The Allure of Vintage Scarab Jewelry

How did the dung beetle become sacred to ancient Egyptians and adored by jewelry lovers as vintage scarab jewelry?

A dung beetle rolls a ball of dung so it has a place to lay it’s eggs. According to the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum, Ancient Egyptians noticed that the rolling of the ball was like the movement of the sun across the sky. That is how their young sun god Khepri came to be shaped like a beetle and to be reborn every morning to make day happen.

A carved scarab was revered as a sacred symbol, believed to have powers of rejuvenation for both the living and the dead. Museum collections have beautiful examples of ancient scarabs like this faience “marriage scarab” from Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye from the Brooklyn Museum.

Museums are great places to see ancient artifacts, but they’re not often the catalyst for a costume jewelry trend. But big newsworthy archaeological events, like the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in the 1920s, can start viral jewelry trend. Combine that with all the lushly produced movies featuring ancient Egypt, particularly the costume epics of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as air travel making it possible for more people to visit Egypt and it no surprise that there’s lots of Egyptian-inspired vintage costume jewelry, particularly vintage scarab jewelry, out there.

Lots of Egyptian symbols like hieroglyphics, ankhs, cobras and of course pharaohs made their way into the fashion world, but I would argue that the scarab is the most popular. My logic: scarab bracelets, ranging in quality from dime store to fine jewelry, must have been the most popular because they are among the easiest finds for the vintage hunter.

The scarabs themselves are mostly glass or hardstone. Later scarabs from the 1970s might also be plastic. They are always carved (or molded) on the top, some have additional markings on the reverse side. The findings are almost always gold in color, with the dime store bracelets aging to a bronze color.

Fine pieces, like this vintage 14k bracelet from Tenenbaum Jewelers, abound. You can imagine it becoming a family heirloom. If you’re not so scarab-crazed that you need a beautiful gold bracelet, the good news is there’s an ample supply of vintage scarab jewelry out there. Consider these pieces:

To read more…

…about Egyptian revival jewelry in general  (article from Collector’s Weekly)

…ancient Egyptian scarab types and meaning (blog post by Elaine Evans for the McClung Museum)

…Sigmund Freud’s scarab collection (from BBC – A History of the World in 100 Objects)