Vintage Jewelry

[Vintage Betty]

How do you tell if jewelry is vintage? is there any book or website you can link me to? would be so nice!

There's a LOT of websites and books available. Do a little research, and than let me know if you can't find anything. I can always write a guide to post with photos and tips on evaluating (costume) jewelry if you need it.

If you learn what to look for, it can become easier to identify the standard markings and eras of jewelry.

Vintage Betty

 

[Mojito]

Any markings on any piece? As a rough start they are circa 1920-1930, great quality on all pieces.

If you don't hear from me about these within the next week, bump me.

Vintage Betty

That's really lovely of you! Not much in the way of helpful markings (although I know next to nothing about Jewelry of the era) - just "Made in Germany" and "Imitation" stamped on the bracelet. I don't imagine they're worth much, and I need to have some rhinestones replaced. I don't know if they were purchased especially for the engagement party or if she'd had them earlier - she did a world tour in the 1920s, so I suppose she might have picked them up then.

Meggan, I meant to comment on your pieces (but got a bit carried away with my own delight at the new pieces). I love snake jewelry, but I especially like jade. For some reason it never occurs to buy it for myself - but when I see it on others, I fall madly in love with it and mean to buy some.

 

[Goldfish]

There's a LOT of websites and books available. Do a little research, and than let me know if you can't find anything. I can always write a guide to post with photos and tips on evaluating (costume) jewelry if you need it.

If you learn what to look for, it can become easier to identify the standard markings and eras of jewelry.

Vintage Betty

Thank you!
I made research and came up with different guides. The thing is that I can't tell if something is made of quality or not and date back yet.
I guess it's just a thing you learn over the time?!

 

[imoldfashioned]

Mojito--that's a stunning set without the story. The story makes it priceless.

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

*bump* because I have a question!

I recently started buying vintage clip on earrings. I haven't started wearing them all day every day as they can really pinch after a few hours. I gather that is normal.

But what do you do when a pair is so tight that they start hurting within literally 2 minutes? Surely no one's ears could withstand such pressure! Is there any way of making the clips looser?

Also I have noticed with some of the smaller earrings, instead of the earring staying upright and the clip going diagonally into the lobe, they do the opposite - sinking in diagonally, so the bottom sticks out and looks silly. I don't know if there is any way of fixing this either?

Thanks.

 

[Smuterella]

^ no advice but I do have the same problem

whenever I take the earrings off and rub my ears I think of women doing that in old movies and it makes me smile

 

[lyburnum]

I know there was another thread I looked at, that had a link that explained how to loosen or tighten clip on earings. Has made my life a whole lot more pleasant! I used to avoid clip on like the plague, and would only buy screw on. It's pretty easy though with your basic clip on:

On the reverse side of the clip on fastening you can see that there are three columns. The outer two of these are hinged onto the clip on fastening of the earring whilst the central one isn't. It ends with a little nib over the edge of the clip's hinge. It is this bar that controls how tight the clip is.

Now before you do anything do realise that it is for good reason that most clip on earrings are quite tight when you first get them. Why? Because it's easier to make them looser than it is to tighten them! So when you've read how to loosen them, do so gradually. Loosen them a little bit, and then try them for a while. If they start to pinch again, then loosen them just a little bit more.

In order to loosen pinching clip on earrings, get a small philips screwdriver or a butter knife. A screwdriver is better since it'll give you more control and you'll be less likely to overly relax the clip on fastening. Gently as you can, lever the screwdriver in behind the central column and the clip on earring's hinge, lifting the central column away from the hinge.

 

[~*Red*~]

I know there was another thread I looked at, that had a link that explained how to loosen or tighten clip on earings. Has made my life a whole lot more pleasant! I used to avoid clip on like the plague, and would only buy screw on. It's pretty easy though with your basic clip on:

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this!! I can only wear clip ons or screw backs, and while screw backs i prefer, there are many lovely clip ons, even modern ones I like to wear. My daughter and I have fat earlobes (even when I was skinny, they are just that way) and clip ons always hurt. The longest I can wear them is an hour continuously. My daughter loves them, but she is 20 min. max. Now I can fix them and we can wear them all day! Thank you!!

Now if only I could keep my bottom lobes from turning up!lol

 

[Sweet Leilani]

I picked up another $1 celluloid necklace the other day and was wondering if this is "real" or two pieces put together:

The chain is definitely celluloid, but the shell strands might have been attached later. Does anyone have any idea if this was originally made this way or pieced together later? (I apologize for the photo quality- it was hard to get a decent pic.)

 

[Vintage Betty]

Catching up...

Mohito: I've done some research on your set. If you could post a scan of the front ad back and any markings, I can give you some detailed info and insurance pricing.

Fleur De Guerre & Smuterella: lyburnum's advice is spot on, and there is an adjustment tool you can purchase, as well as other accessories to lesson the pressure from the earrings. I will post images when I am able.

Sweet Leilani: Yes, that's probably an original set from the late 1940's, early 1950's. If I could see a clearer scan of the entire piece, I can probably tell you more info.

Cheers! :cheers1:

Vintage Betty

 

[Mojito]

Catching up...

