Dating Brooch Fasteners – 1850 to 1910

The Victorian era, so named after Queen Victoria the longest reigning British monarch who ruled from to , marked an era of prosperity and the rise of industrialization and the middle class. The Victorian era in England has three distinct periods, Romantic, Grand, and Late Victorian, while jewelry of the time throughout Europe took on a variety of Revival forms. Transitions in style during the period were not abrupt and some pieces exhibit multiple influences.

Jewelry during this period not only reflected wealth, but social standing and status.

Sotheby’s offers the most extraordinary jewels in the world to discerning collectors looking for special designs dating from the 19th century to the present day.

The popularity of Georgian jewelry has resulted in the market being flooded with fakes and the best way to avoid being sold a fake is to educate yourself. This post addresses how to identify genuine Georgian jewelry and is wonderfully written by Lisa of Lisa Kramer Vintage , a trusted expert on antique jewelry and in the business since the late 90s.

She is also contributing another post tomorrow, which will be about what to look for in fakes and repros. When evaluating a piece of jewelry you need to look at many characteristics of a piece. Think of yourself as a detective and design, materials, and construction are your clues. SETTINGS: the most typical style of stone setting during the Georgian era was the crimped collet setting which was often cut down between the crimping to create prong-like protrusions; these are referred to as cut-down collets.

Georgian collets were made from very thin sheet metal that was burnished tight to the stone to keep out air and moisture which would cause foils to tarnish on closed-back pieces.