unmarked diamante dress clips

[Pinkcoke]

Since reading Linn's jewellery workshop guides about a month ago I've been searching for a pair of dress clips for the 1930's set production of The Merry Widow I'm performing in and I just found these today.

I would guess they're in the 'retro' style they don't look very old but I couldn't find any mention of when dress clips stopped being produced, the back clip is quite thin and moulded (with the forked shape) which makes me think they're more modern, also the way the larger diamante 'nests' come through onto the reverse.

Any ideas how I would tell what metal they are? only the back does show alot of light scratches but no colour differences so it seems solid something. They are quite shiny you can see the reflection of the clip on the backs in the second scan.

They also have a few stones missing and I felt some are loose - is this expensive to get a jeweller to do or can I do anything myself?

 

[Linn]

Clips were made into the 1950's. I think yours are older - C. 1930's, but they could be 1950's - it's really hard to tell from a photo. It is very easy to replace rhinestones if you know what size you need. The missing ones need to be glued into the cups. You might check to see if there is a resource in the UK - otherwise I recommend buying a mix of sizes and some hypo-cement from www.prettysnazzy.com She offers various mixes of sizes. You want crystal colored rhinestones. I can't tell what type of metal it is from the photo.

You might ask other UK members if there is someone you can send it to - I do this type of repair, and so does prettysnazzy but it is not cost effective for you to send it to me in Hawaii - or to her in the US, either, LOL. I think you can do it yourself.

Good luck and nice find!

 

[Pinkcoke]

Thanks Linn are there any differences I should look out for between 30's & 50's clips?
I have a fabulous man on the bric a brac market near me that keeps a tray of broken jewellery and loose stones just for people to fix things so I'll be heading there first but I didn't know about the glue and that site also stocks some no hole glass beads I need for another pair of arrow shaped pins I must post soon.
Love to know if there is a British version of the glue I can get but I'll ask at the bead shop first.

 

[Linn]

Melanie -

Hard to tell from photos but the clues are the way the stones are mounted, the metal - if it's potmetal but that isn't always a clue and the findings - the clip mechanism itself. This won't help too much because you can't see the clips but this is a 1950's convertible brooch that makes into two dress clips:

You can probably tell it looks newer than yours! Yours may have had a frame to convert it to a brooch, as well - they are frequently lost!

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

I agree with Linn - I would date your dress clips to the '30s, call the metal "silvertone" which basically means a mixture of cheap silver coloured metals and replace the stones yourself. It's not hard, vintage diamante jewellery is very prone to losing stones.