| Retro Jewelry |
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Old is gold, the old saying goes and truly when gold itself carved into memorable beautiful designs is from the grand old past… is truly everlasting and timeless. Retro Jewelry, a type of antique jewelry belongs to the war times the period between the 1930’s and the 1950’s. Antique Jewelry is elegant and much sought after today because of its fine details and craftsmanship. If you are a person interested in collecting jewelry or in buying a piece of expertise for your loved one, antique jewelry is surely the best choice for you.
History of Retro Jewelry
Retro Jewelry spans between the years 1935 and 1950 which was war time in Europe and America and even women joined the army to lend their support. Since it was war time, women’s costumes were tight fitting jackets and skirts ensuring that jewelry designs were the opposite with soft curves and a feminine look.
Retro Jewelry Designs:
Retro jewelry took a lot of inspiration from the Art Deco period but the designs were much bolder and brighter. Gold became increasingly popular during this period as platinum was being used for the war and was very scantily available to jewelry craftsmen. The Retro jewelry period saw the introduction of different colors of gold like rose gold and green gold and several combinations were used to create fabulous designs. The specialty was that the jewels were bolder and bigger and of course colorful.
Certain special characteristics of retro jewelry are as follows:
Gold: Firstly Retro Jewelry is known for making extensive use of gold as platinum availability was scant and unavailable for jewelry specially because it was being used for war purposes. It was during this period that gold alloys were combined with rose, yellow and even green overtones to give beautiful multicolored pieces of unique craftsmanship
Romantic symbols: This period saw the introduction of romantic symbols like flowers, bows, ribbons, fans and ruffles and as wartime approached were used on clothing and also began to take on a patriotic look.
Precious gems: Semi precious stones and rubies gained popularity during this period and the most used precious stones include citrine and aquamarine.
Large, Bold and Beautiful: This was a distinct characteristic of Retro Jewelry as it had larger than life proportions. Jewelry items like rings, necklaces, bracelets and watches were huge and three dimensional. Since fabrics were textured and highly sophisticated it called for matching huge pieces of jewelry.
Reflection of the machine Age: It is strange but true that the jewelry reflected a lot of machine design like pipes, tubes, brickwork, zippers etc indicating the influence the manufacture of huge machines during the war had on the adornment of jewelry.
Good Luck Charms: It was during this period that people wore jewelry for good luck to come their way and these were three dimensional and huge in many cases.
Patriotic themes: Themes like flags, eagles and military related symbols became highly popular very much reflecting the spirit at the time. Earrings during this period were worn close to the ear and not dangling and were usually made in the shape of a flower a scroll. The earrings were either screwed or clipped.
Illusion Style: The rings were specially made having small diamonds set in beautifully carved white gold mountings so that the diamond looked much bigger. These rings may be obtained at reasonable prices and truly look very elegant and ideal for special occasions like an engagement or a marriage.
If you are looking for lovely antique jewelry to gift your loved one you may opt for retro jewelry as the designs are bold and detailed and give a very bold look to the wearer. Retro Jewelry period may be termed as a romantic revival with bows, sunbursts, scrolls and flowers. The Retro look is specially characterized by flowing curved lines with rubies and diamonds as well as three dimensional bold big pieces of jewelry. |
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