About Stickpins - A Brief History
Stickpins are a fascinating subject for study and more importantly a wonderful object to collect and to wear. They are a very personal form of adornment and reflect in a subtle way the personality and taste of the wearer.
The wearing of stickpins began as a practical method of securing the voluminous neckwear, that was worn, both as a practical way of keeping warm and protecting the shirt from the debris of careless eaters, but also as part of the fine feathers of the strutting gentlemen peacocks of the eighteenth century. 
The period from the late eighteenth century, when the wearing of stickpins became fashionable, to the beginning of the twentieth century was a period of great change and also of an enormous spread of wealth. It was a wonderful time for the jeweler, who was able to experiment with new techniques and create new designs. Stickpins reflect all these developments in the jewellers art; in miniature. The first stickpins were simple and consisted of clusters of stones or single stones or plain gold; sometimes two were worn linked together by chain. By the early nineteenth century jewellers were producing more daring designs and found a willing canvas for their jewels on the cravats and stocks of the young dandies of the Regency era. The art of tying a cravat became an important requisite for men of breeding and an expression of their social standing. The social life of this time is captured in "Vanity Fair" by William Thackeray.
The jeweler used coloured stones, carved coral and ivory, enamel and gold to depict animals, heads and flowers as well as the more conventional plain shapes. Cameos and intaglios became extremely popular with the revived interest in the ancients, and usually featured classical heads. This revived interest went hand in hand with the " The Grand Tour" . As transport became more advanced it became easier to travel and the gentleman and lady of leisure visited the sights of Europe and bought back souvenirs. Apart from cameos and intaglios, they also found micro-mosaics which were particularly suitable for stickpins.
A popular motif at this time was the snake which was often coiled around a stone or another object and was formed from plain gold or enamel and gold. It a strange matter to reflect on, that nothing was forbidden the Victorian imagination except sex. By the 1860's with the rapid spread of wealth the demand for jeweler of all kinds was expanding. This allowed jewellers to experiment not only with new techniques but also with new designs. Domestic objects, animals, human heads of all races , wild conjunctions of the human and the animal were used and the jewellers who made stickpins seemed to let their fantasies run wild in these tiny works of art , in a way that they did not in larger pieces of jewellery.
A particular novelty at this time was the reverse crystal which because of the fine detail necessary was particularly suitable for stickpins. The process involved carving out a design in the reverse of a domed polished crystal and then enameling from the reverse the design. This was then mounted in gold with a mother of pearl background which enhanced the three dimensional effect. The subjects were usually animals and as the huntin', shootin' and fishin' craze spread from the 1860,s onwards, the stickpins and buttons featured finely enameled sporting scenes. They were produced well into the twentieth century and are manufactured today. 
The good general rule is that the newer they are the worse the quality. As the new rich accumulated their wealth, often coming from the provinces to London, they sought to give some history and social depth to their money, so they bought a country estate and began to assume the mantle of the country gentleman. This peculiarly English creation, the country gentleman, was a product of a mania for country pursuits and for jewellery associated with country. This led to a profusion of stickpins modeled as fox's heads. Most were of poor quality but some were magnificent and featured enameled teeth, tongues and gums. This obsession is also evident in the number of stickpins in the form of a horse's hoof., and sometimes embellished with a riding crop. Other favourite subjects were enameled fish, diamond set running foxes and highland's full of diamond and enamel pheasants.
By the end of the century, especially after the discovery of diamonds in South Africa, made them rather common, in both senses of the word, artistic taste and hence jeweler's products became less reliant on diamonds and precious stones, and began to feature more obscure stones, such as moonstone and labradorite. The rediscovery of enameling techniques borrowed from eighteenth century French enamellists enabled jewellers to create a new art "Art Nouveau" based on fluid lines and imaginative interpretations of nature rather than direct imitation. Erotic imagery was common.
French jewellery at this time was awash with chimeras, and elongated and fluid woman draping themselves amongst snakes or entwined around tendrils and swans necks. Art nouveau was in some ways a rather refined and rarified taste that existed alongside the more usual forms of jewellery.
With the end of the century and the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, 
the ascendancy of King Edward VII to the throne heralded a golden age of riches and enjoyment for the lucky few. The Edwardian age was probably the last period in history when the fortunate thought that they could give pleasure to the masses by displaying their good fortune and wealth before them. The summer never truly ended for the privileged until their fateful August of 1914. The party started with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and the emergence of Edward 7th, whose lifestyle differed greatly from that of his parents. Gambling, chic clothes, shooting, sailing, pleasure trips to Paris, continental watering holes and spas, the French Riviera, country house parties and romantic entanglements became fashionable because Edward 7th enjoyed them. The restraint of the Victorian era, symbolised by Queen Victoria's long period of mourning for her husband ,disappeared, in an era of great gaiety and conspicuous consumption and enjoyment.
This was the age of the flourishing of the great jewellery houses of Cartier, Faberge and in America of Tiffany. 
The growing use of platinum enabled the jewellers of the day to make very light settings which were strong enough to hold the stones. Stickpins became smaller and neater with the beginnings of a move towards geometrical designs and away from the watery flowing earlier style often known as the garland style. Even as early as 1906 Cartier had produced drawings of great simplicity and of abstract design and they made their debut on stickpins.
Neckwear had become simpler and the fore-runner of the modern tie and knot had emerged.. The stickpin no longer served any practical purpose and was purely an item of masculine decoration .The long golden summer of the Edwardian era came to an end in August 1914 with the beginning of the 1st World War. The years following the end of the first world war were radically different from anything before, and had more I common with today than with the Edwardian or Victorian era. A growing informality in dress especially during the day led to a decline in the wearing of stickpins, although those that were made by the leading jewellers were of fine quality. Art deco stickpins are probably rarer than those from earlier eras and are highly prized. Geometric forms dominated, much influenced by cubist paintings and the predominant aesthetic of starkness and bold contrasts of colour and line.
Unfortunately as the century progressed men's clothes seemed to become more conventional and dull. He either wore a suit or he wore a suit. In the modern work obsessed world , a man wearing a stickpin is probably considered a bit light and frivolous , he might "god forbid" have other interests apart from work . Despite this there are still men with taste and flair who wear and collect stickpins and it is noticeable that woman, seeking jewellery that is less ostentatious ,are now wearing stickpins as lapel pins.
The small size of the stickpin, seems throughout the history of jewellery design, to have encouraged the jeweller to become witty, whimsical and outrageous and to use all the techniques at his disposal to produce these wonderful emblems of the jeweller's art in miniature.