Plastic Costume Jewelry

Celluloid was the first plastic used for jewelry. It was invented in 1868 to make billiard balls. By the early 1900s, manufacturers had a process for setting stones or metal into celluloid, and it became a versatile material for costume jewelry. Popular celluloid pieces included bangle bracelets studded with rhinestones; figural pins; dress clips and […]

Dating Costume Jewelry By Color

Color can help date costume jewelry. It was made to go with the fashions of the day. Pale purple glass, amethyst, and opals were popular about 1910. Crystal, black, silver, and bright colors like red, yellow, blue, and green were used in the 1920s. Bright stones and rhinestones were in vogue in the 1930s. Red, […]

Costume Jewelry 1950–1975

Modern jewelry designs by a few individual artists and craftsmen were quickly copied in costume jewelry during the 1950s. There was something for everyone: unusual jewelry of copper; traditional pieces made to look like real gold; imitations of ivory, precious stones, pearls, and almost every other material used in precious jewelry. Enameled copper jewelry was […]

Costume Jewelry 1975-2000

Traditional styles continued, but in the United States by the 1980s, many pieces of costume jewelry were made by individual craftsmen from found objects assembled to form pins or necklaces. Bottle caps, photos, screws and bolts, buttons, shells, unusual beads, and other small objects were used. Some pieces even featured flashing lights activated by tiny […]

Costume Jewelry 1935–1950

The Depression and then World War II changed the look of costume jewelry. Price was important, and many costume pieces were inexpensive. When the war started, metals needed for the war, crystal from Europe, and fake pearls from Japan were unavailable. Lucite and other plastics were substituted. Most costume jewelry imitated real jewelry, and rhinestone […]

Costume Jewelry Art Deco 1920s–1930s

Costume jewelry before 1925 closely resembled pieces made from real gold and gemstones, and this tradition continued in the art deco era. Rhinestones, glass (colored, cut, or molded), fake pearls, plastic, and marcasite, set in gold-colored or rhodium-plated metal or silver, were substitutes for diamonds and precious stones set in platinum or gold. In better […]