Take a look at the clothing that men and women wore throughout the ages and you might wonder when the practice of wearing cuff links first came into use.
It’s been happening since the Middle Ages.
At this point, it was the “cuff string,” that was used. One of the earliest references to cufflinks was made in the London Gazette in 1684, it referred to a pair of “cuff buttons set with diamonds”; in 1686 a pair of gold enameled cuff buttons was mentioned. In Suffolk, England, a 17th-century decorated gold single chain cufflink has been discovered.
The ancestor of today’s shirt appeared in the early-1500s. These shirts had ruffled wristbands, which were tied together with “cuff strings.” Cuff strings would be used until the mid-1850s.
When the French Cuff (or Double Cuff), came into fashion, stronger fasteners than string were needed, and cuff links were used to keep the ends closed.
There are two types of cufflinks, those that are “kissing,” with the ends pinched together, or “barrel-style,” in which one end overlaps the other. Kissing cuffs are the most popular type.
Cufflinks come in a wide variety of designs. They can be double-sided (also known as double-paneled) in which each end of the cufflink looks identical, or they can be single-sided (single face), with only one decorative crown, and an undecorated back for the other end.
Cufflinks come in a variety of designs. The crown can be set with a gemstone of some kind, such as amber, or with some kind of novelty design – such as baseball bats or footballs for sports enthusiasts, “career themed” such as bulls and bears or tiny airplanes, and so on.
Check out the men’s amber cufflinks on auction at jewelry-auctioned.com.