Vintage Adler Necklaces

The artisans behind fine jewelry house Adler are no strangers to reinvention. The company, which was founded in Istanbul and is now based in Switzerland, is known for changing with the times, both in the design of its beautiful adornments and in its business ethos. Adler jewelry, which includes pendant necklaces, link bracelets and drop earrings, ranges in style from Art Deco to contemporary but is always characterized by a timeless appeal.

Adler was founded in 1886 by Swiss-born designer Jacques Adler as a small boutique in Istanbul. Trained in Europe, Adler combined his knowledge of Western jewelry-making techniques with the traditions of the East. This unique approach earned the house great admiration among its clientele, as well as an appointment as a royal jeweler. 

After nearly 90 years and three generations in business, Adler's grandsons, Carlo and Franklin, decided to bring the company back to the family's historic Swiss roots. In 1970, they packed up shop and opened a boutique in Geneva, one of the world’s leading hubs of jewelry manufacturing.  

As a family business, Adler has enjoyed great freedom in creative expression over the decades. This shines through in the company's extensive collections, which see an integration of everything from sparkling precious stones to novel materials like carbon fiber.

An internationally recognized brand, Adler exhibits its gorgeous creations at showcases around the world. In 2012, it opened an exhibition in Thailand, an exclusive, invitation-only event that focused solely on the house’s offerings. The company is also a regular participant at the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition in Qatar.

Today, Adler is run by fourth-generation family members Karen, Daisy and Allen Adler. Always open to new ideas, the firm’s principals now seek to offer jewelry for a much broader demographic. "We have adopted an approach similar to the fashion industry," Karen told jewelry insider Katerina Perez, "where brands offer haute couture as well as affordable lines."

With more than a century in business to show for it, the strategy seems to be working.

On 1stDibs, find authentic Adler necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other jewelry.

Fascination with the Jazz Age is endless, and even today jewelry designers continue to be inspired by authentic Art Deco jewelry and watches.

The Art Deco period, encompassing the 1920s and ’30s, ushered in a very distinct look in the design of jewelry. There were many influences on the jewelry of the era that actually began to take shape prior to the 1920s. In 1909, Serge Diaghilev brought the Ballet Russes to Paris, and women went wild for the company’s exotic and vibrant costumes It’s no wonder, then, that jade, lapis lazuli, coral, turquoise and other bright gemstones became all the rage. There already existed a fascination with the East, particularly China and Japan, and motifs consisting of fans and masks started to show up in Art Deco jewelry.

However, the event that had the greatest influence on Deco was the excavation of the tomb of King Tut in 1922. When the world saw what was hidden in Tut’s burial chamber, it sent just about everyone into a frenzy. Pierre Cartier wrote in 1923 that “the discovery of the tomb will bring some sweeping changes in fashion jewelry.” And he couldn’t have been more right. “Egyptomania” left an indelible mark on all of the major jewelry houses, from Cartier to Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron and Georges Fouquet. (Cartier created some of the most iconic jewelry designs that defined this era.)

While a lot of Art Deco jewelry was black and white — the black coming from the use of onyx or black enamel and the white from rock crystal and diamonds — there is plenty of color in jewelry of the era. A perfect accent to diamonds in platinum settings were blue sapphires, emeralds and rubies, and these stones were also used in combination with each other.

Many designers employed coral, jade and lapis lazuli, too. In fact, some of the most important avant-garde jewelers of the period, like Jean Després and Jean Fouquet (son of Georges), would combine white gold with ebony and malachite for a jolt of color.

A lot of the jewelry produced during this time nodded to current fashion trends, and women often accessorized their accessories. The cloche hat was often accented with geometric diamond brooches or double-clip brooches. Backless evening dresses looked fabulous with sautoir necklaces, and long pearl necklaces that ended with tassels, popular during the Edwardian period, were favored by women everywhere, including Coco Chanel.

Find unique Art Deco necklaces, earrings, bracelets and other jewelry on 1stDibs.

Whether you’re layering multiple jewelry pieces or opting for a single strand, vintage pendant necklaces are versatile accessories that can elevate your casual wear as easily as they can add a creative flourish to your formal attire.

The earliest jewelry was less about accessorizing than it was about wearers arming themselves with amulets. In Ancient Egypt, some amulets featured a loop so that they could be strung around one’s neck. While rubies have long been one of the few gemstones that can give diamonds a run for their money, members of some ancient civilizations valued the stones from the get-go, donning ruby pendants as well as other stones with the belief that these adornments would bring protection, healing powers or strength. Today, we still wear our charm bracelets and charm pendants around our necks for good luck.

Later, pendant necklaces, like most fine jewelry, were worn strictly by royalty or the upper class and conferred wealth and prestige. This changed over time, thankfully, as wearing jewelry became more widespread, a democratized means of personal expression.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, pendant necklaces evolved from their status as spiritual amulets, but the jewels still carried deep personal significance. Victorian pendants, in particular, were part of the “mourning jewelry” tradition. Wearers would embed their pendants with locks of hair from a deceased loved one as a way of grieving in the wake of a loss. In the case of cameo jewelry, some pendants were even decorated with miniature hand-carved portraits in a detailed raised relief. Today, portraiture is still a characteristic of many of the hand-carved pendant necklaces offered by Italian jewelry house Scala Gioielli.

Luxury fine jewelry brands such as Cartier, BVLGARI and David Yurman offer their own unique interpretations of the cherished accessory, embellishing platinum or gold pendant necklaces with diamonds, sapphires and other stones.

On 1stDibs, find an extraordinary range of vintage pendant necklaces and other necklaces today.