FEM

Jewelry

   Let's start with jewelry and time. The old saying "what goes around, comes around," this is very true. Women into re-enacting decades ago, where more worried with what existed vs. what was popular for the period portrayed.

   For example, when we think of a screw on earrings we think of the 1940' and 50's earrings. Well, a pair of King Tutt's earrings, has a screw on back, with beautiful workmanship done on them. So what century did screw on earrings or even screw on jars' exist?

   Now museums, this area is just common sense. If you really like something such as a dress, jewelry and so forth, it wears out, due to use. When an item wears out, it is disposed of, buy throwing or giving it away. Yet, all of us have something that we treasure, now we'll say jewelry, that sits in the jewelry box for a special occasion, when we forget we even had it. Which in the long run, might in up in a museum some day, does this make it popular because we saved it?

   Museums are filled with items that were hardly every worn, yet still look very worn, how is this? In clothing, it's been exposed to light, weather and/or neglect. Jewelry is the same. In our jewelry boxes, we should keep all metals separated, even in air tight bags. Brass is the worse for deteriorating from sitting next to any other forms of metals. We have all seen pieces of green, white, black and blue color on metal, it's cause from the air around different metals being close to each other. I think the men call this patina, (patina is a fine layer of oxide on a surface of metal), yet sadly to say it's metal being eating, deteriorating away. What can be done ? The best we can do is clean it well and keep it separated from other metals. NO one has found a way to stop it. I personally scrub and add a dash of bleach to it, which will only slow it down. Only time can tell me how much,  it keeps it from spreading. Almost everything looks bad from the 1800's due to the fact of time and treatment. A lot of items wear lost to the wars, for when the wars were over, most people wanted to start over, fresh and new.

   How about photos, well that's when we dress our best, and that is not in our everyday clothing. So what we see, were the rare, NOT the commonly worn clothes. Plus if you studied photos, you'd fine they used a different chemical mix for developing then we do today. So on some of those old photos, what looks black, could be red, purple and a whole range of other colors. If you read about the colors of their clothing, they weren't dull. Most wedding dresses weren't white, but usually seasonal colors. Makes sense, your going to were it for all special occasions. It would look kind-a of funny to see a white lacy dress at a funeral. One wedding dress I saw, had no lace, but was all made of satin. It was in sort-a in a tan color with a 2" blended peach satin trim at the bottom of the second/ or top skirt, in a Greek key design. It was a beautiful. Simple and yet elegant.

   In the U.S. the marking of silver or gold was not enforced until 1894 in Massachusetts, with other states taking  up to 10 years to follow these rules/laws. So Cameos can't be judged by rather they are marked as gold or silver. In fact brass & color glass & even cheap grade stones was popular for some time. People then were more interested in looks, not what kind of metal or glass it was made of.

   Although in the 1860's, an English firm of Elkington patented an electroplating process for coating a base metal with silver or gold, thus "pinchbeck." Theses are very hard to fine. And it was after the war before this was introduced in the US. Personally, I would have to be around several pieces of pinchbeck, to even come close to trying to notice one at a glance. 

     Silver plating started in 1742 with fussed silver to copper, which was the beginning of Sheffield Plate industry in England.

Cameos

   Cameos are what most re-enactors think of first when it comes to jewelry. Then most of us think it's made of shell and has a bust carved on it. Cameo means: a gemstone or other hard substance, carved with a design in low relief, so that it allows the underlying layer to be darker. This gives a background of one color / shade and a top layer design to be lighter in color. Cameos are not all bust, they were made with many different scenes carved on them. Most what I see is a variety of all things, sea life, plants & etc. They were carved from shell, stone, etc. They even went to glass, done in molds, due to the price being cheaper.

   Trying to trace jewelry to a specific era is a real problem. Without a bill of sale, letter documenting the item or a dated picture of the item, how do you trace it back to a specific time period. Especially, when every 20-30 years several are reproduced? So we have to rely on the museums, photos and jewelry books, and use a little or a lot of common sense at the same time. (As you read further).

   Cameos that are original, by now would be very worn and fragile and as stated earlier are difficult to date. Most of the ones I see date to the 1940's and they're very worn, with smooth tops. How could you tell a 1800's one from a 1900's one, I wouldn't know where to start. Without documentation, I'm not sure anyone really can.

   Cameos today are made of: resins, glass, shell, acrylic, etc. For decades resin has been used for more and more items. Resins makes it look new. Well they bought new ones, just like we do today. They had glass just like we do, but that truly can't be called a cameo. They were mainly etched and had very little contrast. Some glass were bought as blanks for you to paint, or you could buy an already painted one. Real shell cameos cost hundreds of dollars and up, which is often too expensive for re-enacting. How about an old cameo. Well, your looking at an item that would sell for over a hundred dollars and might well have been made in the 1930's to 1950's. And they are often fragile or not in that great of shape. I personal do not want to take a chance on losing an expensive one while cooking or chasing children, which we do sometimes. Yet I still wish to look pretty at events.

   Transfers started in the 1920's, as the books say. Although I have seen them go back a lot further. Furniture had them, why not jewelry?

   Acrylic transfers replaced porcelain, china and similar materials. They were either hand painted or had a transfer put on. Some of the transfers were then painted over, to make them look hand painted.

   Resin, is poured / molded and gives the look of what they originally had in the 1800's. Actually, they probably will last twice as long as the originals. Something we're not use to.

   Cameos were of course not just used for broaches. They were also used for necklaces, earrings and other jewelry items. The 1860's was the height of the popularity for Cameos.

Broaches / Pins

   Lets jump to other broaches/ pins, such as the dress clip, which as the "book" says was popular in the 1920's. Then why are so many Chatelaine supposedly from the 1800's, (chain worn at a woman's waist, to carry a purse and etc.) have dress clips on them?

   Sash pins go way back. Not only did the Irish and Scottish wear them, several others took up the style, even me. It's a nice look. Which again your looking at large brass pins with "C" clasp.

   What did I use to wear ? I wore what I felt was worn and that I liked. A large 2"x 3" heavy brass, "C" clasp, 1 thru 3 stones/glass pins. 

    Back then they could do that a lot better than I was willing to go, such as lined bodices, and all the under clothes. In Arizona, I felt I was not willing to make myself ill, so hear you saw several peasants living in what is still worn in Mexico, full skirts and peasant blouses. Women of breeding that made it this far continue or turned back. I don't blame them.