Edwardian Jewelry

There are still places where you can buy Edwardian Jewelry sites such as http://www.faycullen.com/edwardian_jewelry.html carry many pieces. As well as Ebay where you are more likely to find original pieces

The Edwardian period as we know was a short time between 1901 and 1910 but during the time period the jewelry that was established and created was simply breathtaking work. Most of the jewelry centered around what appeared to be lace that was constructed with platinum and diamonds. It was clearly high-class society art. One piece in which designers of this time period loved to work with were gemstones and particularly in the shapes of pears. The strength that the platinum carried allowed invisible settings to the metal, which gave the jewelry a soft thin, lightweight appeal, which captured the femininity of the fashion at the time.

Since feathers and lace was a favorite to many at in this time period platinum was the best metal to make such open work designs, which often mimic that style. It also created the perfect edges for the uses of diamonds and filigree.

One of the biggest influences of jewelry fashion was The Princess of Wales, also know as the wife of Edward. Her name was Princess Alexandra. When she was traveling in India she fell in love with the jewelry worn by the Indian princess so she too embraced her style. Her two favorites styles included the sautoirs which were long ropes of chains or pearls that ended in tassels and the diamond aigrettes which were feathers worn as hair ornaments. Alexandra also had a favorite stone called the amethyst which possessed a beautiful contrast of widely used palettes of white on white and beautiful soft pastels

Platinum was also used to create other styles such as brooches, rings and pendants. Most of the jewelry during the Edwardian time period was very expensive but there were less expensive choices to choose from if you didn't have the means. Some of these pieces included the half hoop bangles which were set with pearls, bar brooches, diamonds, colored stones, gypsy rings which were worn by both women and men, half hoop, snake rings and gold chains bracelets that were set with pearls and turquoise.