A Very Brief Introduction to Vintage and Antique Silver

If you saw the last post, we have Dan of dcrblogs commenting that most likely men are melting down sterling jewelry for the silver content as opposed to wearing it. I for one hope that most bidders on eBay buying silver jewelry are only melting down SCRAP lots- not vintage and antique one of a kind jewelry pieces.

Only recently have my tastes in jewelry changed. I had previously been collecting vintage a lot of rhinestone jewelry (that could only be described as really flashy bling) as well as some signed pieces. In particular I collected a lot of signed ART, Goldette, Coro, and Crown Trifari. Lately, however I have been collecting Victorian and Edwardian jewelry, as well as some vintage sterling and goldfill jewelry.

Some of the more interesting silver pieces I have been buying are antique and vintage silver filigree. Since collecting silver is new territory to me, I have been doing a little bit of research on it in my spare time and find the subject quite fascinating.

A couple things that I initially confused were the terms hallmark and maker’s mark. Basically a hallmark is in regards to a metal’s content and a maker’s mark is exactly what it sounds like. As you can imagine there are a vast number of silver makers from around the world and so it helps me to be able to compare a new purchase I have made to some of the silver guides online. Silver Forum has a rather nice list of links for both new and old connoisseurs of silver to peruse. I have spent some time on the first link www.925-1000.com .

In case you are wondering about the cute little owl pin in this post, I found that little lovely in a 50 cent grab bag of jewelry at a thrift store about a week ago. Covered in marcasites, and with very pretty enamel bodies, this cute pin is marked Alice Caviness, Sterling Silver, Germany. This little piece is the best of both worlds for me in collecting vintage jewelry, it’s designer signed and it happens to be made from my new love- silver.