By Lisa Hix — A young Victorian woman stands on a beach and stares out past the crashing waves, far out into the ocean, wondering where her sweetheart is now. His ship sailed months ago, and he’s not due to return for years. She has no way to hear his voice saying he loves her. The only comfort she has is the coin in her hand. She runs her fingertips over his initials engraved on one side and forget-me-nots on the other, and she feels soothed. “With love tokens, emotion can be felt in the palm of one’s...

Ironclad Patriotism: When Germans Gave Up Their Gold Jewelry to Battle Napoleon

By Ben Marks — During World War I and World War II, the mothers, sisters, wives, and girlfriends of Allied servicemen wore pendants and pins proclaiming their support for their loved ones fighting overseas. But as Netherlands-based Georgian- and Victorian-era jewelry collector Agram.m reminds us (that's her username on Show & Tell), these pieces of sweetheart jewelry, as they are called, were not the first examples of baubles used to proclaim one’s support for a war effort. "In the early years of the 19th...

Carole Tanenbaum on Costume Jewelry's 'Wow' Factor

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — My husband and I have many collections. We were in London at one point in the ’80s, and I saw a fabulous collection of vintage costume jewelry. Each item was like a little object of art. I bought about two dozen pieces, including some wonderful early Chanels that are virtually impossible to find today, and several pieces by Dior and Hobe. That really got me started. Because I had begun at the high-end, but didn’t know it, I developed an eye for pieces that had great integrity. As a...

Christie Romero on Differences Between Fine and Costume Jewelry Over the Decades

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — I started out with general antiques and collectibles... I was a dealer for a while and bought and sold all kinds of things. Gradually jewelry became my focus. In the mid-1980s I started getting serious, and in 1988 I started teaching small classes, workshops, and seminars, primarily on costume jewelry but also some fine jewelry. Vintage costume jewelry was just beginning to take off as a collectible. Up until that time, most people thought it was junk. They didn’t understand what it was...