Anybody know about Vintage Crystal Beads?

[i]Originally posted by BeadBraker [/i]
[B]Hi all.

I found these beads under my bed last night….I have some old stuff under there. These beads are from my great grandmother, who died in 1975 or so. I believe she was born around 1900 give or take….will have to ask my mom. I was wondering if these are “vintage” beads, whatever that is.

Do you think they are Swarovski or something kind of crystal? They are a beautiful pinky fuschia color…the strand is string, knotted every 4th bead or so. The clasp is discolored, but may be silver. I have no tarnex at the moment.

Just wondering if anyone here is knowledgeable about vintage beads, and can tell me anything.

Nancy B in IL [/B]

Hi, Nancy

I have spent a lot of time with vintage crystal. What I would guess (without seeing them in person, it’s harder to say) is that some of them are probably austrian crystal (the lighter pink ones, and the clear spacers) and the larger facetted beads in the middle of the necklace may be cut glass.

The difference between crystal and cut glass is that crystal has lead added to it, which gives it more sparkle and clarity. The reason I am guessing that the larger beads are cut glass is because they have so many facets on them. Austrian Crystal (and many of that vintage were made by Swarovski) usually doesn’t have quite so many facets, and one of the ways to tell crystal is that the end, around the hole, is FLAT, and usually more dull looking than the crystal. If you can pull the middle bead away from the stringing material just a bit, you may be able to see the edge around the hole, and figure out whether it’s cut glass or crystal.

One other thing to look at is whether or not the larger beads could be molded or “pressed” glass. Crystal has very sharp, crisp cut edges on the facets, while molded glass will have rounded edges on each of the “facets”. Beads made from a mold will also usually have slight “mold marks”, meaning, there will be a ridge running from hole to hole on two sides of the beads, from where it was pressed into a mold.

If you want to find out for sure, why don’t you take these to an antique store – they are usually pretty knowledgeable about such things. These crystal necklaces were very common and popular from the 1940’s & 1950’s, however, those lovely colors of pink are more unusual. These were not sold as fine jewelry, but rather as nice costume jewelry. The chances are that the metal findings in the necklace are not gold or silver.

This looks like a lovely necklace ! Congratulations on finding jewels under you bed !

Schermo

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