Antique Turquoise Earrings
Antique turquoise earrings bring together vivid blue stones and period metals, offering a distinct flash of colour across Victorian and Edwardian designs.
Antique Turquoise Earrings
When you search for antique turquoise earrings, you encounter items defined by drop forms, clusters, and drops incorporating pearl accents. The pieces here span the Victorian, Edwardian, and mid-century eras, featuring dangling teardrops, floral motifs, and horseshoe designs.
The selections vary from simple hook earrings to elaborate parures and suites that include matching pendants and rings. Victorian iterations frequently pair gold and silver settings with rich blue stones, whilst Edwardian examples lean towards delicate floral drops.
Materials and construction
These items utilise turquoise alongside gold, silver, 14ct gold, 15ct gold, and 18ct gold settings. Pearl, seed pearl, diamond, and paste stones frequently accompany the main turquoise elements in cluster and drop configurations.
Makers employed mounting techniques that combined silver and gold, particularly during the nineteenth century, alongside screw-back, screw-on, and hook fastenings for the ears.
Listings include items from Victorian, Edwardian, and mid-century periods, utilising gold, silver, pearls, and turquoise matrix.
Assessing quality and craftsmanship
Quality rests in the matching and saturation of the turquoise stones, the weight of the gold or silver mountings, and the intricacy of the metalwork. Pieces showing detailed Etruscan Revival wirework or integrated natural turquoise matrix stand apart from simpler iterations.
The integrity of the setting, whether gold, silver, or combined metal, influences the overall character of the jewellery, alongside the survival of companion pieces in parure sets.
The Antique Turquoise Earrings Glossary
- Parure
- A matched set of jewellery, typically comprising earrings, a necklace, and a brooch or ring, designed to be worn together. Such suites appear frequently in Victorian collections.
- Turquoise Matrix
- Stone that retains portions of the host rock, showing dark web-like veins running through the blue material. This variety appears in Arts and Crafts pieces.
- Etruscan Revival
- A nineteenth-century style inspired by ancient archaeological discoveries, characterised by granulation and fine wirework on gold. It defines several pieces in this category.
- Drop Earrings
- A style where the main decorative element hangs below the earlobe rather than sitting directly upon it. These often take teardrop or floral shapes.
Antique Turquoise Earrings: Frequently Asked Questions
What periods do these earrings cover?
The pieces span the Victorian and Edwardian eras, extending into mid-century designs from the 1950s and 1960s.
Victorian items often feature heavier gold and silver settings, whilst Edwardian examples favour lighter floral drops.
Are these earrings made of solid gold?
The listings include items fashioned from various gold standards, including 9ct, 14ct, 15ct, and 18ct gold, sometimes paired with silver.
Certain pieces utilise combined gold and silver settings, a traditional technique for mounting stones during the nineteenth century.
How do these fasten to the ear?
Fastenings vary across the selection, encompassing traditional hooks, screw-back fittings, and screw-on studs.
These mechanisms reflect the period of manufacture and the specific weight of the drop or cluster.