Vintage and Antique Charms - Antique Vintage Gallery

Collecting Vintage Charms

Do you like to collect vintage and antique charms? Or do you make jewelry with vintage charms? Whether you are a collector just for fun, or a serious maker of jewelry, vintage charms are an exciting, diverse, and fascinating collectible.

There are so many varieties of vintage and antique charms to choose from. Charms have been made from metals for decades including pewter, gold, silver, platinum, copper, and brass, but you can also find charms made from other substances like ivory, glass, and stone.

And then you need to decide what subject you are collecting. Charms have been made of just about every shape imaginable like animals, shoes, flowers, the list is just too long to even begin.

Vintage Gold and Gold Plated Charms

Several decades ago, gold was not quite as expensive as it is today, and many vintage charms were made from gold. My mother has a gold charm bracelet with charms from her travels that she collected over several years time. This is typical of charm bracelets, each charm representing an event or occasion. In my mother’s case, her bracelet’s charms represent the places that she visited.

My grandmother had a gold charm bracelet that had a charm representing each of her grandchildren, that were engraved with our birthdates. However, the charms do not have to be on a bracelet. Each charm can be a necklace or earring in itself, representing something new to each person.

Vintage Gold Charms

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Vintage Silver Charm

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Vintage Copper Charm

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Vintage Letter Charm

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Antique Charms

Making charms for jewelry is not a new technique. Charms have been made for centuries in one form or another. Charms were worn for various reasons that went way beyond decoration or jewelry. Antique charms were often made to ward off the evil spirit, to offer continued health or luck to the wearer, or to embue the wearer with other properties.

Metal has been known as a conductor of electricity in the last hundred years or so, but before that it contained properties that would make it useful for many religions and belief systems to use for protection against evil or giving the wearer a small bit of the holy spirit to carry around with them.

But even if you only desire to collect charms for their beauty, you will find many lovely antique charms available.

Antique Gold Charm

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Antique Silver Charms

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Antique Brass Charms

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Embellished Antique and Vintage Charms

While you are searching for antique and vintage charms, don’t forget that many charms have been embellished with decorations layered on top of the metal, most often enamel. Enamel is baked onto the metal, gold, silver, or copper, and creates a layer of glass containing color and designs.

Enamel is an old technique, and one that lasts for many years, so you many find some antique charms that are still in perfect condition from the time that they were made. A great place to search for antique and vintage charms is on Ebay. I have put several different links to charms on this page, but you can follow the links and continue the search on Ebay.

There are many reputable dealers on Ebay that will sell the vintage and antique charms to you in large lots or in single quantities. And if you have a question for the seller, do not hesitate to send them an email. Successful sellers have excellent customer service.

Vintage is so very much in vogue right now, and you can update your look by adding to your vintage jewelry collection. Most of the vintage jewelry items are quite affordable, and you can find some very interesting vintage jewelry on Ebay.