Vintage Jewelry Mall

If you have decided to start collecting vintage jewelry, you probably have dozens of questions about the construction of vintage jewelry, and particularly about designers.  There are many different resource books out there to choose from.  Where do you start?

My suggestion would be to pick up a copy of Collecting Costume Jewelry 101.  It is my "go to" book for much of the information in the resource articles that I write for the Vintage Jewelry Resource Library, located on the main site Vintage Jewelry Lane.

This book provides beginning collectors with friendly  advice on how to begin a vintage jewelry collection, and gives a wealth of information about good quality costume jewelry.  It is large, colorful and descriptive. Questions about starting a collection, what makes a piece worth collecting and how much you should pay are all addressed in the first 29 pages.

Included in the book is background information for almost 130 different manufacturers, including the author's recommendations on which pieces from each designer are the most collectible. There are around 900 full-color photographs.  There is even a section about how to sell jewelry on eBay!

Collecting Costume Jewelry 101 is available from Amazon.com and leading book retailers nationwide.

Our friends at Polymer Clay Central have another design contest running.  Their theme for the month is, appropriately, hearts.  The contest isn't limited to jewelry designs, but the entries this month seem to be mainly jewelry styles of some sort.

My favorite is this lovely pendant necklace.  It's a combination of round, oval and tubular beads with a pretty abstract heart shaped pendant.  The overall effect is almost like the vintage style of millefiore.

Polymer clay is a pliable, blendable polymer compound for artists and crafters, including jewelry makers. It's not a real clay, but it can be used much like clay.  It is very versatile and comes in dozens of colors.  It doesn't dry out like clay does, so you can sculpt with it without worrying about a time limit.

You can still vote on the entries until the end of February.  There are many other entries to choose from, and you can view them on this page of the Polymer Clay Central site.

Which one is your favorite?

The winter Olympics is well underway with speed skating, ice skating and dancing, bobsled, and skiing producing the latest of the great winter athletes.  What better way to celebrate than with sporting jewelry?

Italian designer Roberto Coin has released several new Olympic inspired pieces in his Tiny Treasures collection.  These styles are Coin's way of cheery on team USA for the Vancouver Winter Games.  Coin is one of the most prestigious names in jewelry in Italy, internationally and in the USA even though the company was only founded in 1996.

The collection includes seven different designs which depict miniature figure skates, snowboards, skis, and hockey sticks. The designs are made in 18K gold and diamonds and retail for between $640 and $800 at various Roberto Coin authorized dealers across the USA.

I have a fondness for all types of pewter figural jewelry, so when I found this cute pendant necklace in a recent estate purchase I knew that I had to list it for sale.  It's an adorable little style with a mare in a stable.  The bottom part of the pendant opens to reveal a sweet little colt. 

The style lasted just a few days when one of my customers, Jennifer, bought it and then emailed to share the sweetest story with me.

It turns out that she received one like it from her parents in the 1980s, when she was a "horse-crazy girl" as she put it.  She still has the pendant,  and her daughter is in love with it.  Apparently her daughter begs her to wear it all the time, and since it was a cherished childhood heirloom and the daughter is only four, Jennifer didn't want to have it become damaged.

Much to her delight, she was browsing online and found my design which is an exact copy of hers!  She and her daughter plan to wear the matching necklaces to church and to parties. What fun!

Do you have a special story to share with me about a recent purchase that you made from me?  Please email me and I'l be happy share it here in my blog.

I love sterling silver jewelry, but the care of it can sometimes take a bit of time, not to mention the expense of the polishes and pastes or cloths.

For quick polishes, when the item is just lightly tarnished, a Sunshine silver polishing cloth will do the trick with very little elbow grease. These cloths are available from my shop for only $3.99 and can be used over and over again until they are black, at which time they should be replaced.

But what do you do when your item is just covered in tarnish? There are many products available (Wright's silver polish is a good one) but the cost of these can add up over time. 

Never fear - all that you need to polish your silver is more than likely sitting in your home right now.  Assemble and combine these simple items:

• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of baking soda
• a crumpled up piece of aluminum foil
• a bowl of warm water (glass or plastic container, not metal)

Just place your silver item in this solution for one hour and polish with a soft cloth, such as a piece of an old cotton T shirt.

Voila!  The piece will be bright and shiny at very little cost to you.  Be sure to use this technique only for normal silver items. Those with rhinestones or other stones shouldn't be cleaned with this method, since it coudl dislodge or damage the stones.

Fall fashion week 2010 ended last week, and some emerging trends appeared which seemed to confirm Kate Hudson's back necklace worn at the recent Golden Globes award.  It seems that necklaces worn with the design facing the back in a low cut back dress are the up and coming trend.

Kate's necklace featured diamonds by Cartier, but she wore it dangling down the back of her gown and made quite an entrance.  However, recent runway photos from New York Fashion show shows that the trend is not just one person's choice.

