From the 1900s to the year 2000, John Peacock charts the development of every kind and style of jewelry for both women and men: brooches, earrings, necklaces, pendants, bracelets, buckles, dress clips, hair ornaments, rings, watches, cufflinks, and more. Both precious jewelry and costume jewelry appear, as does novelty jewelry.

John Peacock is the doyen of fashion illustration. His many books on men's and women's fashion and accessories form an unparalleled library for students, collectors, and fashion enthusiasts alike. Many years of research for this book, using paintings, photographs, and the jewelry itself, have allowed him to reproduce in meticulous detail a host of representative pieces from every year of the century. Arranged in twenty-year sections, the pictures are accompanied by complete descriptions of each piece, including details of materials, stones, designs, fastenings, mounts, and surrounds.

These highly detailed drawings allow the reader to see how the styles of the great twentieth-century designers and jewelry houses - among them Lalique, Cartier, Chaumet, Chanel, Jensen, Verdura, Schlumberger, Haskell, Harry Winston, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Tiffany & Co.have filtered down to mass-produced and costume jewelry. Every style is represented: Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts pieces of the early twentieth century; Art Deco of the twenties and thirties; cocktail jewelry of the forties and fifties; Pop Art creations of the sixties and seventies; flashy, ostentatious jewelry of the eighties; and more delicate, retro jewelry of the nineties. The invaluable reference section includes biographies of the century's leading international jewelers and a concise bibliography.