Rows of antique pearl necklaces at Richard Ogden, in the Burlington Arcade
So I was working in the antique shop the other day – namely counting diamonds on a brooch – and having lost count a million or so times, I decided to take a little break and started aimlessly wandering around the shop instead. I ended up – like so many times – by the pearl necklaces… ahh sigh of happiness, they are just so beautiful! The middle one in the photo above we have already familiarised ourselves with in the previous post Victorian Pearl Necklace with a Diamond Clasp, but I loved them all and started looking closer at them:
Pearl necklace with a diamond brooch clasp
This little beauty above is another example of a pearl necklace with a diamond brooch as the clasp; in other words it also has a very clever mechanism at the back which turns it into a brooch that you can wear separately.
The centre motif features a beautiful sapphire surrounded by eight diamonds
… and then there was this necklace with two rows of pearls and a centre motif featuring a sapphire.
This necklace is from around the 1920’s and I am obviously learning all these ways of determining the age of the pieces, and something that is very helpful is determining what metal has been used in the design – this one is set in platinum. Platinum gained popularity in jewellery making in the beginning of the 20th century as it was such a beautiful and strong metal. The use of platinum in anything other than military applications was however prohibited during the second World War, as it was declared a strategic material. After the war it gained popularity again because of its properties: its strength allowed jewellery makers to create very fine yet durable designs.
A closer look at this beautiful antique pearls necklace with a centre motif featuring a sapphire and eight diamonds
The difference between this necklace and the first one in the post, is that the part with the sapphire and diamonds in this necklace is not used as a clasp – it is purely there for decorative reasons. As a result it is referred to as the centre motif, and it looks a little something like this when worn:
Oh go on then, I will model the necklace to show you what it looks like on! (yep, without doubt the best part about working in an antique jewellery shop!!)
So there we have it – the difference between a clasp and a centre motif in antique jewellery (and of course also in modern jewellery, but I haven’t seen too many of these designs around in contemporary pieces – but if you have then please feel free to share with us below!) Have a lovely weekend my dear!
All of the necklaces above can be found at Richard Ogden in the Burlington Arcade.
Decades of Elegance 