Antique Necklaces
Neck-worn jewellery from roughly 1800 to 1960: gem-set pendants on chains, pearl strands, lockets, crosses and long guard chains, made for everyday and occasion wear.
What Are Antique Necklaces?
The commonest thing you'll meet is a gold pendant on a chain, titled by its metal and its stone. Gold appears in over half of all titles and 9ct is the house standard, so the run of "9ct gold amethyst pendant necklace" and its cousins in diamond, opal, garnet, peridot, sapphire and blue topaz sets the tone for the category.
Pearl strands make up the next block, single through to five-strand, where the clasp is often the only hallmarked part and so carries the metal and the date. After that come chains sold to be worn as chains: curb, belcher, trombone and book link, plus repurposed pocket-watch Alberts still wearing their T-bars and dog clips.
Two smaller pockets sit alongside. Mid-century Scandinavian silver and enamel, Danish above all, is far better represented in what has already sold on Sellingantiques than in current stock. Then the non-precious side: paste rivières, amber, coral, jet, agate, jade, glass beads, Bakelite and galalith.
The dating is worth reading carefully. Dealer dates run 1800 to 1960, and the profile has two humps: the 1960s and 1950s together outnumber the Victorian entries, with Edwardian sitting high too. Much of that is period label rather than year, and titles mix the labels freely.
Where The Range Splits
Metal does most of the work. 9ct and silver cluster through the low and middle of the range, while 18ct, 18k and platinum recur among the highest-priced pieces. Weight follows the same line: stated weights run from a pendant of a few grams up to a 67.4g gold Albert chain and a 48g Italian gold fringe.
Above that, the top of the range is almost entirely pieces that quote numbers. Named stone weights, from a fraction of a carat to 11.79ct of diamonds or 48.34ct of aquamarine, and gem-lab reports on pearl strands. Natural and saltwater pearls sit well above cultured and simulated ones, and simulated pearl is where the bottom of the category lives, alongside paste and small silver.
Scale and attribution fill in the rest. More strands and greater length push a piece upward, from 13-inch chokers to guard chains of 56, 59, 62 and 70 inches. A necklace attributed to an Arts and Crafts or Art Nouveau maker, a Danish silversmith or a twentieth-century house sits above the anonymous 9ct pendant runs.
Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for necklaces, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
9ct is the gold most often named in necklace titles on Sellingantiques. 15ct, a British fineness dropped in 1932, still turns up in over a hundred.
The Antique Necklaces Glossary
- 9ct, 15ct, 18ct
- Gold fineness in carats out of 24. 9ct is named in 540 titles, 18ct in 131, and 15ct in 132 - a British standard dropped in 1932, which makes it a useful shortcut for dating.
- Pendant
- A drop or ornament suspended from a chain. After 'gold', it's the commonest word in these titles, in 775 of them.
- Clasp
- The fastening. On pearl and bead necklaces it is often the only hallmarked part, so the clasp is what tells you the metal and the date.
- Seed pearl
- Very small natural pearl used in clusters and borders. Named in 88 titles and typical of Edwardian work.
- Lavalier
- An Edwardian pendant of one or two gem drops hung from a fine chain, often asymmetric. Also spelled lavaliere, and sold as a négligé.
- Plique-à-jour
- Translucent enamel set in open cells with no backing, so light passes through it. An Art Nouveau signature in this material.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common type of antique necklace?
A gold pendant on a chain, described by its metal and its stone. 'Pendant' appears in 775 titles and 'gold' in 993, and the 9ct-gold-plus-single-gem formula runs right through the low and middle of the range.
Amethyst, diamond, opal, garnet, peridot, sapphire, ruby and blue topaz are the stones that keep coming back.
Why are so many listed as Victorian or Edwardian?
Those are dealer categories rather than dates. 'Edwardian' sits in 268 listings and 'Victorian' in 220, and sampled titles mix them freely, with a Victorian title against an Edwardian date field and the other way round.
The dated field itself spans 1800 to 1960 across 1,053 listings. Georgian pieces appear only in the samples, given as around 1800.
Are mid-century necklaces included in this category?
Yes, and in quantity. The 1960s account for 273 listings and the 1950s 236, which together outnumber the Victorian entries.
A lot of that is Scandinavian silver and enamel. 'Danish silver' is in 81 titles, with Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish work alongside it, and the group is better represented in the archive than in current stock.
What does a hallmark on the clasp tell you?
On pearl and bead necklaces the clasp is frequently the only precious-metal part, so it carries the hallmark. 'Clasp' appears in 165 titles, mostly on strands.
That means the metal and date given in a pearl listing usually belong to the fastening rather than to the beads themselves.
How long can these necklaces be?
The spread is wide. Sampled guard and longuard chains reach 56, 59, 62 and 70 inches, originally made for a watch or eyeglass.
At the other end, gold chain chokers come in at 13 inches. Pearl strands run single, double, triple and, in one sampled case, five.
Why do watch chains appear among the necklaces?
Because they're sold to be worn as necklaces. 'Albert' is in 67 titles and 'watch' in 60, often complete with T-bars and dog clips, making this a real sub-trade within the category.
The heaviest sampled one came in at 67.4g of 9ct gold.