The necklace shown here is by Swarovski as part of their Red Dress Collection 2010, shown on February 11 at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Bryant Park.  It is by Swarovski and features a long festoon drop with dozens of Swarovski red crystals.  It was the perfect choice for Valentine's day and would be spectacular on a festive Christmas dress too.

This particular necklace can be worn either way, as a large festoon necklace hanging from the front as displayed on the bust, or as a glamorous back necklace as shown by tiny Kristin Chenowith in the following photo.

Photos by Getty Images for Swarovski

Most collectors of vintage jewelry are aware of the designer name Sarah Coventry, but did you know that the Emmons Jewelry company is also part of the same company?

Charles H. Stuart had a wife named Carolyn Emmons Stuart, and a daughter named Sarah.  In the late 1940s, he founded two companies - Sarah Coventry Jewelry and Emmons Jewelry.  The latter company was, of course, named after his wife.

The jewelry was sold by the home party plan. In the early days, the directors were men, but women representatives were more popular after the mid 1950s, most likely since women seemed to prefer purchasing jewelry from another woman, who would be likely to wear it.

Emmons jewelry designs were very well made, good looking and easy on the pocket book. Many designs were made in matching pieces - brooches, earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets. Today, full parures are much harder to find now than single pieces.   The Emmons line was originally higher in price than the Sarah Coventry line.

Emmons pieces were marked in two ways:  the early design mark from 1949 is EmJ and the later mark, after the mid 1950s is Emmons in block letters. 

Emmons jewelry is relatively easily found today, but seems to me much harder to procure than the Sarah Coventry pieces, which are very readily available.  The prices of Emmons jewelry today is slightly higher than similar Sarah Coventry pieces, since not as many of them were made.

If you are interested in Emmons or Sarah Coventry jewelry, one resource book that I highly recommend is called Emmons and Sarah Coventy Jewelry Fashion show by Deborah Robinson.  It is one of the most comprehensive of the books on either designer and lists most of the pieces by name and has suggested retail prices for them.  The book is available from Amazon.com and other leading book retailers.

I've seen it happen many times - you are someone who normally shops for jewelry in retail stores, but one day, you walk into an antique store, or go to the flea market, or browse on ebay, and see a lovely piece of vintage jewelry.  You fall in love with it, make the purchase and now you are hooked!

You may find that new jewelry just doesn't seem as interesting or well made and you start looking for more of the "past treasures." You are intrigued, but there is so much choice. Where do you even start?

There are many factors involved in starting a vintage jewelry collection, the the number one thing to consider is "do you like it?"   You can forget about design marks, the age of the piece, some design details and other factors when you first start buying vintage jools. Your first question to yourself should simply be: "Does this piece appeal to me? Do I like it?" In my opinion, the overriding factor is...if you like it buy it. It doesn't matter if it is perfect. If you like it, it should become yours.

If the piece isn't in great condition right now, it's not necessarily a problem.  Most pieces of vintage jewelry can be repaired or cleaned and polished so that they will look more presentable.  If you are buying for investment purposes, the condition will, of course be a factor, but for your personal collection, the appeal is the number one consideration.

Perhaps the piece is in need of a LOT of elbow grease to get the metal back into good condition. I've had pieces just covered with the dreaded green junk called Verdigris, which I have restored to like new condition with just a few steps and commonly found household materials.  You may be surprised what a few teaspoons of ketchup will do to that green stuff!

What if the piece you fall in love with is missing rhinestones, or has some that are cloudy and darkened?  For more information on repairing and restoring vintage jewelry, see my website, Vintage Jewelry Lane.  The article will give you a great overview of what is involved in repairing jewelry and will also let you know whether this is something you enjoy.  Many people find that sorting and repairing jewelry gives hours of what I like to call "jewelry therapy."  Try it...you may really enjoy doing this.

Once you have dabbled in a bit of cleaning and fixing of a piece that isn't in great condition but was a real bargain, you'll be able to move on to other aspects of collecting vintage jewelry.  Check back soon for more articles on this topic.

I promise you...you'll be hooked on vintage jewelry once you start seeing how well made it is.

I love to find websites that offer jewelry which has been designed in an "out of the ordinary" way.  Today's creations make use of antique buttons.  According to the site owner, the designs make use of buttons are all at least 50 to 100 years old and some even older.

Some of the designs make use of bakelite and celluloid buttons and of course glass and Victorian metal buttons.  The design featured here is a pair of earrings made from hand painted glass buttons.  They are so romantic and feminine.

There are even perfume buttons, which I had never heard of.  Perfume buttons were made in the mid 1800s, and have a fabric underlay.  Women of the period dabbed perfume on the velvet part of the button.  During the Civil war, women would often give one of these buttons, with the scent of their perfume, to a husband or lover going off to war.  The man would then stitch it under the collor of his uniform as a reminder of the love he left behind.

You can see more of the designs on this page of the vintage button jewelry website.