Better with Age - Edwardian Jewelry

Continuing on in the holiday spirit, we're featuring this festive Edwardian platinum and diamond necklace. It has the lovely, intricate garland look that Edwardian jewelry is known for, and also incorporates a surprising touch of enamel. This particular piece is not by Cartier, but the renowned jewelry house popularized the garland style, using laurel leaves, flowers, ribbons and bows to create light, delicate designs resembling lace.

The enamel is an unexpected feature in an Edwardian piece, and was more representative of the parallel Art Nouveau movement. While Edwardian jewelry (circa 1901-1920) was thriving commercially with the aristocratic class, the Art Nouveau movement (circa 1890-1919) was popular with a more avant-garde crowd. It is quite nice to see these two movements come together in one beautiful piece.

This piece is all original, which is important in estate and antique jewelry. Pendants like this tend to have new chains, or drops that have been added, which decrease the value of the item. A trained eye can spot sections that are not as delicate, or "fine", which is an indication that something was added after the creation of the piece. Look for solder marks (little pools of metal left over from the process of fusing metals together) where you suspect that something has been added to your jewelry. Print this post