Customer Reviews

Collecting Victorian Jewelry: Identification and Price Guide

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Gemologist C. Jeanenne Bell presents Collecting Victorian Jewelry: Identification And Price Guide, a full-color showcase of the distinctive jewelry of the Victorian era. Vintage photographs and artwork as well as close-up detailed of pieces, extensive price information, tips on discerning real pieces from imitation and general background information on gemstones and fashion of the time fill this lavish volume. A "must-have" for antique jewelry collectors, and recommended for anyone interested in seeing these wondrous works of art and adornment up close.

Yet another book by prolific jewellery writer C. Jeanenne Bell. In this book, Bell deals exclusively with Victorian jewellery, that is jewellery produced in England, America and France during the period from 1837 to 1901. This book is primarily a catalogue of Victorian jewellery, with full color photos and prices at the time of publication, interspersed with text that attempts to place the jewellery in a historical context with respect to events and fashions. Unlike some books, which only show the jewelley of royalty, this book shows items which would suit a range of budgets.

This book is primarily aimed at dealers and those wishing to collect jewellery from the Victorian era. However, with over 700 full colour photos (according to the back cover), this is also a great coffee table book for those wanting to look at beautiful things and dream.

I bought "Collecting Victorian Jewelry" last year. I have used it as a reference for identification many times since then & have found it useful; there simply aren't many books on Victorian jewelry. It is divided into approx. 20 year periods, starting with the Georgian era. In each section are discussions of events of the time, most commonly used materials & the styles of the day. She is an excellent writer. There are a considerable number of fashion plates & other illustrations of clothes styles. At the end of each section, a selection of jewelry is presented. The book includes a broad selection of cameos, Scottish agate, bog oak & mosaic pins. I do have a bias against "price guides". Pricing usually becomes obsolete very quickly, but the market has remained fairly stable for Victorian pieces - or gotten better!

Having said that, for an identification book, it has some major flaws. The biggest is too many "fashion" pictures & not enough jewelry. If I wanted a Victorian style guide, I'd have bought that; many of the pictures don't even depict jewelry. The "current affairs" sections contain excellent information, however, they could have been condensed significantly and still convey most of it. For example, the 1840-1850s section has 13 pages of jewelry photos & 28 pages of discussion & fashions.

I was disappointed she left out examples of some very important styles of jewelry. For a Victorian jewelry book, I find it strange she includes only 3 examples of woven hair work (and a hair wrapped cross); very difficult to see details in the photos, too. She discusses the popularity of hair work in 1840-1850s section, yet 2 photos are in the next section. I found no examples of Gothic revival or other silver jewelry; the lack of pieces from Italian silversmiths leaves her with a huge imbalance favoring cameos & mosaics.

Many photos of the jewelry are out of focus &/or taken at odd angles; lighting could certainly be better on many of them, too. Sizes are included for some pieces but are absent on most. There seems to be random photos that are just a close-up; others are over-all pictures that really should have a detail photo as well. The disorganization of the photos makes it hard to find any particular type of piece of jewelry. They are only loosely grouped as "pins"; grouping them by type (mosaics, cameos, bog oak, stone etc) would have been more helpful.

I believe readers would be better served if this book had been titled "Victorian Jewelry: Historical Perspectives & Examples" AND the photos were better.

It was intersting reading. More on style, than on collecting. Interesting if you like history. Lots to learn. And a true collector neds to learn alot.

This is a Fabulous Victorian Jewelry Book! It has detail and Beauty. It has many great pictures and explainations.

The 'historical' background is at elementary school level. Many of the photos are in poor quality, with no zoom in whatsoever. The index is basic and lacking and as the book is chronologically arranged, that's unhelpful.
It can give a very basic and limited idea about the subject but nothing more.