Charles Horner vintage costume jewelry

Charles Horner vintage costume jewelry
Resident of English town of Halifax, Charles Horner (1837-1896) was an English jeweler and founder of the Charles Horner of Halifax jewelry company. He founded the company in the 1860s and produced silver jewelry and accessories, including items for needlewomen. Among his more famous jewelry “lines” were Art Nouveau enamel pendants and necklaces, as well as twisted silver wire jewelry, “glass paste” brooches and silver hairpins.
Noteworthy, Horner was one of the first to use plastics in jewelry, and in particular casein plastics.
Traditionally, all jewelry pieces by this company have hallmarks sterling silver – Chester – 1911 and C.H.
The company began voluntary liquidation in 1984 and ceased to exist.

Patented in 1884 “Dorcas” thimbles, were especially famous. They were not silver and very durable, unlike just silver thimbles, which crumpled, because they were a kind of sandwich of strong steel and layers of sterling silver.

After the death of Charles Horner in 1896, his two sons, James Dobson Horner and Charles Henry Horner, continued their father’s business.

Charles Horner vintage costume jewelry

In 1905, opened in Mile Cross new factory ‘Halifax’ began producing not only jewelry and accessories, as well as tableware and watches. Also, the company produced hat pins (made in gold), a collection of which was featured on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow in May 2013.

During World War II, due to the lack of resources, the company used Halifax’s silver tone Staybright (chrome and stainless steel) instead of genuine marcasites. It was “stamped” in such a way that holes obtained that brilliantly imitate marcasites.