Those who were lucky were admitted to intensive care elsewhere. Michael Sinclair, Glitterati, Great Western Antique Centre (Unit 38), Bartlett Street, Bath BA1 2QZ (01225 333 294). Sue Mautner, Antiquarius Antiques Market, 131 King’s Rd, London SW3 4PW (0171-351 5353).FURTHER READINGCostume Jewellers: The Golden Age of Design by Joanne Dubbs Ball (Schiffer Publishing Ltd, pounds 34.95). “This is big jewellery, like sweeties, almost edible,” says Mautner. Her prices range from pounds 50 for a pair of earrings, to pounds 2,500 for a necklace – serious money. “My clients don’t want their jewellery to look real,” she says.

“They want it to look glamorous.”Fine costume jewellery is still being produced today, by specialist firms (such as Butler & Wilson) and by the new generation of couturiers such as Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Slim Barret (jewellery designer to John Galliano). At the top end of the market, you can spend thousands.London dealer Sue Mautner specialises in jewellery by the late 1920s New York designer Miriam Haskell, known for her large paste and pearl necklaces (the pearls gained their special lustre from being dipped in fish scales). Unsigned mass-market pieces – such as coloured glass necklaces from the 1930s, and decorative brooches from the 1940s to the 1960s – can be picked up for less than pounds 5 from junk shops and flea markets.Moving up the financial and collectable scale, dealer Michael Sinclair (based in Bath) sells good-quality designer earrings and brooches from pounds 25, necklaces and bracelets from pounds 150-pounds 250. Many leading costume jewellers trained with the likes of Cartier.

Their designs were inventive, the finest crystals were imported from the Rhineland (hence the term Rhinestone), and manufacture was time-consuming.On Richard Gibbon’s glittering stall in north-west London, objects range in price from pounds 10-pounds 1,500, and in design from ruby-eyed poodle brooches to imperial encrusted necklaces. Antique markets and collectors’ markets are a good place to look, as are dealers in period costume and accessories. Limited-edition reproductions of period costume jewellery are sold by department stores, as are modern designs.Like pictures, the best examples are signed; check the backs of brooches, and necklace and earring clasps. With costume jewellery, you are looking at the complete design created by the jeweller – it’s like choosing a work of art.”
Very little quality material was made in Britain, but there is plenty of European and American stuff around, both period and contemporary.

“What you are paying for is the weight of the stones and the metal. Hedy was colour-blind and wore bobby sox of a different colour. Now, the young movie stars hide under baseball caps and want to blend into the background; you have to force them to dress up.”The costume jewellery she and her husband created has become part of Hollywood history. Exhibitions of their studio gems have been held around the world, and Joseph recently talked to Debbie Reynolds, another great Hollywood survivor, about possibly setting up a museum.After 55 years in the jewellery business, Mme Joseff has lost none of her enthusiasm for her glamorous creations.

“Before you go you’ve got to try this on,” she says, handing me a vast, exquisite and impractical bracelet that once graced the wrist of Joan Crawford. “Just imagine what it would have looked like over a long evening glove. Doesn’t it make you feel glamorous? You don’t need to wear real diamonds to look like a princess.” !. STUDIO jewellery made by Joseff of Hollywood fetches pounds 500-pounds 5,000, and items by the great European couturiers of the 1930s to the 1960s – Chanel, Schiaparelli, Dior – can fetch similarly high prices.