A deep Dive into Historical Jewelry Catalogs!
I share a lot of antique catalogs on social media, so I thought it would be fun to dive a little deeper into that personal obsession. Collecting antique jewelry goes far beyond acquiring beautiful pieces; it can be about preserving history, understanding craftsmanship, and connecting with the stories behind each piece. For serious collectors, antique catalogs, sketches, auction publications, and magazines can be indispensable tools that provide a deeper insight into the past, offering context, authentication clues, and inspiration.
The Role of Antique Publications in Circa Dating Jewelry
Antique catalogs and magazines are fantastic tools for circa-dating and identifying jewelry pieces. These magazines can provide detailed records of designs, styles, and trends from specific periods. The illustrations, descriptions, and advertisements within these publications can help us learn more about antique jewelry. Additionally, these resources often include information about the materials, makers, marketing practices, and cultural significance of specific pieces.
Historical publications can help guide us toward dating jewelry, but it isn't a perfect science. Many popular jewelry styles transcend multiple decades, making pinpointing a ballpark creation date harder. For example, many late Victorian-style gemstone and diamond rings were produced in the Edwardian Era, making circa-dating popular ring styles quite an adventure! It is always important to do your due diligence. I like to find a few examples of similar pieces in different publications before I come to any conclusions on a piece when I'm researching. Sometimes, more than one instance is needed to circa-date a piece of jewelry. Luckily, some pieces have hallmarks, which makes dating quite helpful!
Antique Jewelry Sales Catalogs
One important type of catalog would be a jewelry sales catalog intended for jewelry buyers, stockists, and sometimes even the public. Most often, these catalogs were destined for those who had their own stores or means of selling jewelry to the mass market. Often, Jewelry, Watches, Store Display Items, and Silver Goods can be found in the same catalogs. They typically include detailed descriptions, pricing information, and excellent illustrations of the products. Most of these catalogs date from the mid-Victorian era onward, reflecting the growth of consumer culture during that time. Older catalogs, especially those from the Regency period or earlier, are much rarer due to the lower survival rate over the years. However, some older publications can still be found, particularly in private collections, libraries, and museums.
These antique sales catalogs can reveal trends in fashion and the evolution of taste within the jewelry market. By comparing catalogs from various periods, collectors can observe shifts in design preferences, materials, and craftsmanship. This historical perspective allows collectors to make more informed decisions when adding to their collections and circa-dating their jewelry.
RESOURCES / EXAMPLES:
•. This Book by Peter Hinks Combines multiple publications into one book and is a great resource for those who like Victorian Jewelry.
This Illustrated 1913 Catalog from J. Lynn & Co is a nice example that features multiple styles
Antique Jewelry Trade Catalogs
Antique jewelry trade catalogs are another type of publication that gives us an inside view into what jewelers would have been interested in at the time. These catalogs offer us a window into the craftsmanship, news, tools, and discoveries within the jewelry trade. These offerings differ from sales catalogs as they are intended for those who work in the jewelry industry. These catalogs, filled with detailed illustrations, advertisements, descriptions, and prices, were essential for jewelers and watchmakers of the time, guiding their work and helping them stay current with industry standards. Today, they serve as wonderful references for historians and collectors. By preserving the knowledge of past techniques and styles, these catalogs help contribute to a deeper understanding of historical jewelry design and trade.
RESOURCES / EXAMPLES
Here is an example of The jewelers' circular and horological review
Here is a copy of The Watchmaker Jeweller and Silversmith
Digitized Illustrations and Design Work
Original Sketches and Designs created by jewelers and artists are another wonderful online resource for identifying jewelry and jewelry styles. Famous Jewelry Houses like Cartier, Lalique, Fabergé, and Tiffany all have archives of historical documents and records, which may include original illustrations. Independent jewelry companies like John Brogden and others can have catalogs of hand-illustrated jewelry concept designs, which are a treat to browse! Sometimes, jewelry design illustrations are crude and naive; others are highly rendered. Many of these illustrations can be found in museum collection archives and are searchable online.
The Jewel Book of the Duchess Anna of Bavaria
I can't talk about digitized jewelry publications online without mentioning this Renaissance treasures! The Jewel Book of the Duchess Anna of Bavaria is an important manuscript that offers an intimate glimpse into the opulent world of Renaissance jewelry. This 16th-century document catalogs the personal jewelry collection of Duchess Anna of Bavaria; the catalog allows us to look back to see beautiful pieces prized by the European Nobility of the Era. This vital jewelry record provides invaluable insights into jewelry's craftsmanship, fashion, and symbolism during the Renaissance, making it a fantastic resource for historians, art scholars, and collectors. This publication shows the iconic table-cut gemstones, figural goldwork, and saturated enamels often associated with Renaissance Jewelry. There are many digitized Renaissance works, including a large collection of jewelry designs by Hans Holbein at the British Museum. The invention of the printing press allowed new trends and techniques to spread geographically over time.
RESOURCES
• You can Page Through The Jewel Book of the Duchess Anna of Bavaria HERE.
Ladies Magazines & Fashion Plates
Quite a few publications were produced for women throughout the ages. These magazines are a wonderful insight into fashion and culture. Often, these magazines will have fashion plates, short stories, sheet music, interior design trends, sewing patterns, or other household crafting instructions and beauty remedies. Fashion plates would be circulated to entertain and inspire women - much like magazines such as Vogue today! I will do another blog post that dives deeper into ladies' fashion magazines soon, but for now, here are a few antique magazines you can browse! You'll notice these publications have significantly fewer photos than today's magazines. You can keyword search words and phrases that pertain to the items you are researching. For example, if you do a keyword search for "Agate," you might find instances of agate jewelry mentioned in the magazine.
RESOURCES / EXAMPLES
The Images above were sourced from this digitized copy of The Repository of arts, literature, commerce, manufactures, fashions and politicshttps://archive.org/details/repositoryofarts1228acke/page/n302/mode/1up
Another fun page turner that can be found online are issues of Godey's Lady's Book And Magazine
Additional Resources
Here is a list of platforms you can search for more digitized historical material! Have fun out there!
The Internet Archives
British Library
Gallica – The Digital Library of the National Library of France
JSTOR
Smithsonian Digital Library