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.