Interest in 19th c jewelry is growing these days. Could it be because we're in a new millennium now and the jewelry seems older to us? Those Victorian days are getting away from us... and sooner or later the jewelry from that era will be harder and harder to obtain.
During the 1930's it wasn't very popular and thought to be in shocking taste. With the passage of time, the jewelry begins to look more and more antique and has found favor again. During World War II it was impossible to buy new jewelry and this turned the attention of many women to second-hand shops where to their astonishment they found beautiful Victorian brooches, bracelets and rings.
One sad consequence of this renewed popularity of Victorian era jewelry has been that inferior imitations are cropping up everywhere, and the collector has to distinguish between the genuine and the fake. The more you look at genuine Antique jewelry, the more you'll be able to recognize the imitiations.
During Victoria's reign which was about 60 years, everyone wore jewelry following the example of the Queen. They wore more jewelry than we do today - especially on their heads. One look in an old Godey's Magazine will show you the various ways the women wore their hair up and adorned it with jewelry.
There are many objects that aren't exactly considered jewelry but are very collectible. Buckles and clasps, links and studs, châtelaines, jewelled belts, fan holders, bouquet holders and lorgnettes.
The Victorian era was a time of quick changing fashions and you can see the changes in the appearance of the jewelry from decade to decade. There are three main periods that stand out in the transition of the jewelry; The Early Victorian or Romantic Period (1837 - 1860); The mid-Victorian or Grand Period (1860-1885) and lastly7 the The Late Victorian or Aesthetic Period (1885 - 1901).
The fads of the Victorian were no different than ours today. There was novelty jewelry that went quickly in and out of fashion. In the 1860's flies under crystal were popular; in the 1870's earrings in the shapes of hammers, tongs or ladders; and in the 1880's Locomotives were worn.
Another thing I noticed is that young children today don't wear jewelry as they did in the 19th century. I've come across some beautiful little bracelets, lockets and rings that you don't see our children wearing. I often wonder how the children from that era kept the rings on their little fingers or the bracelets from being plucked off!
One last thing on the subject of Victorian jewelry that might interest you. Miniatures were much used as clasps for bracelets or as centers of brooches. The Queen liked to wear a bracelet which was made up of linked miniatures of all her children, and the bridesmaids of Princess Alexandra gave her a bracelet containing miniatures, on her marriage to the Prince of Wales. Towards the end of the 1800's it became fashionable for couples to exhange miniatures. The girl's portrait, framed in pearls, was worn by the man, attached to his watch-chain. The man's miniatures, framed in diamonds and pearls, was worn as a locket by the girl.
Brooches during the Victorian era were often formed as a hollow structure known as holloware. This was done partly to reduce the cost but also to reduce the weight - heavy brooches cause damage to delicate fabrics and tend to sag on the material. When you feel a piece of holloware you are aware of it's light weight, however, you might also notice the presence of tiny breather holes in the back - this allowed soldering to be carried out when the when the piece was being made. The problem with holloware is that is was very often made using very thin metal so it was easily dented and crushed. Very few pieces survived in mint condition. Also there was a tendency for the metal to tear around the stress points of the hinge and latch. This type of damage is difficult to repair. 
