Belmar Jewlers

Victorian Jewelry Eras: The Middle or Grand Period

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 22:12:20 GMT

Victorian Jewelry Eras: The Middle or Grand Period

Much loved and sought after, Victorian Jewelry is named after England’s Queen Victoria and is often categorized into three periods that represent what was happening in her life. The three periods are the Early or Romantic, the Middle or Grand, and the Late Victorian or Aesthetic periods. In this post we show some examples and describe the jewelry style of the Grand Period.

The Mid-Victorian or Grand Period (1861–1885) followed the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, at age forty-two after twenty-one years of marriage. Queen Victoria entered a long period of mourning and the jewelry style changed from delicate to bolder and heavier, more somber designs and was often darker in color. Mourning jewelry became fashionable as were classically themed styles inspired by ancient, Renaissance or Gothic designs. Popular designs included urns, weeping willows, crosses, insects such as flies, butterflies, dragonflies and beetles and monogrammed initials. Hair jewelry was also popular (made from the hair of a loved one). Popular pieces included earrings, brooches, bracelets, necklaces and lockets. Yellow gold was still prevalent but was sometimes of a lower karat (9k, 12k or 15k) and silver saw a resurgence. Jewelry made of jet (fossilized coal), black onyx, with black enamel details, pearls or ivory was common.

In our shop:

Victorian 10k Yellow Gold Floral Micro Mosaic Pin Pendant with Goldstone Glass Pin

Victorian Jewelry Eras: The Early or Romantic Period

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:56:54 GMT

The Early (Romantic) Victorian Era

Much loved and sought after, Victorian Jewelry is named after England’s Queen Victoria. It is often categorized into three periods that represent what was happening in her life. The three periods are the Early or Romantic, the Middle or Grand, and the Late Victorian or Aesthetic periods. In this post we show some examples and describe the Romantic Period jewelry style.

The Early Victorian or Romantic Period (1837 – 1860) was typified by jewelry given with sentiment or meaning behind it and that was feminine in style. It covers the time period of Queen Victoria’s courtship and early marriage to Prince Albert.
Nature inspired floral motifs and symbolic themes were popular as were snakes (that symbolize eternal love and wisdom), hearts, flowers, branches, ivy leaves, grapes, berries, trees, birds and bows. Symbolism associated with flowers was a common theme. Popular pieces would have been rings, brooches, bracelets, lockets and cameos. Yellow gold was prevalent, often of a higher carat such as 18k. Popular gemstones of the time would include garnets, turquoise, coral, seed pearls, onyx, agate, amber, amethyst, emeralds, quartz and diamonds.

In our shop:

Named Best Jeweler in the February Reader's Choice Awards!

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 15:45:42 GMT

Belmar Jewelers Named Best Jeweler in the February Reader's Choice Awards!

We are excited to share that we’ve been named Best Jeweler in the 2026 Greater Long Branch City Lifestyle Reader's Choice Awards!

This honor, as voted by our local community, celebrates exceptional craftsmanship, trusted service and timeless pieces that mark life's most meaningful moments. We are truly grateful and humbled by our amazing customers for your support. Thank you! We genuinely appreciate you and realize we couldn't be here without you. This recognition inspires us to work even harder to exceed our customers expectations in every interaction. We look forward to the future with existing customers and expanding our family of customers as well!

Belmar Jewelers in the Asbury Park Press

jcarl@belmarjewelry.com (Joe Carl) — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 21:34:58 GMT

We were so excited that Belmar Jewelers was featured in the Asbury Park Press that we wanted to share it with you!

Asbury Park Press | Page M09Wednesday, 4 March 2020

Belmar jeweler uses encyclopedic knowledge and experience to appraise pieces

Maria Durett

Special to the Asbury Park Press USA TODAY NETWORK – NEW JERSEY Belmar–

Joseph Carl has a skill you don’t hear about every day. “If you can give me a diamond, I can tell you when it was cut. I can just look at it and tell you.”

Carl said he can also determine the nature of a piece of gold or silver jewelry, such as when it was made, by touch.

It’s not a magic trick — it’s the result of years of learning, both from a mentor and on his own, explained Carl, who owns Belmar Jewelers, where he does free appraisals on Sundays.

“I just got into it at a young age,” Carl said, adding that he had worked for someone highly experienced in the jewelry business.

“As I was working with him — basically I was cleaning jewelry and polishing jewelry — and I would say, ‘Boy, this ring is interesting,’ and he would say, ‘I used to make those in 1932,’” Carl recalled. “So I would remember, you know, because I was handling it, I was polishing it. So now when somebody hands me a ring, (I can tell them) ‘Oh, they used to be made in 1932.’” Plus, he said, in a time “way before there was Google,” he would visit auction houses and purchase the catalogs that would have details about items, including jewelry.

“And I used to just love looking at those (catalogs) and memorizing the items. So when I would look at a piece, I would say that’s a so-and-so because I recognized it from reading those catalogs,” Carl said. “Hundreds and hundreds of catalogs I memorized.”

