It all started with a bar pin...

  I've always liked antique stores, but in previous years my only experience was strolling through, looking at a bunch of old stuff, and most of the time, I wasn't sure what I was even looking at. It wasn't until fall of 2017, when I wanted to find some authentic looking accessories for Victorian themed photos, that I became thoroughly obsessed with antiquing.

  I started to watch 19th century period dramas to get a better idea of what items to look for. While binge watching Lark Rise to Candleford, a goofy, yet well done 1890s series, one item that I kept seeing was the bar pin.

Laura and Dorcas wearing bar pin/brooches.

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  The bar pin/brooch is just that, a brooch, but usually long and thin, and worn horizontal at the base of the neck along the collar. This style was very prominent in the Victorian era, commonly seen towards the later part of the period when the high neckline was in fashion, but popular throughout.

Sears Catalog pages showing a variety of bar pins and brooches.

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Just a few examples of ladies sporting bar pins.

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  I especially like this look, it makes an otherwise simple dress look finished and polished with the addition of just one precisely placed piece of jewelry. This style continued into the Edwardian era, with the bar pin being worn in the same place, but attached to a lace chemisette, and then starts to fade by the end of the 1920s as the neckline fell and changed shape.

A gorgeous Edwardian girl wearing her bar pin slightly lower, a sign of changing styles.

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My first true collection started with these three:

  I found all of these in one store. There was a bust display completely covered in various brooches, and lucky for me, lots of bar pins! After grabbing two I liked, a woman working there noticed my interest and informed me that they had some older pins behind the counter, which of course I had to see. She then educated me about dating pins, telling me that pins with a 'C' shaped clasp are from about 1900 and prior, and that the modern style 'safety catch' clasp was invented shortly after. I was then shown a few beautiful and very old bar pins. Being new to the subject, I didn't want to spend too much money, but I couldn't leave without buying one old pin, so I chose one of the cheaper priced 'C' clasped ones(the bottom pin). If I ever visit that store again, I'll be sure to snag a few more old pins if they have them!

  Since then I've picked up bar pins whenever I see ones I like. Some are old, some are modern, but all have that distinct bar pin look that I love.

My whole collection..at least for the moment.

Continue to Part 2 for more in-depth information and photographs of my pins.