped boxes from that era making a lovely way to display pieces. And original illustrations of De Rosa jewelry have allowed me to identify some of the unsigned DeRosa creations. Vintage catalogues are a real delight, and many of them are 500-700 pages long with illustrations of jewelry from long ago.
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So much jewelry to enjoy and share, and of all eras and styles!

Our available sets of jewelry can be purchased HERE where you can enjoy adding some to your own collection.

Our GALLERY of unusual sets can be seen HERE.

One of the features offered by Morning Glory is our JEWEL CHAT reference site. Need to check a sterling hallmark? Compare ring sizes for different countries? Look up jewelry patents, makers marks and dates? Its all there! This is just some of the information offered:

REFERENCE INFORMATION
Jewelry Marks & Dates
Jewelry References
Jewelry Values, what its worth and how to sell it
Determining Jewelry Quality
Jewelry Definitions
Jewelry Findings

http://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/