Now, Carl takes those skills and helps people understand the value of what they own.

Not having that information can sometimes cost people hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, he cautioned, because there are unscrupulous players in the business who will make lowball offers to people who don’t know the value of their pieces. Carl said he’s seen it time and again.

In one case, a customer first went to a gold buyer who removed the small diamonds from a ring and purchased the gold based on weight, leaving the stones loose. The woman ended up with $80 from a gold buyer, but didn’t realize she had lost out on what would have been $1,000 had the ring still been intact.

Another customer once brought in a 60-year-old bracelet for appraisal.

“I look at this bracelet, and I saw who made the bracelet, and the particular person who made it only made things for royal families,” Carl said.

The customer didn’t know that history and went somewhere else first for an appraisal. “They offered him $350. It was worth $10,000,” Carl said.

He’s even had customers come in who have inherited pieces and find out that the pieces they thought had minimal value were actually worth $50,000 or even $100,000.

Of course, sometimes the reverse is true — someone comes in mistakenly thinking they have something valuable and finds out the truth.

Sometimes it’s a result of incorrect family histories being assigned to a piece. People also will think their pieces are much older than they actually are, Carl said.

He said he can show customers what went into his appraisal, “and I can explain how they can look it up themselves if they have any questions.”

He said it’s important for customers to understand the kind of figure he’s giving them when they come into the store.

“When I do verbal appraisals, it’s what you can get for it cash-wise right now and what it would sell for right now,” Carl said. “That’s real money, that’s what it’s worth. It doesn’t matter what someone tells you it’s worth, it’s what’s actually trading in the market.”

He stressed that what he does is different from an insurance appraisal, which usually is based on replacement value, not market value.

Plenty of people are interested in benefitting from Carl’s wealth of knowledge, hoping it can bring them some wealth, too. Carl said the store can get crowded with appraisal seekers on Sundays, and sometimes people come in with pillowcases full of items.

“In the past it’s been like standing room only, you just never know,” he said.

The store not only buys jewelry, but also sells it — in the brick-and-mortar store, and on an online Etsy store.

Patrons are free to sell eligible pieces to Carl, or keep them — and the newfound knowledge about their worth.

“People should know what they own, whether they want to sell it or not sell it,” Carl said. _

Welcome!

websitebuilder@thryv.com — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 21:23:07 GMT

So glad you're here!

Welcome to our blog! This is our first post and we started this blog to share information about our passion - vintage and estate jewelry! There is so much history, are so many styles and types of jewelry and customs that involve jewelry. We'd like to share some fun, interesting and enlightening facts and stories as well as beautiful photos with you. And we'll also share some things that we have to offer since, after all, that's what we're all about! Thanks for joining us here at Belmar Jewelers! We're so glad you're here!

You may have noticed that we use a cameo image to represent our store. We feel that the cameo woman in profile is an iconic representation of vintage jewelry. So many of our customers come into the shop, see that we have cameos for sale and say my mother, aunt or grandmother had a cameo. Yes, cameos are not worn prolifically like they once were. In fact, many "gold buyers" purchase them only for their gold value and disassemble them, sadly ruining many beautiful pieces. But we are an estate (meaning pre-owned) jewelry store. Almost all of the jewelry we sell is estate and we have a special place in our hearts for vintage and antique pieces. So we don't just melt them down, we try to find them a new home where they will be cherished. And that's why we have not only a retail shop in Belmar, NJ but also sell online. You can shop on this website and we have an online Belmar Jewelers Etsy shop where we sell vintage (at least twenty years old) and antique (100 years or older) items. It's good for the planet to reuse and recycle and there's just something so special about the styles, workmanship and quality of these pieces. It makes us happy to give them a new life and a second chance!

In case you didn't already know, in addition to visiting our website and blog, you can also spend time with us at:

♦ Our online Etsy store: www.etsy.com/shop/BelmarJewelers

♦ Facebook - www.facebook.com/belmarjewelers

♦ Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/belmarjewelers

♦ Instagram - @belmarjewelers

Click below to visit, follow and like us. Looking forward to this next part of our journey!

Belmar Jewlers

Victorian Jewelry Eras: The Middle or Grand Period

Victorian Jewelry Eras: The Middle or Grand Period

Victorian 10k Yellow Gold Floral Micro Mosaic Pin Pendant with Goldstone Glass Pin

Victorian Jewelry Eras: The Early or Romantic Period

The Early (Romantic) Victorian Era

Named Best Jeweler in the February Reader's Choice Awards!

Belmar Jewelers Named Best Jeweler in the February Reader's Choice Awards!

We are excited to share that we’ve been named Best Jeweler in the 2026 Greater Long Branch City Lifestyle Reader's Choice Awards!

﻿

Belmar Jewelers in the Asbury Park Press

We were so excited that Belmar Jewelers was featured in the Asbury Park Press that we wanted to share it with you!

Welcome!

So glad you're here!