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The Origin of Costume Jewelry

The original of the word "Costume Jewelry" is certainly debatable. Here a quick summary of my understanding of the origin of the term costume jewelry.

In my personal research I first saw the term used in 1916. The term itself was not defined but was used simply as a statement, "The most fashionable jewelry of the moment is the so-called costume jewelry..." The term appeared to be used to distinguish this jewelry from the higher priced jewelry typically worn for evening attire. The term costume jewelry didn't appear to regularly in articles until the early 1920's... more specifically 1923.

Backstory....

As is typical.... Fashion was evolving. Designers had historically embellished garments with an array of ornamental material. But as fashion evolved during the 1910's and became less embellished, a whole new industry developed to adorn the daytime frock. Fashion during this period was translated to the public almost as a morality, including protocols about the proper jewelry adornment for each costume-- protocols carefully crafted by the jewelry industry. :)

Beginning around 1915, the jewelry industry became set on educating the public about the "proper" wear and use of jewelry. They felt that the American public at large was not adequately informed about how jewelry could be worn. Up to this point, it had been thought proper to wear jewelry with the evening gown. Jewelry for daytime wear was either nonexistent or in the opinion of the experts, "improperly worn." To remedy this, (translation: increase sales) the jewelry industry formed committees to educate American women on the wearing of jewelry for various costumes and daytime activities. With this education, the acceptance of proper jewelry adornment began to change from "real" gems for evening wear to semi-precious. As the acceptance increased going into the early 1920s, it became more and more respectable for jewelry to be worn made of imitation stones and crystals. Then, to thwart the naysayers or critics of this new phenomenon, who called this new non-precious jewelry geegaw (cheap), the jewelry industry give it the name "costume jewelry," and heralded it as the essence of fashion.

Is it rare?

Is it rare?

This question is one that I've pondered about as I've gone through the process of writing the book on The Napier Co. I often see pieces labeled as rare which I personally would not call rare, but could possibly understand why someone else might.

Napier manufactured very small production runs of its designs until the early to mid 1960's. Often only 12 to 25 of any particular design were ever made and it's those pieces, albeit the normal productions levels for Napier, that are the pieces I sometimes call "rare." On the other hand, a "massive" run for Napier would be 1000 + maybe 500 for a second production. That's 1500 pieces total. When you think about how few numbers that is in comparison to the population, it might still be considered "rare" if you see it come up on Ebay every 3 to 6 months but in reality it isn't rare at all. It's mass production. Rarity in my opinion can only be assessed by that actual production numbers and that data is something that we simply don't have. "Rarity" can be a slippery slope. My less than scientific or factual method (regarding Napier) has really been based on how often it shows up on Ebay. If I see a piece maybe once every 3 or 4 years... my guess is that it's "rare." If it comes up every once month or so... The production was probably at least in the 300 range (which was also a common production run) and I still wouldn't call that rare.

It's the museum pieces... The over the top pieces that only a couple samples were ever made that are the true rare pieces of Napier. Where did they sell the most of those pieces you might ask... Florida and Texas. :)

Vintage Napier Necklace ~ It's All In The Design

I'm an avid Napier jewelry enthusiast and historian. I especially love the design aesthetic of the older pieces. They're timeless and simply put, "Works of
Art." This piece was part of the Napier fashion jewelry wardrobe that was given to Miss America, Karen Ritchie in 1955.

If you're interested in receiving the pre-sale notification for the definitive book on Napier Fashion Jewelry coming out Fall 2009, drop us a line through this blog. This much awaited book will contain over 700 pages covering the history of The Napier Co. with over 3000 full color images of fabulous jewelry, ads, and artwork. write us at napier @ vintagejewelrycollect.com

Estruscan Painting Transfers

Etruscan painting transfers using a patented technique invented by Mr. Isaacson David became a popular novelty. Photographic images were transferred onto delicate stone set brooches leaving an appearance of a photograph on porcelain. Royalties were paid such that the makers of these items could manufacture and sell the jewelry and display the image.

Vintage Church Ornaments

Church Ornaments
Church ornaments, which had until around 1880 been primarily imported into America from France and Germany, were now being manufactured in Providence and were nationally recognized as being made of high quality and workmanship.

Vintage Jewelry

Vintage Jewelry