1940s Retro Modern Jewelry
World War 2 Jewelry

Find WWII + late 1940's jewels

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Many sterling retro pins are still remarkably underpriced and will prove to be a wise investment for those who want to spend their money and have it too! Throughout WWII, base metals were called in for wartime use, and American costume jewelry manufacturers began to use Sterling for many pieces. Because European trade was blocked, manufacturers had to use whatever rhinestones were on hand, so fewer rhinestones were used, or plastics. This is the only era, from 1942 to 1946, when Grandma wore plastic earrings with sterling findings. Moonglow Lucite became more popular than ever during this time.

We used to wonder why many pieces that are obviously Retro in style--with one big stone--are not marked Sterling. If all the base metal had been called in for use by the military, why are these pins, some of them huge--not sterling? Then we began to test them with our metal tester, and found that many of these are actually very high in silver content, over 800 but not high enough enough to be called Sterling. We will feature them whenever we get them.

During this time other materials were also used in place of imported crystal stones including plastics and even cloth! Notice how the tropical deco styles of the 1930's evolved into the bare, curving bouquets, bows & fans of Retro.

Also popular during the 1940's were figurals and Victorian Revival jewelry, although the Revival pieces tended to be smaller than those big 1930's jewels. Note that especially after the war, Revival jewelry designers did not try to imitate too closely the jewels worn by Victorians. Also, elements of Victoriana were added to retro restyles or restyled altogether.