Art & Antiques by Dr. Lori
By Dr. Lori Verderame
When it comes to dressing up, holiday season requires your best outfits and accessories. During the holidays, we dress in our best clothes, shoes, and hats. Yet, when it comes to jewelry, albeit fine or costume, a big statement piece makes a holiday outfit stand out. Earrings, necklaces, and bracelets are the must-have accessories for holiday style, a brooch tops off any blouse, blazer, sweater, shirt, or coat.
When it comes to evaluating holiday brooches, there are some aspects of the popular keepsakes that should not be overlooked. Gemstones like rubies and emeralds are often the choice of the season because of their red and green colors. Precious metals like silver jewelry is popular during the winter holidays. It’s true that if it’s good enough for the bells then it’s good enough for the bling. Of course, gold jewelry pieces including rose gold, yellow gold or white gold, are always in fashion. These pretty and precious metals are the basis for any good-looking brooch.
Settings
When choosing a holiday brooch, the importance of a brooch’s setting is important. Look for classic settings like wreaths, circles, or natural forms such as poinsettias, holly, evergreen trees, etc. Prongs are a quality indicator for both fine and costume jewelry brooches. Remember, the more prongs on a brooch to hold a gemstone or faux gemstone in place, the better. Most faceted cut gemstones are set with at least four prongs. It is better to have six or more prongs. Prongs should be curved and tightly secured to the gemstone on a brooch. Like prongs which come in various types, pinback clasps come in a variety of types too. Some typical pinback clasps are c-clasps resembling the alphabet letter “C”, trombone clasps, barrel clasps, and rotating clasps. All are made to secure a fancy brooch to any garment.
Styles
For holiday brooches, some of the most popular styles are those that resemble wreaths, candles or winter themed objects like sleighs, snowmen, or snowflakes, to name a few. Figural brooches of Santa Claus, elves, reindeer, Hanukkah menorahs, dreidels, and other seasonal objects are popular. Collectors know that brooches are making a big come back on the vintage fashion scene. Today’s holiday fashion demands that a bigger vintage brooch is a better brooch. These big brooches, called statement brooches, command high values on the market. Vintage brooches from the mid-1900s to the end of the twentieth-century enjoy a very active resale market online on platforms like eBay.com, Etsy.com, ShopThrilling.com, and Poshmark.com among others.
Gemstones
The most popular gemstones or faux gemstones used in holiday brooches are red and green stones. Red stones such as garnets and rubies and green stones like emeralds, peridots, and jades highlight the holiday color scheme. These color pairs attract the eye using the law of complimentary colors from color theory. Red and green are complementary colors which stimulate the optic nerve and attract one’s eyes to look at the color pair. The introduction of colorless or white gemstones such as pearls and diamonds are used by holiday jewelry designers to recall a wintery mood suggestive of white snow, crystals, or angels sparkling wings. Diamonds, rhinestones, and crystals are used in holiday brooches to give a look of snowy landscapes. Blue topaz and aquamarines are often paired with pearls in holiday brooches to give the feeling of the colors of the season’s cold and icy wintery weather, too. In addition to these precious gems, faux gemstones are integrated into holiday brooch design like blue Austrian crystals or carved cabochon stones like carnelian, calcedony, and aventurine.
When it comes to fine jewelry, look for high quality materials, gemstones, and stunning modern designs by some of the most impressive designers like David Yurman, Chanel, Cartier, etc. For vintage costume or faux jewelry collectors, brooches by Hattie Carnegie, Miriam Haskell, Ben Amun, Trifari, and Eisenberg have good value and strong market interest.
Happy holidays.
Ph.D. antiques appraiser, author, and award-winning media personality, Dr. Lori Verderame presents her popular Antiques Appraisal Comedy Tour at venues nationwide, appears on Netflix’s hit show King of Collectibles, History channel’s The Curse of Oak Island and Pawn Stars do America. Dr. Lori presents YouTube videos on her popular channel at www.YouTube.com/DrLoriV with 45 million views and counting. Visit www.DrLoriV.com, watch Dr. Lori’s videos on www.YouTube.com/DrLoriV or call (888) 431-1010.