Antique jewelry glossary

Welcome to our extensive antique jewelry glossary with around 1,500 jewelry related entries.If you feel you are missing an explanation, feel free to let us know and we will add it.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z     all

Ear-ornament

See our: earrings.

An ornament of various forms, styles, and sizes worn on the ear, including the ear-clip, ear-drop, ear-flare, ear-loop, ear-plug, ear-ring, ear-screw, ear-spool, and ear-stud.

Examples made of pre-Columbian jewelry were often of circular shape with openwork decoration in the lower half or semi-circular shape completely decorated with openwork decoration (sometimes the decoration being very similar to that in a similarly shaped nose ornament). A type made in Indian jewelry covered the entire ear and was so heavy that it had to be supported by, in addition to a band encircling the ear, an attached ornate hair pin; another type was composed of a disc over the lobe and a heavy ornate group of pendants and tassels.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson