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Vintage Jewelry Design: Classics to Collect and Wear by Caroline Cox (Lark Books $35) examines jewelry ornamentation throughout the ages starting with the 1890s up to current jewelry trends. The author is a university professor and authority on fashion history. In this 224 text, she takes a close look at 100 years of jewelry history. As she explains in the introduction, the focus of this book is for jewelry collectors and jewelry lovers in general.

Book Contents

The body of the book is divided by time and trends: 1890 - 1910, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to present day. Each chapter is full of wonderful photographs of period jewelry as well as some pictures of trends setters like Coco Chanel. Color illustrations are also sprinkled throughout, but most photos are of the jewelry. However, while you could sit and enjoy flipping through the photos and illustrations, this is a book to read, as it's full of text documenting the time period and its affect on jewelry designs. Each chapter ends with "Key Looks of the Decade," breaking down elements that are signatures of that time period. For example, the 1970s included stickpins, textured metal, bronze, and turquoise.

The final chapter is "Shopping and Collecting." As the chapter title suggests, this is a how-to on creating your own jewelry collection. It explains where to locate vintage jewelry, how to spot fakes, and caring for various types of jewelry such as pearls, bakelite, and fine jewelry.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, this is not a book that explains how to make jewelry, so it may not appeal to those who typically read my site; however, I think you can never learn too much about your craft, and that includes the history behind it. If you have wanted to learn more about jewelry and its history or have thought of collecting a certain period of jewelry, then this is an excellent guide. The text is very detailed throughout and full of photos that show jewelry pieces from each decade discussed. It is also a good resource for getting design ideas that you can combine with your own signature jewelry pieces.

Publisher's Site

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