Vintage Statement Earrings

There is a broad range of vintage statement earrings for sale on 1stDibs. All of the items for sale were constructed with extraordinary care, often using Gold, Gold Plate and 18k Gold. Our inventory is broad and distinctive, with accessories on offer that were made as long ago as the 20th Century to those produced as recently as the 20th Century. Pieces in our collection of vintage statement earrings made by Modern jewelers — as well as those associated with Contemporary — are very popular. Chanel, William De Lillo and Givenchy each produced beautiful examples of these items that are worth considering. While most can agree that any pick from our collection easily elevates most outfits, but the choice of Pearl versions from the 10 available is guaranteed to add a special touch to your ensemble. A selection of bead, cabochon and round cut can be found today on these pages. Most of our vintage statement earrings for sale are for women, but there are 31 pieces available to browse for men.

Prices for vintage statement earrings start at $69 and top out at $7,500 with these earrings, on average, selling for $563.

In the United States, ear piercing didn’t really become popular until the 1950s and ‘60s, but our desire for a dazzling pair of vintage earrings has deeper roots than that. In fact, wearing earrings actually goes back thousands of years, and you can find many tangible connections between now and then in how we continue to talk about these treasured accessories.

Women wore ornamental earrings — studs and hoops at the very least — in Ancient Egypt, which is home to mines that are among the earliest sources of emeralds in the world. Emerald earrings are highly prized today, and their quality lies in their rich, saturated color. The highest-quality emeralds are green or bluish-green. Earrings worn by the affluent in early Roman civilizations were set with precious stones such as diamonds and pearls, and a clean-looking pop of pearl on the front of the lobe is as timeless as ever. Hoop earrings are imbued with symbolism and cultural significance for many, and on view in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Ancient Near Eastern Art Gallery is a pair of simple gold hoops from Mesopotamia dating to between 2600 and 2500 B.C.

Today, ear piercing is very popular all over the world, and, as a result, it is difficult to overstate how much everyone pines for a good pair of earrings — modernist drop earrings, glamorous Victorian hoops, geometrically complex chandelier earrings, you name it. Sure, jewelry trends and the fashion darlings of social media come and go, but earrings have a staying power that seems impenetrable: The still-strong love affair between British royals and Cartier earrings is more than a century old, glossy 1970s hoops from legacy houses such as Bulgari and Van Cleef Arpels remain the statement makers they’ve always been and although people have been stacking earrings for many moons, the allure of an expertly mismatched stack of charms and studs still feels fresh and new.

While there is no shortage of modern earring designs to choose from, the classics, like coral earrings, Art Deco–style earrings and diamond drop earrings are still heavy hitters. On 1stDibs, find a wide range of antique, new and vintage earrings today.