Vintage Brooch

Aug 17
10:58

2010

Frank Henderson

Frank Henderson

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There are many types of brooches available for any individuals taste. There are an exceptional amount of vintage brooches that have aged wonderfully with time.

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Everything in today's fashion magazines tends to resemble fashions that were popular decades ago. You may be wearing the oversized bell bottoms that your mother or father wore back in the 1970's; you may even wear the oversized glasses like Jackie O did back in the 1960's. Or you may just be up with the times and sport an antique brooch like your grandmother wore in the 1940's. The antique brooch was first made in the 14th century. The antique brooch was made for similar reasons as the button; and that was to keep clothes fastened together. By the 1800's the antique brooch was made with rubies,Vintage Brooch Articles aquamarine, sapphires, amethyst, opals, and many other still famous gems. Actually in the 1870's the opal gem lost its popularity due to a woman who owned an opal brooch. The woman apparently had a bad incident and people correlated her incident with the opal and thus the opal superstition was created. For a while after that the opal industry took a plunge, but soon enough it resurfaced again. The antique brooch comes in all sorts of colors, styles, shapes, materials, I mean you name it and there is an antique brooch made for everyone and anyone (you just have to look).

One of the more popular era's throughout history happens to be the Victorian Era. Thus came the Victorian brooch. The Victorian brooch resembles the era with the way the jewels are placed and actually which types of jewels are used. The Victorian brooch has versions that come with tassels that dangle from the pin and some have a woman's head etched into gems or porcelain like material. It actually resembles the cameo brooch pretty well. If you already own brooches and they tend to look a bit tarnished because of how old they are. Take ½ cup of water, 3 drops of dishwashing soap, and 3 drops of ammonia. Use a tooth brush and wash the stones (but be careful not to rub a stone out).

A fun cool fact about brooch jewelry that more recently gained popularity with the public is the cockroach jewelry. I saw an article in the Washington Post back in 2006 that a business owner out of Salt Lake City, Utah took live cockroaches and bejeweled them. Now it does not hurt the cockroaches due to the fact their head does not extend past their outer shell. The cockroach brooch jewelry comes with a leash, so that your little pin does not crawl away. The brooch jewelry sells online for $80 dollars, but if you purchase them in the store they are only $60 dollars. There are many other interesting and historical facts about brooches, it would just take me an eternity (well maybe that is an exaggeration, but a really long time none the less) to tell you everything there is to know about them. So if you are still curious and thirsty for more knowledge on the brooch subject, I would suggest either looking up in book local antique shops in the phonebook who sell jewelry and or the obvious (the internet).