This issue of the collectiblejewels.com newsletter, is primarily going to focus on the jewelry of the 1940's. My mother was in her 20's during this period and so this newsletter is dedicated to her and her love of jewelry and it's a thank you for passing on to me, the appreciation of it all! Being an avid collector of 1940's Retro Stylized Jewelry for many years, I'll admit I've often sat on the floor and just looked over my own personal array of bracelets, pins, necklaces and earrings and sat dreaming about the era. According to an article in Colliers, December 15, 1943: "American Women are crazy over jewelry. They spend a billion three-hundred million a year on it. The young girls are buying tiny jeweled pins to fasten on very demure velvet neckbands. One store reports a brisk sale of butterfly cutouts for a suntan, or inititals will be cut in the anklet.....
All you have to do is walk into that old copycat, the five-and-ten. There you'll see sophisticated sunbursts, and dome-shaped earrings and bracelets, replicas of the costly gold ones that are popularly studded with chips of turquoise, diamond and ruby. Elegant, not gaudy, is the word. " |
In the 1940s a design was introduced called "Retro Modern," that featured flamboyant curves and bows in large pieces of jewelry. Yellow, pink and even green gold was used in this jewelry, along with unusual mixtures of colored gemstones. In 1943, gold jewelry with a greenish color became more popular than gold jewelry with a reddish or pink color because the red tint came from copper which was scarc and the greenish color came from silver which was not.  Some of the most gorgeous pieces I've seen from this period are those with the stones having an open back. Glass stones from Austria, Czechoslovakia and Germany were no longer in abundance during this time so may items were made with a single stone and in sterling or goldfilled settings.
This pin is a 1940's Sterling Floral pin (Gold over sterling) emerald glass stone pin. This measures 3" x 1-1/2" and is huge, which is why many women today wear these on winter coats as opposed to a light dress.
1940's Chatelaine Brooches
These "Double Brooches" were often called Chatelaine Pins because of the likeness the the Victorian and earlier Chatelaines - These were pins that were worn to help keep track of keys to all the doors in the house, a change purse to pay door deliveries, sewing accessories for emergencies, and various other items used in daily routines. Today a Chatelaine consists of two brooches with pin backs. Each brooch has a ring where one or more chains connect the two brooches together. These were very fashionable in the 1940's. Chatakeubs 
These pins were produced by Harry Iskin, Van Dell, Coro, Trifari; some gold plated, others goldfilled or sterling.
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Novelty Chatelaine Brooches
Novelty jewelry was also very popular during the 1940's. These Double Brooches or Pins were a fun wear... Women walking their dog Pins, Sword and Crown Pins, Mother and Baby Birds, just to name a few.
Some of these were decorated with enamel and rhinestones, while others were just simple and made of sterling silver with no stones.
1940's Link Bracelets
One of the things that I personally collect are the vermeil or goldfilled link bracelets with the stones in them. I've got them by many different designers and some of the unmarked ones are just as lovely. Some of the designs have a nouveau or deco look to them. Some of the designers include Simmons, Sturday, Rhythm, Van Dell, Symmetalic, wRe, Harry Iskin, PRSTCo (Providence Stock Co) and others. 
This bracelet above is by PRST Co and was sold as a set with what looks to be a link out of the bracelet, but is in fact a Pendant. These type of bracelets came in many stone colors which made them a fun thing to collect! Some of these bracelets had every other link with a floral motif or a stone in the center of flowers was a popular design as well.
Not only did these bracelets come with colored glass stones, they came with glass molded cabs with designs such as scarabs and also stones such as jade or onyx were implemented. Many of these bracelet designs look to be based on the 1920's slave bracelets which were merely link bracelets.
Below is an ad for the Slave Bracelets from S. Kind and Sons in Philadelphia. Their prices were from $2.00 to $3.50 each and they came in sterling silver - some chased, others with enameled black or turquoise - some with jade or sardonyx rings.
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