Vintage Costume Earrings
Vintage costume earrings bring immediate colour and character to an outfit, offering bold design from past decades without the weight of precious stones.
Vintage Costume Earrings
When you search for vintage costume earrings, you encounter an array of styles spanning the nineteenth century through to the nineteen-fifties. The selection here leans heavily towards nineteen-twenties Art Deco designs and nineteen-thirties modernist pieces.
Earrings appear alongside matching jewellery sets, parures, necklaces and brooches. The forms include screwback fittings, clip-ons and drops designed for non-pierced or pierced lobes alike.
Materials and construction
Maker workshops utilised silver, gold plating and chrome alongside synthetic materials like bakelite, phenolic resin and green glass. Metal settings securely hold paste glass, rhinestones, marcasite and faux pearls.
Construction methods vary from cast and plated metal bases to hand-set stones and screwback mechanisms. Enamel work and applied colour add surface detail to geometric silver and chrome frames.
Vintage Costume Earrings Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical asking prices for vintage costume earrings among the pieces listed under this phrase on Sellingantiques today, from the lower quarter to the upper quarter. They describe what is for sale here now, not the wider market.
The selection includes nineteen-twenties Art Deco pieces alongside nineteen-fifties parures featuring paste glass, rhinestones and faux pearls.
Assessing quality and craftsmanship
The distinction between tiers rests on the precision of stone setting and the integrity of the metalwork. Higher quality examples display securely pronged paste glass and crisp casting in silver or chrome.
Design execution separates standard production from finer modernist or branded pieces. Marked designer items and complex multi-stone parures exhibit greater attention to proportion and finish.
Christian Dior
The Vintage Costume Earrings Glossary
- Paste glass
- Faceted lead glass cut and polished to imitate gemstones such as sapphire, amethyst or diamond. It is set into silver or metal mounts.
- Screwback
- An ear-fitting mechanism utilising a threaded screw to adjust tension on the lobe. This design predates modern clip-on and pierced fasteners.
- Parure
- A matching set of jewellery containing items such as a necklace, earrings, brooch and bracelet. These sets were designed to be worn together for formal occasions.
- Marcasite
- Small faceted pieces of iron pyrite polished and set closely into silver. It produces a dark, metallic sparkle characteristic of antique jewellery.
- Bakelite
- An early form of synthetic plastic used extensively during the nineteen-thirties. It often appears paired with chrome in modernist geometric drop designs.
Vintage Costume Earrings: Frequently Asked Questions
How do screwback earrings work?
Screwback earrings feature a small threaded screw attached to the back of the finding. Turning the screw adjusts the pressure against the earlobe until the piece holds securely without requiring a piercing.
This mechanism allowed jewellers to create substantial drop and button designs for non-pierced ears throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
What is a jewellery parure?
A parure is a matched set of jewellery intended to be worn together. Sets typically include earrings paired with a necklace, brooch or bracelet using identical stones and metals.
Finding a complete set from the mid-twentieth century provides a cohesive look created by a single design house or workshop.
How do I identify Art Deco earrings?
Art Deco earrings feature geometric shapes, symmetrical lines and a strong architectural influence. They frequently utilise chrome, silver, bakelite and coloured paste glass.
These pieces date predominantly from the nineteen-twenties and nineteen-thirties, reflecting the modern industrial aesthetic of the period.
Are these earrings for pierced ears?
Many vintage pairs utilise non-pierced mechanisms such as screwbacks and clip-on fasteners. Earlobes in past decades were rarely pierced in the same volume as today.
Check the listing description to confirm whether a pair uses screwbacks, clips or traditional posts for pierced lobes.