Fine Art Nouveau Jewelry From a Trusted Source

Welcome to Your Jewelry Resource for art nouveau jewelry.  Since their origins, humans have worn jewelry to adorn their bodies, to show their status, to commemorate a special occasion, to show membership in a certain group, or to show the wearer's faith.  Jewelry has been fashioned of everything from shells, feathers and beads to gold, silver and precious stones.

Antique jewelry styles start with Gothic, before the 1600's, and proceed to the 20th century with Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassicism, Empire, Regency, Eclecticism, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Art nouveau was at its peak between 1895 and 1910.  As in Victorian jewelry, flowers and plants were major elements.  In art nouveau jewelry, the elements were formalised and distorted into the basic feature of art nouveau design, the serpentine curve.  Art nouveau had its roots in the Arts and Crafts Movement which rejected the machine age.  Japanese art was another influence.  A very important factor in the development of art nouveau was the emergence of very talented designers who pursued their own ideas, regardless of commercial considerations.

Art nouveau can be taken as a broad term to describe the wave of experimentation throughout America and Europe.  Art nouvequ jewelry could be lushly sensuous or geometric, but it tended to represent waving plant life, rippling hair, or the female form.  Forms which appear again and again are the butterfly and the dragonfly.  A motif much used by Lalique was that of entwined serpents.  Chameleons, lizards, frogs, and birds were represented with brilliant colors.

The movement appeared at the time of the emancipation of women and their changing roles in society.  Art nouveau jewelry was feminine and was no longer worn to announce the status of a husband.  There was a desire to make the material, whatever is was, seem organic.  Opals, moonstones and chalcedony were popular as was horn which was specially treated because it was so brittle.  Much in evidence was enamel, mainly in the form of cloisonne, in which the enamel fills in little cells of metal, or plique a jour, which gives the appearance of a stained glass window.

Liberty's of Regent Street in London fostered the popularity of art nouveau in England.  It also encouraged the Celtic revival.  American art nouveau jewelry was dominated by Tiffany.

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Adin Jewelry is a fine jewelry company specializing in 19th century French antique jewelry, carrying a stock of at least 10,000 items with prices ranging between $300 and $1,000 although it does have pieces starting from $50 and going much higher than $1,000.  They also have Art Deco, Retro, religious and vintage collections, among others.

Their team of experts check every jewel and, where necessary, professionally restore the piece.  Adin also trades in precious metals and is a major buyer of second hand jewelry. They have their own repair and restoration studio and they have an experienced team of master goldsmiths and stone-setters.  Antiques come in mostly by way of their buying shops in Belgium and France and only the very best are selected for sale or restoring.  The rest are passed on to their precious metals department to be processed there.  This assures that the jewelry they sell as antiques is only what their experts consider to be fine examples of its type.

Use the wonderful search tool to find all types of one-of-a kind art nouveau jewelry.  Located in Belgium, they ship to the US by FEDEX for $25.00 with $3.00 added for every extra item in the same parcel.  Import duties may be imposed on items that are not considered antique (100 years or older).

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