Classic Pearl Jewellery

Vintage pearl necklaces come in all shapes, sizes and styles. And it can be difficult to decide which style is for you. In this post, I'm going to talk about my classic pearl jewellery range.

Classic Pearl Jewellery

Jewellers have used pearls for centuries, because they retain a sense of sophisticated chic. ​Pearls have been worn by some of the most powerful and iconic women in the world, including Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. As a stylish accessory, it has never gone out of fashion. And by wearing one of my classic pearl necklaces, you can make a stand-out impression among your friends.​

Whether you are looking to make a statement, or for something more playful, my classic range has an option for you. If you are looking for a single string necklace there is my Time​ necklace, or my ​Parisian necklace for those looking for a multi-string option.

The beauty of a classic pearl necklace is that you can pair it with nearly everything, from a casual jacket to a formal dress. The colours are beautifully muted, providing a powerful accent to your outfit.​

​​About my Classic Pearls

I use only the finest man-made pearls in my vintage necklaces. Lovingly hand-strung, I take great care in making sure that my classic pearl necklaces contain pearls that match in size and shade. My classic pearls date back from the 1940s and 1950s, showing a long-lasting quality that means you could be wearing one of my necklaces for years, or decades, to come.

​With a classical styling that has passed the test of time, you can now confidently make a statement of your own.
​​If classic pearls are not your style, take a look at my contemporary pearl necklaces[link] or marriage pearls[link].

​Questions about my Classic Pearl Jewellery

Q. How old are your pearls?
A. My pearls are vintage, dating back to the 1940s and 1950s. I bought them from a Birmingham jewellers around 2001.

Q. How many beads are in a pearl necklace?
A. My vintage pearl necklaces come in different sizes and numbers of strings, so the number of pearls does vary across the collection. In my classic pearl collection, the ​Rich​ has approximate 83 pearls, while at the other end of the spectrum the ​Vicenza Rose has 4 strings of around 137 pearls each.

Q. Why are your single string pearl necklaces only available in a single length?
A. My single string pieces are over 70 years old, and sadly not made to order. I have a limited quantity of these available.

Q. What colours do your classic pearl necklaces come in?
A. My classic pearl collection comes in muted colours. You can find detailed colour descriptions on each product page.

Q. Why do you use modern clasps with your classic pearl jewellery?
A. When you buy a vintage pearl necklace, the pearls should be the eye-catching part of the piece. I've found that a reproduction of a vintage clasp unnecessarily detracts from the beauty of the pearls, which should be the main feature. I use only 14 carat gold or sterling silver clasps, maintaining the same quality throughout the necklace.

About Van Vuuren's Vintage Pearls

Are you looking for the perfect accessory for your outfit? I'm Helena Van Vuuren, founder of Van Vuuren's Vintage Pearls. I specialise in producing beautiful, vintage, man-made pearl jewellery.

Who is Helena Van Vuuren?​

 

​I love my vintage pearls.

I've been working in the jewellery industry for a long time now. I started off working on the diamond mines in South Africa, before going to America to study at the Gemologial Institute of America. In my career I've also served at the British Jewellers Association.


​In 2001 I bought a consignment of vintage, man-made pearls that dated from the early 1940s from a Birmingham jewellery manufacturer. I decided to start a business creating hand-made jewellery that was firmly based on a love of pearls.

​This love of pearls runs through each of the vintage pearl necklaces I make.

​When I'm not hand-stringing a vintage pearl necklace, you can find me growing my own veggies, listening to the Blues, or enjoying a glass of red wine. Even the most ardent pearl-lover needs some time off!

​But enough about me.

"A woman needs ropes and ropes of pearls" Coco Chanel

​You've been looking around at different options for accessorising your outfit, and you want to know if a Van Vuuren vintage pearl necklace can help you finish your look.

Van Vuuren's Vintage Pearl Necklace

 

​​My pearl necklaces offer an exquisite charm.

​Pearls have been worn by some of the most powerful women in history, like Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. Their classic style remains in fashion today.

​And today's prominent women, like Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama, also look to contemporary pearl jewellery to make a statement in front of the camera.

Now you can look as stylish as your icons with one of my man-made, vintage pearl necklaces.

Whether your style is classic or contemporary, I have a beautiful, vintage pearl necklace that will help to warm your complexion and give an air of refinement to your outfit.

​I also sell a range of wedding pearls, for that special occasion where all eyes will be on you.

​Where should I start with Van Vuuren's Vintage Pearls?

 

1. Read my story

​Find out more about me and my vintage pearls.

2. Find me on Facebook 

I share a lot of useful information on social media about pearls. It's also a great way to get in touch.
3. ​Take a look at my vintage pearl necklaces and choose your favourite.
Browse my range of vintage collections of classic pearls, contemporary pearls, and marriage pearls. There’s a beautiful necklace for every occasion.

​Where can I find out more?

