Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830 [Hardcover]

Ginny Redington (Author), Tom Dawes (Photographer), Olivia Collings (Collaborator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2007

Georgian Jewellery is a celebration of the quality and style of the eighteenth century and of the endless ingenuity in design and workmanship that produced such a wealth of fabulous and wearable pieces of jewellery. Heavy academic tomes have already been written about the period, so this book illuminates the subject in a more colourful and accessible way. Much disparate information about the jewellery has been gathered together and the period is brought alive by portraits and character sketches of famous Georgians in their finery, fashion tips, gossip, and some rather outrageous cartoons of the time, as well as interesting newly discovered facts. Some might think that Georgian jewellery is the stuff of museums or safe-deposit boxes, but since many of the pieces pictured here have been on the market in the last few years, it is hoped this book will encourage people to realise this lovely jewellery is as beautiful an adornment today as it was over two hundred years ago. Information is given on how t

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ginny Redington Dawes, a life-long collector of antique jewellery, has written two previous books on the subject - 'The Bakelite Jewellery Book' and 'Victorian Jewellery'. Staff writer for MGM Screengems Music, she is also a successful composer; she wrote the book, music and lyrics for the off-Broadway show 'The Talk of the Town' and has won a CLEO award for music for advertising. Olivia Collings became fascinated by the seventeenth century alchemist and jeweller Christopher Pinchbeck at an early age and bought her first piece of antique jewellery aged seven. She trained in an exclusive Bond Street antique jewellery shop before starting her own business in 1975 and has continued learning about and dealing in Georgian jewellery ever since. She is now an independent jewellery consultant.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Antique Collectors Club Dist (October 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851495398
• ISBN-13: 978-1851495399
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for collectors buy it!, September 10, 2008

By 

Manon Kavesky (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830 (Hardcover)

This review was written for the jewelry collecting community who belong to the Yahoo Group Jewel Collect.

Title: Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830
Authors Ginny Redington Dawes with Olivia Collings
Type of Book: Hardcover
Average Price: $85.00 in print, available from other sources for less just look around on-line
In Print
Pages: 191
300 color illustrations most are photos but some archival materials.

Brief Description of Book
Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830 is beautiful! There are hundreds of color photos that hook the reader into the dazzling beauty of ornaments of yesterday. The bulk of the pieces in this book were made during the last 50 years of the Georgian Era.
Georgian Jewellery is composed of six chapters the first three; Dawn, Day and Night group jewelry by what time of day it was intended to be worn. Tidbit: Coral was the only natural material that was considered acceptable for all times of the day and night. The remaining chapters group jewels by their purpose: Love, Death and Eternity. A note that is the English spelling of jewelry I didn't forget to use spell check.


Quantity of Illustrations: 300 total including original photos and archival images
Comments: Score: 10

Quality of Illustrations: Most illustrations are color photographs by Tom Dawes, the author Ginny Redington Dawes husband. He has a steady hand and a wonderful eye for jewels. Most of the photos are large so there is a lot of detail. Many times there are one or two photos to a page so the pieces look as if they are close to their true size. I see two shortcomings in this book. One, there are only a few photos of the reverse side of the pieces. Since many readers will not have the opportunity to handle Georgian pieces first hand those photos would have been a great aid to help positively identification. The second shortfall is that there are no measurements of the pieces so it is impossible to determine how large or small they are.
There are also a number delightful of archival paintings and etchings that show how the jewelry was originally worn.

Score: 10

Quantity of Information: 10
Is the information thorough? It is hard to say but I sure learned a lot reading Georgian Jewellery.

Score: 10

Values Listed (Prices):No
Score: NA

User Friendly: Yes, includes an index
Is the book easy to read and follow? Yes it is. It is written in a readable style not too chatty and not to dry. I found it very interesting and have referred to it a number of times since I purchased it.
Score: 10

Average score: 10

Is this book a must have? Yes. If you are interested in jewelry history this is a must have.

Overall comments: Buy it!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Collectable jewels before Queen Victoria ruled, January 4, 2009

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830 (Hardcover)

The authors state in the introduction that they hope this book will fill in a space in the reference works for collectors of Georgian jewellery - and with that in mind they have done a fine job with this book. It is filled with beautiful colour plates of Georgian jewellery to enable you to gain an eye for the styles and techniques used during the period. The text is rather light - it is mostly about the social conventions behind the types of jewellery illustrated. The majority of the jewels illustrated are English but there are also quality examples from other countries that collectors may come across.

For established collectors of antique jewellery the back section of this book will probably prove the most useful where the authors describe some of the fakes etc in the current market and how to spot them. For lovers of antique jewellery this book is a must and it is an excellent companion to the more technical book by MDS Lewis Antique Paste Jewellery (Faber collectors library) on the paste jewels of the same period.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful coffee table book, September 24, 2010

By 

sherri (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830 (Hardcover)

I took a chance and bought this book sight unseen hoping to learn more about georgian jewellery. This book has magnificent photography of many wonderful pieces but I thought the scholarship quite poor and the research, average or below at best. This took away a lot of the enjoyment for me, because if you can't fully trust the information it can take the edge off your appreciation of a volume of work.

Great for the coffee table. But I personally wouldn't recommend it for serious research unless you already know a lot about the period or subject and can pick the bias and flaws for what they are.

I'm disappointed, but not sorry I bought it due to the images and bits and pieces of information that still make the purchase worthwhile.

Very pretty. I'll be looking for other books in future to fill in the blanks.