Victor Mayer Locket Ring

Renowned for intricate and sophisticated jewelry, the Victor Mayer company has created personal adornments of the highest quality for over a century. Using complex guilloche and enamel techniques, the German manufacturer is known for its hoop earrings, pendants and cufflinks, while its authentic Victor Mayer Fabergé egg pendants, featuring delicate embellishments and exquisite enameling, have been especially popular with generations of connoisseurs.

Aftering studying at the Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar, Germany, and training for three years in Vienna, Victor Mayer opened his jewelry business in 1890, in Pforzheim, Germany. His craftsmanship rapidly gained renown across Europe.

Ever mindful of evolving tastes, the company underwent three major style changes in Mayer’s lifetime, beginning with a focus on the Belle Époque of the late 19th century. It later adapted when Mayer saw that Art Nouveau was taking off around the world. The company remained operational during the first World War, and then once again adjusted its style to match the rising influence of Art Deco. 

World War II shut down the Victor Mayer company, as jewelry was considered a non-essential wartime industry. After the war ended, the company slowly reopened and experienced a slight uptick in business. 

Mayer died in 1946. His son, Oscar, and businessman Edmund Mohr managed the company together until the 1960s. Under Mohr and Mayer, it became a leader in producing fine accessories for gentlemen, while continuing to create jewelry for women.

In the 1960s, Mayer’s son, Hubert, and Mohr’s son, Herbert, succeeded their fathers. The duo steered the company in a new — but classic — creative direction. While in art school, Mohr had absorbed all he could regarding the artistic patronage of the Tsars. In the 1980s, he designed the company’s Esprit de Fabergé collection, which was modeled after the exuberant style of the master Fabergé crafters.

In 1989, the long-dormant House of Fabergé appointed the Victor Mayer company to be its workmaster until 2009. During this time, the company not only grew its customer base throughout Europe, Southeast Asia and North America, it revived the Fabergé jewelry line.

In 2005, Mohr retired, and his son, Marcus, took over the company’s management. Under his leadership, the Victor Mayer jewelry company continues to thrive and produce incomparable works of timeless elegance.

Find antique and vintage Victor Mayer necklaces, rings, bracelets and other jewelry on 1stDibs. 

Contemporary jewelry is inextricably linked with the moment in which it is created, frequently reflecting current social, cultural and political issues such as environmental consciousness, identity and sustainability. It’s informed by fashion trends, from the chokers of the 1990s to the large chain necklaces of the early 2000s.

Jewelry is one of the oldest forms of adornment. Lockets made of silver or gold have been treasured gifts for hundreds of years, for example, and charm bracelets, which have existed since prehistoric times, didn’t become especially popular until the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. For many centuries, fine jewelry was used primarily to express wealth or status through lavish materials. Then, in the 1960s, a concept known as the “critique of preciousness” emerged, with jewelers creating pieces that did not get their value from gemstones or precious metals. Instead, it was the jeweler’s artistic vision that was prized and elevated.

This shift still informs Contemporary jewelry being made by artists today. Whether they are using cheap, found materials and working with provocative geometric shapes or seeking out the rarest stones, they are imbuing their work with meaning through their skills, techniques and ideas. Innovative designers such as Elsa Peretti, who popularized sculptural sterling-silver jewelry for Tiffany & Co., and David Yurman, who twisted metal into the simple yet striking Cable bracelet, have also influenced the direction of Contemporary jewelry’s forms and aesthetics.

Meanwhile, technological advancements like metal alloys and laser engraving have led to new possibilities in jewelry design. Now, edgy makers and brands as well as minimalist designers are pushing Contemporary jewelry forward into the 21st century.

Find a collection of Contemporary rings, earrings, necklaces and other jewelry on 1stDibs.

A flashy symbol of wealth during the early 20th century, antique and vintage cocktail rings have gained broader appeal in the decades since for the hefty dose of glamour they bring to any ensemble.

Cocktail rings earned their name for their frequent appearances during glitzy cocktail parties at the height of the Prohibition era. Back then, these accessories were seen not only as statement pieces but as statements in and of themselves. They openly represented a sense of freedom and independence as well as a demonstration of opulence. After all, the 1920s heralded the Harlem Renaissance and Art Deco design, and a slew of social and cultural shifts meant that women in particular were breaking from pre–World War I conventions and embracing newfound freedoms to express themselves as individuals.

Women expressly wore cocktail rings on the fingers of their right hand versus the left, which was “reserved” for an engagement ring or wedding band, accessories definitely paid for by a suitor. And for cocktail rings, the bigger the colored gem at the center — which is usually mounted in a high setting — and the more elaborate the design, the stronger the likelihood of being noticed.

Cocktail rings remained a popular piece of jewelry for women until the 1930s, when the Great Depression and the onset of war marked a change in behaviors nationwide. While the 1960s and ’70s saw a return in visibility for the accessory, it wasn’t until the 1980s that cocktail rings once again assumed their position as a beacon of luxury and glitz.

During the 20th century, the range of dazzling cocktail rings seems to have been limitless, from glimmering gold rings set with carved jade diamonds designed by David Webb to Pomellato’s pink quartz confections to striking Gucci butterfly rings with accent diamonds set in a pavé fashion.

So, how do you wear a cocktail ring? Cocktail rings “can be worn for almost anything — dinners, date nights, parties, special events, on the red carpet,” explains David Joseph of New York-based jewelry brand Bochic. 

Can you wear cocktail rings with other rings? “In my opinion, cocktail rings should stand on their own since they showcase a large gem in the center,” says Joseph.

These glamorous jewels can be worn inside or outside crowded taverns, in either daytime or nighttime with casual or dressy attire. On 1stDibs, find a wide variety of antique and vintage cocktail rings, including those offered by Chanel, whose elegant cocktail rings often feature pearls and, of course, diamonds, and sometimes were styled after showy flowers like the camellia, and Van Cleef & Arpels, whose detailed and intricate designs are viewed as miniature pieces of wearable art.