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The hatpin (or hat pin) seems to have had its origin in the 1400's, when women used small pins to attach their wimples and veils to their hair.
By the Victorian Era, large brimmed hats perched upon elaborately coifed tresses necessitated the use of something more substantial and decorative, and the hatpin became not just a fastener, but a piece of jewelry. It was not unusual for a young lady to spend as much for a hatpin as for a hat and to acquire several pins, which she would display in a hatpin holder on her dressing table. (The holders, often beautiful pieces of porcelain or other materials, are themselves highly prized by collectors.)
But fashions change, and though hatpins are still being made today for limited use, they began their decline during the Roaring Twenties, when shorter hairstyles and simpler hats (or no hats) rendered them superfluous - and collectible.
As examples of the jeweler's craft, Victorian, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco hatpins can easily fetch from $50 to $1000+ each, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the dishonest. In fact, The American Hatpin Society website estimates that up to 90% of all hatpins on the market are fakes!
Hatpins are generally 6 to 12 inches long and consist of a decorative head, finding, and stem. The finding, the part where the head and stem connect, is a particularly valuable aid to authenticating a piece. Findings styles changed over time, and many fakes have been exposed by the usage of contemporary findings to assemble, for example, "Victorian-era" pins.
Collectors can't rely entirely on findings, however, since old, but worthless, jewelry is often cannibalized for such parts. Instead, familiarity with the prevailing materials, methods, and designs of any era are necessary to avoid the disappointment of discovering that your "treasure" is actually worthless. To that end, we recommend a study of the following resources:
Books
"Baker's Encyclopedia of Hatpins and Hatpin Holders," by Lillian Baker
http://tinyurl.com/325p75
"Hat Pins," by Eve Eckstein and June Firkins
http://tinyurl.com/3xzswu
"Hatpins and Hatpin Holders," by Lillian Baker
http://tinyurl.com/3crnvf
Websites
The American Hatpin Society
http://americanhatpinsociety.com
Great site offers news, links, articles. Membership includes quarterly newsletter.
By the way, if you have a worthless hatpin, don't throw it away, use it! Check out the sample newsletter of the American Hatpin Society (http://americanhatpinsociety.com/meeting/newsletter_pdf.pdf in PDF format), wherein a May 4, 1900, Evening Democrat reprint describes how Miss Bertha Lynch, "a brave young woman...is a pioneer in the use of the deadly hatpin as a weapon of defense." !!!
David Doty's Carnival Glass Website
http://www.ddoty.com/hatpinscom.html
http://www.ddoty.com/hatpinsunusual.html
Nice pics of both common and unusual hatpins, along with brief descriptions and suggested values.
The Hat Pin Society of Great Britain
http://www.hatpinsociety.org.uk/index.htm
History, links, more.
Hatpin Collector' Website
http://members.aol.com/frankie854/index.html
Lots of tips and pics.
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