DATE: Space Age, c.1960

Striking Space Age silver earrings dating from the 1960s. The long drops taper out from the ear wires to lozenge-shaped bottoms, each featuring an intense purple amethyst. 

The Space Age, aka Atomic Age, refers to the period between 1957 and the early 1970s (although some would argue we're still in it). Movements in architecture, interior design, film and television, automotive design, music, fashion, and jewellery were directly inspired by the cultural obsessions of the time: atomic science, the Space Race and space exploration generally, futurism, and, at its heart, modernism. The designs were forward looking and often radical, incorporating the functionalism and utilitarian trends of the modernist movement and fusing these with new, futuristic forms and advances in material science - plastics particularly. Jewellery of the period was often directly inspired by celestial objects or spacecraft (Sputnik, the Apollo lunar lander, Starship Enterprise, etc. were all replicated as miniature, wearable pieces of precious metal), indeed Jackie Onassis celebrated her 40th birthday wearing a pair of Apollo 11 Moon earrings by LALAoUNIS.

STONES

Amethyst

MEASUREMENTS

Drop: 4.7cm

Width: 1.4cm

WEIGHT

5.1g (pair)

MARKS

925 stamp (sterling silver)

CONDITION

 Very good, with gorgeous vintage patina