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This presentation features some of my collection of vintage costume jewelry. The collection was begun about 20 years ago after I had pretty much completed my acquisition of sterling flatware (I had all the forks and spoons I needed) and my collection of George Shiebler medallion and aesthetic silver (because they were now beyond my budget). Around that time I discovered how beautiful vintage costume jewelry could be. And it was affordable.

At first, I bought anything pretty. Then I decided to focus on getting a "collection" of like-minded pieces. First I focused on beautiful bow pins. Then I fell in love with enamel and pave pieces because of the exuberance in their design and colors. As so often happens within these collections, there developed some sub-categories, and one of those was pieces made of sterling silver.

Prior to the US entry into WW II, costume jewelry was mostly made of alloys composed of metals such as copper, tin, zinc and nickel. But, after the US entered the war, those metals were needed for war materials, so costume jewelry manufacturers began using sterling silver in place of the alloys. Thus, for a short period of about 5 years - 1942 through 1947 - some of the most beautiful jewelry was produced using sterling silver. This slide-show shares the small portion of my pin collection which is from that era.