Antique porcelain brooches hand painted beauty

Hand painted porcelain is a popular material in antique and vintage jewellery, it is most usually found in brooches although I have seen earrings and necklaces set with porcelain plaques too. You can often find older brooches , especially Victorian brooches, set with porcelain plaques which have been painted or printed. These brooches are quite decorative and very collectible.

Try looking out for some with classical European paintings:



Hand painted with Birds brooch :



Or how about a collection of hand painted vintage floral brooches?
These three types of vintage brooch all have the inset porcelain plaque in common. They vary in age with the top one being mid-Victorian, the central one being later Victorian and the lower one being an Edwardian brooch.

All should be treated with reasonable care as porcelain chips easily and the pictures would come off if they are subjected to harsh cleaning materials. How should you clean them - hopefully a gentle wipe with a soft dry cloth. If this doesn't work a well wrung out damp cloth or just a touch of washing up liquid if really necessary. Do not let the damp get to the setting if you can help it as most likely the settings are just costume jewellery and will tarnish and rust easily.

Porcelain plaque brooches can be found from just a few pounds upwards depending on the quality of the painting ( a named artist would increase the price) and also the metal it is set into.

Wedgwood Brooches

Wedgwood Brooch

One of the most popular type of antique or vintage brooches I get asked for is a Wedgwood Jasper cameo set brooch ( especially a Victorian one) just like in this picture. The central plaque of the brooch is made of Jasper a high fired ceramic. The design on this brooch has been created by sprigging. Sprigging starts with an artist carving the pattern and a mould being created in plaster from that master. A piece of the damp clay is pressed into the mould and then the image created is removed and applied to the background. The jasper type clay was invented by J. Wedgwood but the clay and using it in this manner for jewellery was copied by other makers.

Jasper Jewellery was made throughout both the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally the patterns were based on classical designs however during the 1970s and the 2000's some more modern designs have been created. in fact during the last 10 years Wedgwood employed some big name jewellery designers to create up to date deigns for them.

How can I tell how old my Wedgwood Jasper brooch is?

Take a look on the back. If the brooch has an open back you may well see the word Wedgwood impressed. Wedgwood on its own without any other words could well be early to mid Victorian. "Wedgwood England" between 1880s and 1920s. "Wedgwood made in England" is usually post 1920s. Please note that on very small pieces there well may be no makers name and your brooch could still be Wedgwood.

Also take a look at the metal, this could have hallmarks which can be used to date your Wedgwood brooch or it may carry the JW makers hallmark in the silver or gold.

Care of Wedgwood Jasper Brooches.

The material is high fired ceramic and can be chipped or cracked so take care not to drop your brooch . Now take a look at the material the jasper is set into. If this is marked as silver or gold you can use a little water and a soft toothbrush to clean your brooch is it is very dirty. Pat the brooch dry and store where it cannot be damaged by other jewellery. you could wrap your brooch in a piece of acid free tissue paper.

If the metal is not hallmarked as gold or silver it could be made of a costume jewellery material and I suggest that you do not get this wet as it could become damaged. Just use a soft brush to clean.

Where to buy Wedgwood jasper Brooches.

AntiquesAvenue Antique and Vintage jewellery shop likes to carry a range of Wedgwood jasper jewelry including brooches. Other than this it is fun to hunt could your local antique fair or antiques center and you might get lucky. You can expect to pay between about £15 and several hundred pounds for your Wedgwood jasper brooch depending upon its age, the desirability of the cameo and the material into which it is set

Happy Hunting

Anne

Easter Brooches - Less fattening than chocolate

Its Easter egg buying time again. Easter is on Sunday April 4th this year and as usual I am suggesting that a piece of Vintage Jewellery is less fattening and longer lasting than Chocolate and does not have to cost any more.

Whilst you could choose any pretty brooch there are many which have an Easter related theme which would be particularly relevant. How about an animal brooch , a chick, a bird, rabbit or duck? Flowers are always a popular gift and you can get eggs in the shape of eggs, young children and for those who wish to stick to the traditional religious side of Easter a brooch or pendant in the shape of a cross.

Here is a nice selection of vintage brooches with an Easter Theme.

Jelly Belly duck brooch vintage Lucite and silver


This cute duck brooch is made out of silver ( impressed sterling) , It is set with a clear lucite "Jelly Belly" and has a diamante eye. Measuring about 4.9 cms from head to toe wide this sought after vintage brooch is in excellent

Pretty bird on branch costume jewellery brooch


A lovely costume jewellery brooch featuring a long tailed bird sitting on a branch. This brooch is made of gold toned metal and is set with clear and pale blue diamante. It measures about 6 cms long and is in excellent wearable condition. This brooch is thought to be about 20 years old, a quality piece of costume jewellery sure to be collectable in the future

vintage flower brooch lucite three flowers

Brooches made from Lucite date from circa 1930s /1940s. These are carved from behind intaglio style and filled with colour to depict three flowers, I think these are roses. This vintage lucite flower brooch measures up to 5 cms wide. This is an up and coming form of collectable vintage jewellery.



Are you choosing Vintage Jewellery instead of Chocolate this year? Please do leave a comment and tell us about it.

Vintage brooches news March 2010

Here is the March update from AntiquesAvenue.co.uk including a look at the lovely antique and Vintage brooches which have recently been added to the site .

Blog News
Over on my main blog at http://www.antiquesavenue.com/ I've been taking a look at the A-Z of antique and vintage jewellery materials and have just completed the letter A for Agate, Amber, Amethyst and Aventurine.

Have you seen my Vintage Jewellery Videos yet? They are all shown in the previous post here or you can pop along to You-tube and view the AntiquesAvenue channel


Vintage Jewellery Shop News
As always I've been adding lots of fresh stock including Vintage Brooches. Vintage Brooches have been a popular gift fro Mothers Days again this year and I am selling quite a few which are to be given as Easter gifts. Much less fattening that Easter eggs and  much longer lasting too.

Vintage Brooches recently added
Taking a look at a few of the lovely antique and Vintage brooches I've added recently:

Rare gold Mizpah brooch:
Victorian Mizpah brooches are always sought after and even more so when they are made of gold like this one.


Mizpah: The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another.

This piece of antique jewellery measures about 4 cms long


Jelly Belly duck Vintage Brooch

Jelly Belly duck brooch vintage Lucite and silver
This cute duck brooch is made out of silver ( impressed sterling) , It is set with a clear Lucite "Jelly Belly" and has a diamante eye


Coming Soon:

I've a few nice Victorian brooches to be added over the next week or two including a Whitby jet cameo brooch and some sweet Victorian sentimental silver brooches. Do check back soon.

I'm going to try and update this blog a little more often to show the wonderful variety of vintage brooches available.

Vintage Jewellery Videos

Have you seen my Vintage jewellery Videos ? Here they all are: