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Choosing vintage jewelry allows you to accessorize with pieces that have a unique sense of history (whether it be foreign or familial) without calling for the use of virgin materials such as precious metals, gemstones, or plastic that have dire environmental repercussions in their acquisition and creation.

How to choose vintage jewelry

• The great, green estate. Before you begin your retro bling and bauble search, keep in mind that there are two terms you may encounter while on the hunt. While estate jewelry and antique jewelry are often used interchangeably there is a difference: estate jewelry is any piece that has been previously owned, no matter the date of production, and has had one or more jewelers in its existence. Antique jewelry was, by definition, produced before 1900, so estate jewelry may or may not fall into this category. Types of antique jewelry include Georgian, Art Nouveau, and three periods of Victorian styles. Although not technically antique, vintage jewelry produced after 1900 includes Edwardian, Art Deco, and Retro. Jewelry produced from 1945 onwards is considered Modern.

• Something old, something new, something borrowed, something green. Brides-to-be (and their planners) often look to the past to avoid falling into the trap of mass produced wedding finery and accoutrement, whether it be the gown, invitations, toppers on the cake, and of course, jewelry. Although planning a strictly vintage wedding may require a bit more legwork and creativity, the earth—and hopefully your guests—won't object to your very special union. Check out websites and books like A Vintage Wedding and Nancy Eaton's Your Vintage Wedding: Unique Ideas and Inspiration for Today's Bride.

• Have fun. Part of the allure of completing that ensemble with vintage jewelry is that yesteryear's bling cannot be bought at a chain jewelry store. This eliminates the chance that someone else will be donning the same thing—be it Bakelite bangles from the 50s or your great aunt Mabel's pearls—when you arrive at the company holiday party. If a certain piece of jewelry has been in your family for ages, investigate its roots. If you've acquired something outside of your family, looking into its origins can also be a worthwhile project. And you never know...the ring covered in cobwebs that you picked up at the flea market could be a gold mine in disguise, so if you suspect those secondhand gems might have worth, have them appraised.

Find it! Vintage jewelry retailers and designers

These purveyors of vintage jewelry are a welcome addition to the usual suspects—auctions, estate sales, flea markets, etc.—and make it easier for devotees of previously owned duds to hunt for specific items while barely lifting a ring finger. Also check out sites like Bidz.com, Etsy, and Ebay.

Choosing vintage jewelry helps you go green because...

• It allows you to wear a unique piece of the past and not promote environmentally devastating practices, particularly mining.
• Mining not only raises environmental concerns but in some cases, issues of human health, trade, labor rights, and even terrorism.

Gold mining is one the most polluting industries in the world and its biggest threats include acid mine drainage, cyanide spills, and heavy metal pollution. In the western US, mining has polluted the headwaters of more than 40 percent of watersheds.[1] The weight of the waste produced by mines in the US is almost nine times the weight of the garbage produced by all of America's cities and towns combined.[2] Metal mining eats up a disproportionate amount of energy. The industry employs less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the world's population, but it consumes 7 to 10 percent of the world's energy.[2] Mining can also displace local populations.

Dirty diamonds

Although the resulting environmental damage of diamond mining in the US is small given that there is only one active diamond mine in the country, this industry has proven to be a dirty, dangerous one in other diamond mining regions, particularly in African countries like Sierra Leone. To access diamonds, large amounts of rock and other matter—called overburden—is removed from the earth, disturbing surrounding ecosystems. Acid mine drainage is also a threat. In areas where there are few or nonexistent environmental standards—such as filling in empty pits and redepositing topsoil on reclaimed land—threats to surrounding ecosystems are heightened.

Perhaps even more notable are terrorism and human rights violations in diamond-mining Central and West African countries. Some diamonds that come from this region are referred to as conflict diamonds—or blood diamonds—and they continue to be an issue although the Kimberly Process Certification System—a United Nations-backed coalition of governments, non-government groups, and diamond companies initiated in 2002—has been successful in nearly dissolving the conflict diamond trade. Read more about the direct environmental impact of the conflict diamond trade in the article Sparkling Clean?.

Dangerous gems

Although the environmental and social ills of the diamond trade tend to get the most press, the mining of other gems also have dire consequences across the globe. Take Madagascar, for example. The island, with its wealth of biodiversity but widespread poverty, has produced around 50 percent of the world's sapphires since their discovery in 1994. Environmental concerns associated with sapphire mining in Madagascar include deforestation, water pollution from inadequate sanitation and sedimentation, and hunting (miners often kill lemurs and other species in protected areas for food, reducing the native population).[3]

Related health issues

In 2001, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that the hard-rock mining industry, which includes gold and silver, released 2.8 billion pounds of toxic waste into the environment.[4] These toxins include mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead. Extended exposure to arsenic has been linked to skin cancer, cadmium can cause kidney disease, lead can stunt the growth of children, and some mercury can damage the nervous system.

Cyanide is used in gold and silver mining to help extract the metals from the rock, and it's used to obtain 90 percent of the gold mined in the US. This toxin blocks the absorption of oxygen by cells, which suffocates victims. Cyanide enters the environment through spills, discharges, dam overflows, water runoff, groundwater and mine waste, and it can poison people through inhalation, ingestion, and skin or eye contact.

Glossary

• conflict diamonds: Also known as blood diamonds, they represented 4 percent of the global diamond market in the 1990s but now account for less than 1 percent in part to swift United Nations-mandated actions. These illicit diamonds were used to fund armed rebel uprisings against legitimate governments in countries like Liberia, Angola, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone.

External links

• The Vintage Jewelry Blog
• The Vintage Jewelry Guide
• Ideal Bite - Adding to your family's jewel collection?