Holiday Jewelry Pick 9/30

Well, I should have known I'd never be able to keep up with a pick a day. But at least I was ablw to get back to it before the week was out.
And, now that Sept is just about officially over, we start holiday shopping season in earnest. At least online we do.
Here's todays pick, I love the colors, perfect for most of my wardrobe:

Found at Jennifer Lynn's Timeless Jewelry

For more period Deco jewelry, visit the Art Deco page in my store.

Today's Vintage Jewelry Pick

Some of you may know I collect vintage bowling theme jewelry, I have a pretty extensive collection. One genre missing are bakelite bowling pieces, they are usally out of my reach. But, since hubby's going to buy (we hope) I've found this brooch:

Found at Time Dances By

For other fun themes, see the figurals page in my store.
What do you collect that's really unusual? What jewelry collection can you begin this holiday season, something that speaks to your individuality? Like mine.....guess what? I'm an avid bowler! Did you guess? :-)

Vintage Jewelry for the Holidays

Continuing my search for vintage jewelry to put on my holiday wish list.
I found this Art Deco black bakelite and clear rhinestone bangle:

Found at Roslyn's 24 Hour Vintage Cafe
I love Deco, you all know it's my personal favorite by now. And though I'm usually not to much into bakelite, I think this one is quite striking with the clear rhinestones.
More bakelite from my own store is here.

What vintage jewelry do you want for the Holidays?

I'm starting a new feature and plan to run it through Christmas, maybe longer. It's called, simply enough "What do you want for the Holidays?" or "If Santa-hubby-partner (or whoever brings you gifts) could bring you any vintage jewel, what would it be?"
I'm going to scout the vintage jewelry world online and every day (I hope) find some piece of jewelry that I have to have. My husband will have access to this blog, in fact, he'll be sent a copy to his work email every day. :-)
I will post my find every day, with the picture and which site I found it on.
I invite you to join in. If you find a jewel you want, post it here, whether on my site or elsewehere, just be sure to mention and link back to the site where you found it. Feel free to send this blog to your gift givers as well.
I love pink and I LOVE Schiaparelli, so the first piece on my list is this pink glass Schiaparelli bracelet:

Found at Morning Glory Antiques & Jewelry.
More Schiaparelli is available in my store here.

SCS Cure....Matchme Service Update!

Hi everyone,
After several years of providing a free vintage jewelry matching service, I've finally found a way that actually works! Thanks to my host and the photo gallery service they provide on my site, I can now offer a way for ANYONE to list pictures of the jewelry they are looking for matching pieces to.
If you have a set and want to find matching pieces, otherwise known as SCS or set completion syndrome, or if you have a single orphaned earring to which you hope to find the mate, or if you have any single piece of vintage jewelry, a brooch, bracelet or necklace, and you wish to find additional matching pieces, the Matchme Service is the place to post it.
In fact, if you have any sort of vintage costume jewelry related ISO (in search of) or WTB (wanted to buy), feel free to post to the Matchme Album, click here:
Matchme Service Album
You can add either photos and/or text. You'll need to upload a photo from your computer, and while a phot is not required, it certainly will help other looking to see what you need. Text should in include your email address in case someone has what you want and needs to contact you. Remember, the email you list will go out on the net as the album has been submitted to SE's.
You will require a login user and password to access the album, so please contact adrienne@costumejewel.com for that info.

Summer Jewelry! What vintage jewelry lovers are wearing

A survey of hundreds of vintage jewelry collectors and dealers reveals that fun and funky, lightweight, easy to wear and delicious colors are the 'must haves' of summer jewelry.

Signed 'Vogue' necklace set
Lightwieght plastic and glass beads top the list of the choice of necklaces for summer, plastic beacuse they're lightweight, glass beacuse it's cool on the skin. Yummy summery citrus colors and light, cool pastels are the colors most mentioned.

Canary yellow glass bead droplet necklace

Chunky pink lucite flowers and clear leaves necklace
Longer plastic beads necklaces worn with simple tanks

Orange and yellow plastic flower moonglow beads
and big, fun glitzy earrings worn with embellished tops are perfect in hot sticky weather when necklaces are just too much.

Pink aurora beads dangle earrings
Bangles are favored over bracelets, and anything lightweight and fun will work:

Tropical painted wood bangle

Heavily carved orange bakelite

Hot pink plastic bypass bangle
Of course, nearly everyone mentioned summer's basic staple: white. White beads are a hit, as are faux pearls this season:

White and red glass bead necklace

Faux pearl and glass bead lariat
While most metal jewelry such as copper and gold or silver plated pieces are put away in the hot weather, Mexican and Native American sterling are popular choices with summer boho fashions, especially pieces with turquose and other natural stones

Navajo turquoise sterling cuff


Rhinestones and glitz, except in earrings to go with glitzy tanks, were almost unanimously put away in favor of the more fun and lighter looks of the season. But those who love glitz and glam, don't worry, Labor Day is not too far off, and after that, out come the rhinestones, especially all those yummy fall topaz and amber colors.


Update: After seeing this article yesterday, Ginger Moro, author of European Designer Jewelry and others, contacted me and showed me this phenomenal Coppola e Toppo necklace, which she wears in the summer. Ginger describes it as 'light and frolicsome', and even with a centerpiece of glass beads measuring 6" x 10", it manages to be just that! Perhaps the quintessenial piece of summer jewelry, satisfying all the survey responders most important qualities: fun, citrus-y and/or pastel colors, glass beads and a little funky:

Ginger's Coppola e Toppo summer necklace.

July 4th: Vintage Patriotic Jewelry

The wearing of patriotic jewelry has been popular for decades. But, especially during WWII, to show support, woman not only wore jewelry depictunf patritic themes and colors, but they wore 'sweetehart' jewery. Jewelry to remember loved ones, to show support of a service or brance of the military and/or jewelry made by they men in uniform, known as trench art.
Patriotic jewelry has also been worn over the years for political reasons, such as jewelry depicting the name of a canditate, or just to show patriotisn, such as the popular red, white and blue jewelry from the 1976 bi-cenntenial.
Here are several examples of vintage patriotic jewelry:
1940's bakelite anchor:

WWII hand made Trench Art cuff bracelet:

1940's Lucite Air Force sweetheart bracelet:

Mid 1970's patriotic beads necklace set:

Patriotic pot metal dove of peace:

Patriotic bakelite bar pin, the original white has turned butterscotch, the navy turned almost black:

Hobe patriotic beads set:

To see more patriotic jewelry, just click the title of this post.
Enjoy your 4th!