Vintage 1930s - Art Deco Sterling Silver, Carnelian and fashion Marcasite Screw-back Earrings

Here is a really eye-catchingly pretty pair of sterling silver and marcasite screw-back earrings set with oval carnelian cabochon stones. They date from the Art Deco era of the 1920s / 1930s, when the geometric-based Art Deco style took over everything imaginable - the Empire State Building was going up, Jazz and Ragtime was being played everywhere and over here in the UK, women were enjoying the fact that they'd just got the vote for the first time !!

These delctable earrings measures 1.8cms long x 1.3cms wide (just under 3/4" long x 1/2 wide" ) and they are unsigned with no identifying marks at all, except for the words 'silver' stamped on the little screw-knobs. However, they are absolutely lovely quality, and in truly excellent condition for their great age !!

MARCASITE
Marcasite is a really interesting form of jewellery because it imitates diamonds, but in a darker metallic fashion way - the stones are cut in a facetted shape to reflect the light, but they are made of a type of metal instead of being crystalline and sparkly like diamonds or diamanté.
Marcasite is actually a genuine, natural gemstone, derived from a natural mineral called 'pyrite'. Pyrite is found in many parts of the world, but only a small fraction of it is suitable for the cutting processes required to create marcasite jewelry. Marcasite has been used for personal adornments as far back as in ancient times.
During the reign of Louis 14th of France, only the King was allowed to wear genuine diamonds, and therefore marcasite became very popular in the region as a diamond imitation, and was worn by high society and women at court.
It became very popular in Victorian times as a less sparkly alternative to real diamonds - after the passing of her consort, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria wore black for an extensive period of mourning. Naturally, her jewellery choices during this time tended towards pieces in darker colours, making marcasite jewellery a popular choice for the Queen. This started a major trend that would define much of the Grand Period of the Victorian Era.

With the rise of the machine age, jewellery transitioned from the organic forms of the Victorian Era and the Belle Epoque era to more structured and geometric forms. Vintage Art Deco jewellery typically uses silver or platinum along with diamonds or crystal to create the main structure of a piece and then use darker materials such as sapphires, onyx, or marcasite to create a sharp contrast with these lighter tones. The popularity of the light-and-dark motif in Art Deco jewelry design made marcasite once again one of the more sought after materials during this style era. Art Deco marcasite pieces can be anything from a geometric statement necklace to tennis-style bracelets.