Learning How to Price Vintage Costume Jewelry

So what actually makes vintage costume jewelryhot items in the market. If you want to collect
unique and potentially valuable? Even when talkingvintage jewelry and make money, then you need to
about the collectible costume pieces, all of thedo a little homework and find out which pieces are in
jewelry is mass-produced using cheaper materialsdemand and which are not. Popular designs are not
than used to make the finer jewelry. Mass-producedalways liked by investors but they tend to be the
and made from inexpensive materials, costume orones they collect because they are ultimately more
fashion jewelry was essentially the cheap butprofitable.
gorgeous alternative to fine jewelry.So aside from economic considerations like supply
In spite of their humble origins, the vintage piecesand demand, what actually affects value
produced in factories using semi-precious materialsdetermination? If all other variables are held constant,
are now considered collectibles worth well beyondthe originality of the design itself will ultimately
their original price. If you know what you are lookingdetermine its value and be the primary source of
for and can distinguish the worthless knock-offs fromdemand. In fact, more advanced collectors often
the genuine Eisenberg necklaces and other topselect unsigned pieces for their collection because
pieces, then you can literally make a great livingunique, well-designed pieces are always in demand.
simply by collecting.A large portion of the entire vintage costume stock
To determine the value of any vintage piece, thereis unsigned despite having been made by some of
are five things you need to look at:the most respected companies in the industry. The
Supply of Design in Marketunsigned pieces tend to be undervalued and the
Demand for the Particular Designmost profitable to collect and one sure way to
Originality of Designidentify a particular manufacturer is by design. Some
Materials and Quality of Constructionmanufacturers consistently produced pieces of
Final Conditionexceptional design and are highly coveted by
The vintage jewelry was produced by dozens ofcollectors like those made by Bogoff and Hollycraft.
manufacturers who all produced batches of varyingCraftsmanship and stone quality will directly determine
size. Production runs tended to be relatively large forthe overall success or failure of any design. On
big companies like Coro and Brooks. Smallervintage jewelry, the type and quality of the
production batches, sometimes numbering in thegemstones is of particular importance to final price
hundreds, were more common to see fromdetermination. Gemstones of exceptional quality were
companies like Barclays and McClelland.consistently used by a few of the major
Signed and many unsigned pieces by small companiesmanufacturers. Some of the best manufacturers to
like Barclays will tend to command greater value onseek out when collecting vintage costume pieces for
the market for no other reason then their relativeprofit include:
rarity. Still, careful research is required because evenHollycraft
larger manufacturers sometimes produced specialtyWeiss
batches. These were smaller batches making theBogoff
pieces more valuable than others produced by theBergere
same company.Boucher
In addition to supply considerations, the overallLastly, the final condition of the piece will play a key
demand for the pieces also plays a critical role in pricerole in value but not always the greatest. Oftentimes,
determination. Signed vintage necklaces, brooches,demand and supply play the largest forces in the
and even earrings by Miriam Haskell are currently thepricing of vintage costume jewelry.