Collection: Vintage Earrings

The term vintage earrings applies to a wide range of pieces typically more than 20 years old and back to the Georgian period in the early 1700s. The term vintage refers not only to the age of a jewel, but also to the specific era of design including the Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Retro, and mid-century periods of the 1950s and 60s. Beladora features hundreds of pieces from all these eras and the finest makers, including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Tiffany and more.

Under the category of vintage are found antique earrings which are generally identified as 100 years of age or more. Vintage and antique earrings feature designs, quality material and attention to detail often missing in mass-manufactured items of today. Rarity, painstaking workmanship and intricate design work are the hallmarks of vintage earrings representing the originality and quality of a bygone age.

Authenticating jewelry requires nuanced expertise. Many thousands of pieces of jewelry from every era and every maker have passed through our hands for over 40 years. This familiarity enables us to know what a piece should look and feel like, if it has the expected quality of material and workmanship, if the metal and makers marks are correct and if the expected signature is authentic.

As a first step, we look at the front and back of every bracelet, ring or brooch, turning it over in our hands to see that the workmanship on the reverse is as fine as the detail on the front. Using a loupe, the jeweler’s essential tool, we look carefully at many different touch points, some of which include examining the precision with which diamonds are mounted in their settings, the manner in which gold or platinum links are connected to each other, the fineness of the material, the quality of the azuring - a difficult and refined aspect of metalwork and lastly, the flawlessness of the polish.

If we have any doubts whatsoever as to authenticity, we submit the piece to the relevant firm, be it Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Verdura, David Webb and others. We also request the original bill of sale, box and papers for those items most commonly faked such as Cartier Love brackets and VCA Alhambra pieces. And just as banks know their customers, we, too, ensure we know enough about our clients to assure ourselves of their ownership and provenance.

Our team of GIA-certified jewelry experts has such a well-regarded reputation in the international jewelry industry that we are frequently called upon to advise auction houses, appraisers and other dealers in matters of authenticity and value.