Our Vintage & Antique Jewelry Blog

The fashion and entertainment worlds are having an Art Deco moment! Channeling the current season of Downton Abbey, set in 1922, many stars at the Golden Globes made colorful, bold Art Deco jewelry a key part of their red carpet looks. But you don’t need to wait for a black tie event! Vintage Art Deco jewelry is easily wearable, always fashionable, and effortlessly makes a statement.

Halloween makes us want to pull out the blackest, most macabre jewelry in our collection – memento mori, or mourning jewelry. It can be difficult for us in the 21st century to understand why people wore jewelry that was a constant reminder of death. It feels a little creepy at first, but like all jewelry, mourning pieces were made from love and worn with love. This is antique jewelry at its most bittersweet and sentimental. 

This week is our celebration of October’s birthstones, opal and tourmaline, and you may be wondering why we’re featuring a diamond engagement ring. We always love a colored stone engagement ring, and both opal and tourmaline are some of the most colorful out there! However, both are soft stones, especially opals, and we don’t recommend them for hard, everyday wear.

October’s birthstones are two of the most versatile gemstones. Prized for their range of colors, opal and tourmaline have inspired jewelers, poets, and artists. Shakespeare called opal “the queen of gems” and Pliny the Elder wrote that within its depths, you could see “the living fire of the ruby, the glorious purple of the amethyst, the sea green of the emerald, all glittering together in an incredible mixture of light.” Opal’s unique play of color is caused by the way silica combines with water in the cavities of ancient rock formations.