Antique jewelry glossary

Welcome to our extensive antique jewelry glossary with around 1,500 jewelry related entries.If you feel you are missing an explanation, feel free to let us know and we will add it.

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Junk jewelry

A very recent extension of the term costume jewelry that embraces articles made of a great variety of materials, including plastic, glass, base metal, feathers, etc., and consisting of a wide assortment of articles of personal adornment, often of highly original and unusual patterns, but of an inferior quality, ephemeral styles, short life, and cheap productions. Much of it is mass produced or made by amateur craftsmen.

It is generally sold at various types of shops other than jewelry stores. Such articles are not considered to be within the scope of this site.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson