Estate Jewelry

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See our:estate jewelry.

To know something about estate jewelry, one really has to dig into many (sometimes complex) factors. Some of these will be touched upon in the About estate jewelry section of the Adin website and in Adin's estate jewelry Glossary. Although we do not intend here to delve into matters in depth, the following chapters give a good idea on estate jewelry and what it's all about.

Estate jewelry (also called vintage jewelry) is a term used for previously owned jewelry and for pieces of jewelry made in earlier (style-)periods and not necessarily pre-worn. It is not a dequalifying designation as many pieces of estate jewelry typically feature fine workmanship and high quality stones, as well as one-of-a-kind pieces. To be called "antique", a piece must be more than 100 years old. Estate jewelry includes many decades or eras. Each era has many different designs. These eras include Georgian, Early Victorian, Mid-Victorian, Late Victorian, Arts and Crafts era, Art Nouveau, Edwardian, Art Deco and Retro.

The word "jewelry" (American spelling) or "jewellery" (British spelling) is a derivation of the word "jewel", which was anglicised from the Old French "jouel" some 800 years ago, in around the 13th century. The word "jouel" itself comes from the Latin word "jocale", meaning "plaything". Jewelry can be made out of almost every known material with the purpose to adorn nearly every part of the body.

The word "estate" comes from the Anglo-French "astat" or Old French "estat" which come from the Latin "status" meaning: "state or condition". The oldest sense (circa 1200) is "rank, standing, condition" while the sense "property" is from circa 1400 and changed over the ages from "worldly prosperity" as specific application to "landed property" (usually of large extent). Its first known record in American English dates back to 1623. The meaning "collective assets of a dead person or debtor" is from around 1830. Nowadays with the prefix "estate" we mean all of the valuable things an individual owns, such as real estate, art collections, collectibles, antiques, jewelry, investments, and life insurance.

Have a look in our catalogue and see the fine estate jewelry we are offering for online sale. Check out our diamond engagement rings, eternity rings, wedding bands and more.

The following is a recap of the most interesting estate jewelry subjects:

Estate jewelry devided into style periods:
In this chapter on estate jewelry styles you will find an overview that shows the different estate jewelry styles and their names in the different countries over the ages ...
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Laws and regulations concerning estate jewelry:
Around 1800 Napoleon abolished the guilds and left the regulations of gold and silverware to the legislator. But what was the role of the guilds? The guilds guaranteed the integrity of the concerned trades ...
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Hallmarks to be found on estate jewelry:
There are many (hall-)marks to be found in estate jewelry. Some 19 different sorts in all. The chance of finding them struck all together in one piece is non-existing. Normally there will be between two and five ...
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Materials used in and for estate jewelry:
What materials do we use to make ourselves look prettier? 'Metals' is the obvious (though not exclusive) answer. These we can divide into: precious metals (gold, platinum, silver), non-precious metals ...
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Different alloys used in and for estate jewelry:
What is an alloy and what can you achieve by influencing it? Which alloy is better and which worse. Is it worth more or less etc.? An alloy is a mixture of different metals, which for jewelry has to contain ...
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Combination of metals used for estate jewelry:
The use of the different metals together isn't arbitrary, or at least not originally. About 2-300 years ago it was common for diamonds to be set in silver. Jewellers of that time believed that only a silver mounting ...
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Designs of estate jewelry:
Over the years it was royalty who commissioned and set trends for the different fashions. Obediently followed by the nobility and bourgeoisie. The church too was a very important commissioner, although more ...
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Reasons for wearing estate jewelry now and in the past:
Jewellery is often created for a special occasion or reason to show that the wearer follows a certain sport, belongs to a certain club i.e. free masons, to a certain part, in memoriam etc. Or a special happening ...
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Estate jewelry and its function:
Jewelry are objects, whatever material they are made of, that we use to ornament ourselves. Whether put, pierced through, or hung on our body, their function is to show or pretend our status. It is obvious that ...
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Estate jewelry, birthstones, monthstones and healing power:
Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist traditions mingled with pagan legends led to the association of certain stones with different months, astrological signs, Tribes of Israel and Apostles ...
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Ring size comparison list for estate jewelry from various countries:
Here you will find an extensive list for the comparison of all ring sizes as used in all countries in their local units, both for new as for estate rings.
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Extensive estate jewelry glossary:
The Adin Estate Jewelry Glossary is an extensive explanatory list of subjects that are related to jewelry in general and estate jewelry in particular and is still growing every day ...
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Fakes and counterfeits in estate jewelry:
Not everything known as fake is actually a fake. There are many kinds of fakes that have an intrinsic value of their own. Take the original Russian silver object that may have a fake Fabergé mark ...
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Commonly misspelled estate jewellery terms

Want to know more about antique jewelry styles? Go to our antique jewelry style overview.