 

​You ask, I answer.

​If you can't find the answer to your question on my website, please drop me a line and I'll answer it.

TRUE FAUX VINTAGE PEARLS AND THE WAR YEARS

Always amazed when reading about the war years - rationing - imagine only being allowed one egg a week - having to register with a local shop to be able to use your ration book.  Clothes were rationed and you were allowed one bar of soap a month.  Children did not know what a banana was until after the war ended.  And in spite of all this, we still wanted to dress up and decorate ourselves - 'beauty is essential to human life' - a truism.  Bombs are falling all around you but you still get up, get dressed, apply some lipstick and put on a piece of jewellery. 

There is so much written about jewellery - books and books about expensive diamond, emeralds and other stones set in precious metals.   It appears that there is a concentration on jewellery owned by the 'better off' and the 'wealthy' but what about the vast bulk of the people - the need to feel and look good is not confined to the upper echelons of society.  I read that during the war years more than a million imitation pearl necklaces were shipped to the USA but could not find any reference to quantities shipped to the United Kingdom.  

I can only imagine what it took to be able to buy a pearl necklace during the war years - how did you do it - did you sell part of your rations to do this - what did it cost - what did you go without to be able to do this. These 1940s gals look great ...

Picture Daily Telegraph  - great article   - goo.gl/sQq1eW
 

These two invoices dated 1940 and 1941 show the  quantity of faux pearls that were shipped to one company in the UK.  The notes on the invoices state that 'no silk in the way of ribbon or thread is contained in the shipment' - silk was used for map making for the British Military Intelligence Unit known as MI 9 Source http://www.escape-maps.com/

Women were asked to forego wearing silk during the war so it could be used for parachutes.  'Because things were still being rationed after the war I used parachute silk for the under skirt of my wedding dress.'  Source http://goo.gl/0tNhD



These are the pearls that were in the boxes with the invoices....

 
Many vintage pearls available have a lot of wear and tear - these pearls are still on cotton thread and are in perfect condition. I string the pearls, to order, on silk and finish with a sterling silver lobster claw. 

My 90(now 95) year old mum has a three strand man made pearl necklace that my father gave her for her birthday in 1942 - the pearls were badly worn. I used the original clasp and replaced the pearls - it is great to see how happy this made mum.

For more information about my vintage pearls please see the website http://www.vintagepearls.co.uk

all pearls are limited in number and cannot be repeated the nature of true faux vintage stock - the Heart range started at 210 in total 

To contact me or buy direct, please email me: Helena  info@vintagepearls.co.uk 
 

JACKIE ONASSIS AND FAKE PEARLS

In 1996 Jackie O's famed three-strand fake pearl necklace fetched $211,500 at the auction. 

This is my classic three strand pearl necklace with earrings.
http://goo.gl/07lgv



For more information  http://www.vintagepearls.co.uk/#!

Information source http://goo.gl/40alq
(New York Daily News) 

PEARLS, COCO CHANEL AND THE LITTLE BLACK JACKET

http://youtu.be/SIwmfGbcgRM 



A must have book .....

A must attend exhibition....

A must look at website.....

http://goo.gl/SJlLJ 

www.vintagepearls.co.uk  genuine 1940's graduated pearls


 

PEARLS SUIT ALL AGE GROUPS

When I look back at my last blog the thought that immediately springs to mind is that of a demure, petite and ultra feminine young girl. However femininity is evident at all stages of life and Audrey Hepburn is  probably our most iconic example .......

Pearls are also great FUN and a favourite way to wear mine is with a relaxed  cotton shirt and jeans.  

The pearls in this picture can be found at  www.vintagepearls.co.uk

Facebook has many pages about vintage times and products and if you are in London it is worth having a look at Vintage London:       https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vintage-London/230533016978775

VINTAGE ON THE INTERNET -

Prior to the 'age of the internet' it must have taken a long time to research a subject that one can now access within minutes. I have been a fan of the Forties and Fifties since a very young age and of course the internet has thousands and thousands of pictures and articles of the fashions of that era.  It is quite strange to think that the clothes my mum and sisters wore are now referred to as 'vintage clothes or jewellery or furniture'.

Cameo

  A forties hand crocheted top made by my aunt.  I can recall that everyone I knew could either crochet, knit or sew. It was always exciting to get the latest magazines specially those with dressmaking, crochet and knitting patterns.

Cameo

 Occasionally one would get something from the big shop in your nearest city but there was a special pleasure in making your own clothes. 

This stone coloured top is the perfect complement for the vintage cream coloured pearl choker necklace.  The smallest pearl diameter is  2mm graduating to a centre front pearl of 5mm -  necklace is 41cm long. 






