Pot Metal Jewelry the Workhorse of the 30's

                                                                             

This blog entry falls close to my own interest. I personally happen to love and collect to a small extent myself pot metal jewelry. I rarely keep a piece because of course I am in the business of selling, but every once in a while one whispers to me, 'Go ahead it won't hurt just this once to keep me.' and when one actually whispers to me well what are you going to do you can't possibly sell talking jewelry to unsuspecting customers that would just be wrong.

Pot Metal is a mix of many things and it is never a exact science. It seems that was the attraction at the time, what ever was on hand was pretty much used as long as it was not a precious metal it went into the  melting pot. You may well find zinc, lead, copper,tin, magnesium,aluminum, iron and cadmium in pot metal. I do not recommend you ever put it into your mouth, I have never heard of a issue from it but just don't.

Pot Metal is referred to by some interesting names , base metal, white metal which of course refers to its pewter like light toned coloring, and even for some strange reason monkey metal. I have never found out the reasoning behind this name.

Pot metal was useful because it was easily cast in molds so jewelry manufacturers were pleased with the low cost and the ease of use. The war effort was funneling most of their previously used metals into support for troops and weapons. When I look at a piece of pot metal jewelry I see a time when a entire country worked together and unselfishly gave up many things to support their troops and country. It was a amazing time.

Jewelry designers camouflaged pot metal with enamel and rhinestones. Many of the pieces of this era are beautifully enameled and set with stones.

At times manufacturer's would finish a piece with a thin coating of gold such as vermeil or silver plate. The finish often wore away fairly quickly and you will find these majestically beauties in a half dressed manner at flea markets waiting for someone to recognize that they are indeed truly still lovely. (The huge three dimensional floral brooch is one such as this, its finish is wearing away yet it is still beautiful. Please see the photo on this blog).

Many dress clips are made of pot metal when you pick them up you will notice the heavy weight they are for the size that they appear, a good indication of pot metal. Flip them over and if the back is a soft pewter gray in color you most likely are holding a pot metal piece.

Often Pot Metal is over looked in the race to purchase vintage jewelry, but it should be one of the first stops, it is a foundation stone in vintage jewelry and there are many unique and fine examples just waiting for you to find them.

Look carefully, They are subject to pitting , cracking and breakage. Misguided dealers buy enamel paint and repaint the enamel on any damaged areas often disastrously. It is better to have a few chips in the enamel than to have some gloppy hobby paint on the piece making it look flawless. If you want to have flawless enamel you can send it to be re enameled by a person that knows what they are doing.

If you have any questions please let me know I will try to answer them. Thank you for reading my blog. Blueheeler309

And So We Begin With a Ending

                                         

What in heavens name would you want with that old dirty jewelry? My mother asked. I am throwing it away she insisted and started towards the kitchen and the garbage can. I intercepted her and the box in her hands and removed it gently.

Let me look through them first please I said you never know what might me in there. There could be some good things that you don't know you have.

Cleaning Moms apartment after 20 years of living there alone after Dad had passed away was a daunting task. The small efficiency apartment was only 4 rooms and  3 hallway closets but it was fully stocked with twenty years of living. We had sorted and packed and called a auction company and hauled to my house what we had room for and donated items to Goodwill and there were still things. I put the brakes on at tossing jewelry however. I have sold vintage jewelry online for several years now and will walk a mile to look at a piece of vintage jewelry that is missing half of its rhinestones just because I love vintage jewelry. After all you never know you just might see something unique when you get there. Many times I have.

When I began to go through Mom's collection there were many many items from Avon. I remember Mrs. Sam's our Avon lady mom must have been a very good customer of hers and she must have purchased quite a goodly amount of Avon jewelry down through the years. I set it aside to keep. There were several sets of Sarah Coventry in excellent condition. There was a Victorian collar pin with branch coral that I saved back that was surely gold fill, and a heart shaped pendant of mother of pearl that looked to be 1930's era with hallmarks on the back I was not familiar with, I would send it into my service that helps me to hunt down elusive makers marks. I could find no Sterling mark on the piece but it certainly looked like sterling so I will acid test it. I imagine it was her mothers.

Mom is 87 and is having memory problems and is moving in with me, we have lived together for over a month now. She is not hard to live with, mostly hard of hearing and forgetful. We all have our problems. I have lupus so can sympathize with her and not become too impatient.

I also find a Trifari Crown brooch and literally dozens of the crocheted beaded rope necklaces that Mom made herself when I was a kid. they are around 30 years old or 35 now. I remember watching her string the beads and then crochet them at night while watching Lawrence Welk, Hee Haw, Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, and many other old shows similar to those. She wants to throw them away but I tell her that we will try them in my stores and see what happens. She looks at me like I have lost my mind.

I save everything and she mutters under her breath about a bunch of useless junk. She has become tired of sorting and packing and has started to want to just throw everything away.

Stay tuned to this blog. We will discuss vintage jewelry designers and the types of jewelry they are most well known for,how to care for your vintage jewelry. What to watch for when buying vintage. Updates on what has happened with moms stash of jewelry. and if you have any questions you can post them and I will do my best to answer them. Hopefully this will be a fun and informative blog for all of us.

Thank you for reading. Blueheeler309