This vintage costume jewelry glossary page contains the vintage jewelry vocabulary used in the vintage jewelry industry. I hope it will help make your vintage jewelry collecting more enjoyable.


AURORA BOREALIS (AB) STONES OR BEADS

Stones or beads coated with an iridescent finish that shines rainbow colors. Aurora borealis means northern lights. This coating technique began in 1955.

ART DECO JEWELRY

Art Deco jewlery has geometrical design of lines and angles and is originated in Paris, France. The Art Deco era is between mid-1910's through mid-1920's .

ART NOUVEAU JEWELRY

Art Nouveau jewelry has curves with naturalistic themes. Art Nouveau era is around 1895 through around 1910.

BAKELITE JEWELRY

Jewelry made from bakelite plastic. Bakelite jewelry is molded, carved or extruded. Sometimes the color is inlaid into another to make interesting designs. Polka dots are common design in bakelite jewelry. Bakelite plastic is made from formaldehyde and carbolic acid. Bakelite, also known as catalin, was patented by L. H. Baekland in 1907.

BAROQUE PEARLS/STONES

Pearls or stones that have irregular surface.

BEZEL SETTING

The stone is secured in a stripe of metal without prongs.

BRILLIANT CUT STONES

Brilliant cut stones have twice as much faceting to maximize the sparkles of the stones.

BUGLE BEADS

Bugle beads are long glass tube beads.

BUTTERFLY WING JEWELRY

Jewelry made from real butterfly wings where a picture is depicted and then encased in plastic or glass.

CABOCHON

A smooth surface, round or oval domed stone without facets.

CAMEO

A relief carving on a shell or stone where the design comes up above the surface. It is the opposite of intaglio where the design is carved into the surface.

CELLULOID JEWELRY

Celluloid jewelry is plastic jewelry made from cellulose, the oldest plastics invented in 1869. It is flammable and can be damaged by moisture.

CHATON

A stone that has a foil backing.

CUT BEADS

Faceted glass beads to enhance reflectiveness and glitters.

DOG COLLAR

Multistrand choker fits snuggly around the neck.

DAMASCENE JEWELRY

Jewelry done in a damascening technique where the soft metal like copper or silver is inlaid into hard metal such as steel. Damascening technique was first used in the city of Damascus.

DUETTE

A duette is a pin that has two matching parts. It can be worn as one larger pin or as two smaller pins.

EMAIL

No, no, no..., it is not what you get from the internet! Email is French for enamel.

ENAMEL

Powdered glass fused onto metal.

FANCY CUT

Stones cut into unusual shapes. For example, heart, triangle, kite, half moon, etc.

FIGURAL JEWELRY

Jewelry made to look like real objects such as animals, instruments, ballerina, flowers, etc.

FINDINGS

Parts used in making jewelry.

FLUER DE LIS

Fleur de lis means flower of the lily. Fleur de lis design is used in some jewelry.

FOILED STONE

A stone that has a silver or gold colored metallic foil backing to enhance sparkles. When the foil is damaged by moisture, it dulls the stone (a dead stone). You find foiled stones mostly in old jewelry.

FRENCH JET

Jet is a black cabochon cut stone used in mourning jewelry in the Victorian era (1837-1901). It is light weight but hard and lustrous. Black glass are sometimes made to look like jet but glass is a more hefty and harder than jet.

FRUIT SALAD JEWELRY

Fruit Salad jewelry is set with molded glass or plastic stones. They can be transparent or translucent and are often colorful.

GIVRE STONE/BEAD

A stone or bead made of clear glass fused with colored patterns.

GRADUATED NECKLACE

A necklace that is strung with larger pearls or beads in the front and then tapered into smaller pearls or beads towards the back.

HASKELL STYLE JEWELRY

Jewelry that resembles Miriam Haskell jewelry.

HAMMERED METAL

The metal has rugged crater patterns from being hammered.

INTAGLIO

A form of carving method where the motiff is carved into the surface.

JAPANNED

The metal of the piece is black from a black lacquer finish.

JULIANA JEWELRY

Juliana jewelry is a style of jewelry. Juliana is not a designer or maker. Ardent vintage costume jewelry collectors love Juliana jewelry because of its gorgeous colorful stones, hefty showy designs and superb quality. Juliana jewelry typically features navette, large marquise and round stones and also aurora borealis stones to add colors and sparkles. Some feature kite cut, pear shaped stones and dangle faceted crystal beads. Juliana style jewelry was manufactured in the 50's and 60's. The early Juliana jewelry might not have aurora borealis stones. Juliana jewelry is not signed as only paper hanging tags were used. Most juliana pieces no longer have the paper hanging tags. Juliana bracelets typically are five links. The early ones could have six links. Some Juliana necklaces also have a five link design in the center piece. Juliana jewelry is well-constructed and heavy in weight. Juliana jewelry is highly collectible and sought after. Therefore, it commands very high prices and will continue to rise in prices. Mr. Frank DeLizza, the son of Mr. William DeLizza. Mr. William DeLizza was one of the two founders of the DeLizza and Elster factory (D&E) who named his jewelry after his mother's first name, Juliana.

JULIANA STYLE JEWELRY

Jewelry that resembles Juliana jewelry.

LOCKET

A pendant that holds a photo, strand of hair or any small sentimental object.

LUCITE

A type of transparent plastics patented in 1941 by the Dupont company.

MARCASITE

A metallic faceted stone made from iron pyrite.

MATINEE LENGTH NECKLACE

A single pearl strand necklace between 22" to 23" in length.

MICROMOSAIC JEWELRY

Jewelry made of very small pieces of ornate colorful tiles.