FIVE WAYS TO DAZZLE YOUR LOVER WITH VINTAGE JEWELRY FOR VALENTINE’S!

FIVE WAYS TO DAZZLE YOUR LOVER WITH VINTAGE JEWELRY FOR VALENTINE’S!
AND LEARN ABOUT THE 125 YEAR HISTORY OF
The Napier Co.
Friday, February 7, 2013

Melinda L. Lewis is the author of The Napier Co.: Defining 20th Century American Costume Jewelry, Life By Design Publishing, 2013. As a jewelry historian, she has been involved with the online vintage costume jewelry community for the last 14 years, with a focus on The Napier Co. over the past 11 years. She is co-founder of Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l (CJCI), an organization for collectors and dealers dedicated to the study of vintage costume jewelry which hosts an online venue for its members. She served as co-editor for CJCI’s quarterly magazine in 2010 and cohosts annual jewelry conventions held in bi-annually in Providence, RI, alternating in even years in locations around the country.

Valentine’s Heart

• Choose a Gift She will Feel Confident to Wear Often

Selecting a piece that piece that represents her style isn’t as difficult as you may think when it comes to vintage jewelry. Most dealers have an inventory which spans about 110 of years fashion adornment. Dealers often offer a wide variety of basic-style considerations with even more sub-genres within style groups from which to choose.

• Buy a Piece in Her Favorite Color

Vintage jewelry offers the biggest selection of color and texture ever imaginable. Stones, crystals, cabochons and beads were often imported from Europe using sophisticated manufacturing and cutting techniques. Today’s jewelry is frequently adorned with plastic and hard resin stones simulating the old rhinestones and more expensive glass used in vintage jewelry. However, the durability and sparkle cannot match the old-world components.  Note: many sophisticated couture designers with a connection to vintage jewelry do understand this and use only vintage components in their designs.

• Purchase a Glitzy Rhinestone Stone Suite

With a gift of a glitzy rhinestone suite, your lover will always be ready for an evening out wearing her “little black dress.” Besides making her feel sexy, a well-designed glitzy rhinestone set is an instant conversation piece—a perfect segue for unexpected introductions.

• Decide on a Vintage Novelty Piece if She’s Playful

If your lover isn’t the glitzy type or isn’t into bold jewelry, a playful “novelty” piece can be a fun gift. Vintage jewelry from the 1930s and 1940s offers many fun and wacky pieces from silly figural pieces to “motto” jewelry from the war. Pieces are often constructed in unusual or unexpected materials, such as wood, nuts, plastic, cork, raffia and more. Jewelry selected from this era offers great insight into America during some of its most challenging industrial times. The cleverness of manufacturers to fulfill a woman’s need for adornment and expression have never been as ingenious as this period of time.

• The Gift that Keeps on Giving

To impress a lover, one can also share about organizations that study vintage jewelry and its history. Everything from the period of manufacture, to the designer and components used in manufacturing is studied by jewelry enthusiasts, jewelry historians, collectors, and dealers. Since the gift can represent a favorite decade or era, theme, or color, collectors groups can provide a continued meaning and history to the special gift.  Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l (CJCI) is one such group co-founded by Bay Area jewelry historian and author, Melinda Lewis Melinda L. Lewis.

By Melinda Lewis – July 30, 2014

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