Victorian Jewellery Enjoying Revival

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30960, 17 January 1966, Page 2

Victorian Jewellery Enjoying Revival

Women have never been averse to looking to the past for ideas which, with adaptations, could be turned into modem fashion. One example in recent years was the craze for slim, round watches worn either on long chains or on pins as brooches.

Few of the women who wore them remembered for long that he idea originally stemmed from the Albert, the pocket watch and chain that no Victorian gentleman was ever without Now, the Albert is returning to fashion for men, in its own right Older men are wearing these period timepieces with nostalgia. Younger men delight in their elegance. On one model now being produced by a British company, Smiths Clocks and Watches, Ltd., clear, black Roman numerals on a white dial complete the authentic “old-fashioned look,” finished with a gold-plated case. Another, reminiscent of the type grandfather was taught the time by, is fitted with a stop-start button and a large, sweeping second hand. For evening wear, the watches assume a wafer-slim elegance and one 21-jewel model has raised gilt figures on a silvered dial, in a goldplated, slim case. Watches on chains for women, get well away from the Albert that inspired them. In one new range the watch is encased in a gaily coloured anodised ball-shape case on a gilt chain. Marcasite is used for the case of a brooch watch with black figures on a silver dial.

Victoriana, generally, shows no sign of diminishing in popularity in jewellery. At Cameo Corner, near the Brit-

ish Museum in London, where Queen Mary was a frequent visitor, buttons, cameos, and intaglios, charms, seals, and necklace clasps find plenty of customers.

Suites of jewellery are particularly popular. A necklace of delicately-carved shell cameos mounted in a gold setting has two matching bracelets, earrings, brooch and ring. Victorian earrings are particularly sought after for their delicate intri-ately-worked designs. One pair of drop earrings of pale blue enamel set with pearls and diamond in gold, were in a range recently shown. For women who own jewellery which is really too heavy or ornate for contemporary wear, Cameo Corner and Grrard’s, the Crown jewellers, both offer remodelling services.

Often, an old piece o' jewellery conceals the true beauty of the gems it contains. Old necklaces, cumbersome spray brooches and bangles, heavy earrings, even tiaras, emerge from the hands of skilled craftsmen as light and delicate designs in the modern idiom.

Some pieces, too, yield two or more modern designs from one old piece. From pieces removed to lighten a design, enough is often found to make a matching ring, a brooch, or even a pair of earclips, at the cost only of modernisation.