In the past year or so there has come along a couple of sellers who are offering nothing but fake hatpins to collectors.  These hatpins are being listed as being "antique" and "vintage" pieces.  As "charming" as the seller wants them to be, not a one has been an authentic hatpin.  One seller has even gone so far as to buy hatpins on ebay and relist them a few weeks later with exagerated descriptions in order to make the fake hatpin she bought seem more desirable to other buyers of fake hatpins. 

Some of these fakes come listed as being "German" and from the 1940s.  Long-pinstemmed hatpins were not in fashion nor manufacture during the 1940s.  By that date the only hatpins in use were little more than the small (and short) pearl-topped corsage-like pins that we still use today.  Some might have had two glass or plastic pearls with a rhinestone rondell in between them.  The only other hatpins in use during that time period and later eras had tops made of the new plastics that came out following WWII.  AND the pinstems of vintage hatpins are SHORT.  You should never find a post-1920 hatpin that has a long pinstem.  NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.  Of late, the seller has gone even further and has begun to describe her newly made-up hatpins as "Victorian" and "antique".  It wasn't enough that she had to use the story of them being from Germany and vintage 1940s, now they are suddenly "antique"!

If you see hatpins that have questionable findings (small finishing pieces that cover the connection of the pinstem to the ornament) you should pass on it.  And if you don't know what authentic findings were used during the long-pinstemmed hatpin era then you really shouldn't be buying hatpins at all unless your intent is to buy fake or reproduction hatpins.

Here are some things to watch out for or better yet, to avoid at all cost:

1. Avoid all hatpins without findings or those with modern findings.  Why would a modern finding be found on an antique hatpin?  And if you don't know what antique findings are expected to be seen on antique hatpins then get one of the Lillian Baker books, check out the American Hatpin Society website, the Hatpin Society of Great Britain's website and find a collector who is willing to teach you.  90% of all hatpins on ebay are fakes.  Yes.  Really truly they are FAKES. 

2. Avoid hatpins made out of 1950s & 60s lonely earring tops (in other words, KNOW the different styles and materials used in each era!)  Study different eras of jewelry so that you will be able to recognize when a newer piece of jewelry has been home-made into what the seller wants you to believe is an antique hatpin.  Quality of workmanship should be very high and that includes the materials.  If your hatpin has filligree metal pieces that are easily bent, then don't buy it.  It's new.  Remember:  QUALITY IN CONSTRUCTION.

3. Avoid hatpins made out of old or even new brooches and belt buckles.  This goes back to the findings and how they were attached.  Look carefully for brooch "scars" where the original brooches pin was attached.  Old brooches are finding their way onto pinstems.  But there are clear clues that they indeed are former brooches (or belt buckles) and not original hatpin ornaments.  This is usually even easier to detect when the ornament is a former belt buckle.  Too often the maker has just attached the pinstem using a fake finding (or no finding) and has left the brackets where the belt would have been threaded.  This isn't ALWAYS true though, sometimes they are rather well made but there are still good clues to look for!  Look for the scars that are always left behind!

4. Look for appropriate settings.  Modern filligree pieces are being used and "folded" to hold a stone.  This simply was not done during the Victorian and Edwardian era.  And look closely at any stone that is set "on-end".  If one side is faceted, then with this type of construction, both sides of the stone's faceting would be exact.  EXACT.  And make certain that stone is properly set with a good finding too boot.  Obvious fake hatpins made as this are often the Czech-made ones that have been on the market for a number of years now.  (At least these fakes "should" be obvious because their construction is so poorly done.)  Avoid 99.99% of the "Czech-made" hatpins!

5.  Look at the construction.  If a hatpin's ornament when worn in a hat could be seen from both sides, then both sides would match exactly.  One side won't have a cameo set on-end with the back just filligree metal piece that has inappropriately used as a setting.   A cameo would be appropriately set flat in a bezel or prong setting, not on a square (and modern filligree piece with it's corners folded to hold it!  Think about it;  pretend you are inserting the hatpin into your hat.  Could it twist around while being worn so that both side of the hatpin might be seen?  If so, then BOTH sides of the hatpin would have matched exactly.  There wouldn't be a filligree side and then a cameo on the other side.  If you see a hatpin like that, then it's not even a "good" fake.  It's BAD.

6. Look for signs of fresh solder and glue.  There shouldn't be any at all.  Old solder is dull and deep gray in color AND is original to the piece.  It is smooth with no lumps either.  And modern solder is more silver-looking.  Don't buy a hatpin that shows it.  Really.  Don't buy it because it is nearly a sure bet that the hatpin is a fake.  New glue is shiny and usually smeared.  Old glue is yellow and crusty.  Yuck.

7. Study how quality jewelry is constructed.  During the Victorian and Edwardian eras costume jewelry was very well made in the same manner of those pieces made with gold and genuine gemstones.  Rhinestones and other stones were "set", not stuck in a fold of metal that serves as a setting.  Look for bezels, prongs, chasing, etc.  And take a close look at the rhinestones.  During the Victorian and Edwardian era the rhinestones were made to imitate genuine gemstones.  So if you see hot-pink rhinestones, then they are probably replacements and actually detract from the value and desirability of the hatpin rather than increase it's value.  And using a jewelers loop, check the tables of the rhinestones used.  High tables are expected, low flat ones are not.  What's a "table" you ask?  Don't buy hatpins with rhinestones until you know.

8.  Subject matter.  If you have two subjects on a hatpin, say a spider and a mermaid, ask yourself if those two together, on the same ornament,  makes any sense.  (They don't.)   If you have a two-sided cameo hatpin, the cameos on both sides will match (remember one side won't be plain or with a view of the setting either.)  Two Indians, yes.  Two flowers, yes.  A dog and a camel?  Dinosaur?  Not a chance. 

9.  Watch out for a large grouping of bronze-colored hatpins that are simply machine pressed.  The small round finding with a tiny "lip" or edge to it is modern.  These bronze beauties come in dozens of different designs such as four-kitten, scarab, Indian Chief, brave, horsehead with glued-on red rhinestone accents and many more.  There pinstems are usually always 9-inches in length.  And the bronze color is on the back, the front, the finding and even the pinstem.  Bad hatpins.  Bad.

I could go on and on as I am THAT passionate about Victorian and Edwardian ear hatpins.  And with over 90% of the ladies long-pinstemmed hatpins listed on ebay on any given day being FAKE, it is all the more important that collectors learn all that they can.  Remember, when in doubt, DO WITHOUT!  There will be better hatpins another day!

Search out the American Hatpin Society!!!