Vintage Jewelry - A Special Gift For Men

Women have collected and worn vintage jewellery for many decades now, a vintage brooch, necklace or earrings makes a welcome and popular gift and is sure to be kept and admired for many years to come. But what about the gentlemen? There is plenty of vintage jewellery around for them too and with films like Holmes popularising vintage gents clothing like caps and waistcoats the men in your life would appreciate a piece of vintage jewellery too.

You could give your man a ring, earring or neck chain but here are a few pieces of vintage means jewellery you may not have thought of:

Stick pins, Ties pins or Lapel pins - three different name for the same piece of Jewelry more regularly worn by men than women. These little pins seem very quaint and old fashioned these days but they are also very collectible - I recently saw a show on television where even small and humble examples were valued at £100.

The stick pin is smaller and less showy than a brooch but can be worn in much the same manner on the lapel of a jacket or pinned through a tie to both decorate it and keep it in place. What differentiates it from a brooch is the way it is made and held in place. The stick pin has the decorative element at the top of a long stick rather than having a pin behind it. This allows the decorative detail to be very small if required. These were worn by Victorian and Edwardian Gentleman and Ladies however these days they are more seen as Jewelry for Gentlemen.

The key to desirability of a stick pin is a combination of the materials used ( gold and diamonds being more expensive than silver and crystal for example) and also the subject of the stick pin. A silver and crystal stick pin in the shape on a monkey would possibly be more expensive than an oval shape with a tiny diamond in the centre.

Most antique stick pins have a spiral groove around the pin which was used to screw on a "keeper" which acted to prevent the stick pin from coming loose. This is one indicator in telling if your stick pin is antique or more modern as modern copies do not tend to have this groove. You can see an example of this groove in the third photo below of the opal stick pin.

Watch chains

A watch chain is often known as an Albert after Queen Victorias husband Prince Albert who first popularised the wearing of these chains. There are two types of Albert watch chains single and double. A single Albert watch chain would have a T bar at one end and a dog clip at the other. A double Albert watch chain has a central T bar with two chains hanging from it, each chain having a dog clip at each end. Look out for chains where the links are graduated being larger at the centre than at the ends also look out for the lion hallmark being stamped on each link.

Your watch chain will usually have a very short chain hanging from the T bar, this will just measure an inch or two. You can attach a fob from this chain to complete the Albert.

Fobs

As mentioned above, fobs hung from watch chains but they can also be worn on a neck chain or attached to a key ring. You can find fobs made of silver or gold. Some are in the form of sporting medals being engraved to the winner of a cricket, swimming or perhaps a music or poetry competition. Desirable fobs are enameled in multi colours. Others are set with hard stones including bloodstone or carnelian

Anne Haile - Vintage Jewellery and Antiques Dealer and Writer. You can find my shop at Vintage Jewellery and a wide selection of vintage brooches.

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