 Many more pearls from the forties and fifties on my website http://goo.gl/SJlLJ

You might enjoy looking at one of my favourite facebook likes - many glamorous pictures of vintage fashions. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boylerpf-Antique-Vintage-Jewelry/105312012718 

SELLING VIA THE INTERNET....

 www.vintagepearls.co.uk

To make the experience of buying my pearls as personal and enjoyable as possible, I use only family owned bits and pieces as props with my photographs and in this way you will get to know me as the person who is selling to you as opposed to a faceless company selling mass produced product on the internet. The internet is a wonderful invention and yes we are able to reach a much bigger market but somehow I feel that the personal touch is missing. 

It took me ages to learn to just hold a camera before I was able to take pictures of my pearls with bits and pieces that belonged to my mum and dad.

For example this picture has my mum's 1940's clutch bag in the background with a Hermes scarf from the 60's.

......here the pearls are laid on my dad's cravat from the 50's.

A picture of my mum at a garden party in the 1950's - her name is Helena and I am proud to be called after her.

INTERESTING BITS ABOUT PEARLS

In the Louvre is one of the oldest pearl necklaces dating back to the fifth century BC which is believed to have belonged to a Persian queen.

Pearls have been used as a form of money and you could pay your taxes in this way.  Pearls have been used to decorate clothing as well as adornment in the shape of earrings, necklaces, tiaras and bracelets.   Nero liked to roll around on a bed of pearls.  Pearls were also used in crowns and thrones and carpets such as the famous bejewelled pearl carpet of Baroda, originally commissioned as a gift for the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad.

Obsession with pearls is well recorded such as Queen Elizabeth 1 who wore her pearls on her deathbed.   Julius Caesar gave Servilia a pearl.  Military campaigns were financed by the sale of pearl earrings.  Caligula gave his horse a string of pearls!   Richard Burton gave Liz Taylor a pearl bought at auction in 1969.

There are some lovely myths associated with pearls such as the one of Lord Krishna who defied the seas to gather pearls for a wedding gift for his daughter.  When banished from Eden, the tears of Eve were pearls according to Hebrew Legend.   Japanese myth  refer to pearls being tears of joy and in another Adam and Eve cried a lake of tears  which were orbs(pearls), more white orbs from Eve than black orbs from Adam because he was more in control of his emotions.   Ancient Christians thought that a shell surfaced the sea to harvest the light of the sun, the stars and the moon to make pearls. Polynesian legend say that the God of Peace and Fertility came to earth on a rainbow to deliver a black pearl to humans in order to promote peace and fertility.  The Chinese thought pearls came with the rain from the spit of fighting dragons.   Pearls are believed to be the Mother Gem of the Sea and as such are sacred to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.

Pearls have fetched large sums of money as for example in November 1999, Christie's Geneva sold a single-strand pearl necklace, which belonged to Marie-Antoinette, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, Arch duchess of Austria and Queen of France, and later by the American Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. Comprising forty-one graduated pearls, measuring approximately 8.50 to 16.35 mm, this superb single-strand necklace sold for a then world record of $1,450,000.

Five years later in November 2004, Christie's Geneva offered a two-strand pearl necklace--double the number of pearls and equal in size to the Marie Antoinette/Hutton necklace--which sold for $3,128,520.

Pearls are evident in many of the great paintings housed in museums and galleries around the world.

Great powers have been attributed to pearls such as bringing love, wealth and prosperity to the wearer.   In therapy pearls are thought to help you in letting go of the past or old ideas that are no longer valid.  

An artist with an eye for  pearls, was the seventeenth-century Dutch master, Johannes Vermeer whose absolute masterwork, 'Girl With the Pearl Earring' captures the precise realism of the gem.

Elizabeth and display of 'pearl mania'!

Link to wealth of further information about pearls:-

http://www.pearl-guide.com/pearl-world-journal.shtml

KNOTS, KNOTTING, THREADS AND KNOTS IN A TWIST

Finding a course in making necklaces.........minefield....reviewed many but found that they were mostly for the hobbyist.  I needed to be able to string my pearls to a professional standard.   Books, videos, networking and asking many questions that were answered reluctantly led me to a point where I could start making my first string of pearls.........

Full time day job and 18 months of evenings and weekends dedicated to my pearl stringing exercise......I had no idea how many ways silk thread could knot itself, snag, break and reduce me to tears of frustration.  Do I wax the thread, different hole sizes and using the wrong thread size,  enlarging holes, finishing a necklace, ends attaching to clasp not even,  having made a knot between each pearl only to find I missed a couple, unable to undo a knot and having to start again, making a decision to make a necklace with no knots separating the individual pearls... wrong decision....learning to gauge the amount of pearls required to produce a necklace of a particular length....16inches or 18inches... smaller diameter pearls versus larger.....calculating the increase in length when putting a knot between each pearl.

By the end of this learning curve, I had acquired glasses,  binocular magnifiers, a whole range of jewellers tools and had probably strung in the region of 600 necklaces.  

So what.......the proof of the success of my efforts will only be evident when I can convert this to a saleable product!