Mohito: I've done some research on your set. If you could post a scan of the front ad back and any markings, I can give you some detailed info and insurance pricing.
Vintage Betty

Thank you! I'll get out the camera and photograph them.

 

[Folly]

This is my favourite necklace. It was given to me as a gift by a friend's mum, for being such a good friend to her daughter. The chain is platinum, but I have no real idea what the stones are. People say that if it's a platinum setting, then the smaller stones (not the square one) may be diamonds. I've been told the blue stones are very likely to be aqua-marine. It's art deco by the way

,

Victorian jet beads. They would have been thrown away had I not saved them. Almost binned because the string was broken

Pearls.

1950's diamante necklace, given to me by an elderly lady as a child, to play with.

 

[olive bleu]

these are two of my favourite pieces that hubby gave me for Christmas last year but didn't have a camera..i was over the moon! I especially love the pin with the little mexican guy.I always wear it when i go out for mexican of course

[/IMG]

 

[Lillemor]

How difficult is it to find earrings for pierced ears from 1920s-50s? Is there a way to tell that they're not newer retro earrings? Gold colored, pearl, aurora borealis or clear rhinestone pierced earrings is what I think would be the most versatile.

I've lost two clip earrings and I'm not interested in making any more of those experiences so I usually wear retro earrings for pierced ears or bar pole earrings if they compliment the other vintage costume jewelry I'm wearing that day.

 

[Vintage Betty]

Mojito - I finally had time to research this gorgeous set of yours. Based on my research, I believe the earrings to be 1920's and the bracelet to be 1930's.

The earrings = Ebay value: $25-85; Book value: $85-195

The bracelet = Ebay value: $150; Book value $350-$450

Thank you!
I made research and came up with different guides. The thing is that I can't tell if something is made of quality or not and date back yet.
I guess it's just a thing you learn over the time?!

Goldfish, the trick that most collectors and dealers use to identify an item is very simple: turn it over. For jewelry, you want to look at the joints, the saudering, the glue or prongs holding a stone in the piece. For earrings, are they screw on, clip or do they have a maker's mark? Is the back simply wired together, or professionally joined to have a lovely back showing? This is a why I constantly ask people for close up photos or scans of the back or inside of the item; it will usually tell me more than the pretty front!

Here's some examples to help you know what to look for:

Example 1 Front: Blue Necklace

Pretty necklace, right? Nice blue stones, multi-colored, in a nice setting. What else can you tell from this view?

Example 1 Back: Blue Necklace
Now, what about this view?

The necklace tells us something which makes the value of the piece worth much more. See how the back is finished off nicely? No rough seams or edging, nicely polished (which costs more money), and the connectors are finished off nicely as well, joining each section? Very pretty from the back as well. But it's actually worth more money than it appears, because it has a maker's mark (hallmark):

Because this piece has quality stones, a nice setting that was finished off well, AND a maker's mark, it now can be identified with a time period and a book value.

Example 2 Front: Museum Earrings
Cute earrings, yes? What do you see at first glance?

The red stone might be a cheap garnet or ruby, but is probably red glass with red glass chips. How can I tell? The "pearls" are cheap imitations and becoming discolored, and the brass is discoloring - which means it wasn't coated well, denoting a cheaper product.

Example 2 Back: Museum Earrings

Not THIS is interesting. These aren't really earrings! If you see the slot on the end, someone took a broken necklace clasp and converted the two pieces into earrings! See the slot? That's the end of the necklace. The screw-on metal earring clips are not the same metal and time period of the piece and were glued on with non-commercial glue, which means the glue left a residue plus they are cheap quality, no where near the quality of these Edwardian brass necklace clasps.

Example 3 Front: Wreath Pin
How about this piece? What do you see?

It's a wreath pin which is slightly damaged due to chipping paint, bent metal and missing rhinestones. It came in a bag of broken jewelry that I bought for the pieces to repair other jewelry.

Example 3 Back: Wreath Pin

The back signed in not one place but two places with the word Coro; who is a sought-after jewelry maker. This particular mark was first used in 1940, so this places the maker and time period with accuracy and increases its value despite the damage, as damage can be repaired.

Does this help?

*bump* because I have a question!

I recently started buying vintage clip on earrings. I haven't started wearing them all day every day as they can really pinch after a few hours. I gather that is normal.

But what do you do when a pair is so tight that they start hurting within literally 2 minutes? Surely no one's ears could withstand such pressure! Is there any way of making the clips looser?

Also I have noticed with some of the smaller earrings, instead of the earring staying upright and the clip going diagonally into the lobe, they do the opposite - sinking in diagonally, so the bottom sticks out and looks silly. I don't know if there is any way of fixing this either?

Thanks.

Fleur - there are two things you can do to rectify this problem. For the clip on earrings being too tight, you need to purchase a "key" to adjust the tightness of the back, which in turn adjusts the pressure on your ear. One of these types of tools is called Earring Keys and can be purchased here among many other websites.

For the sinking, that is usually the earring adjusting to the natural inset of your cartiledge of your ear. In other words, the earring is just sinking down into the most obvious recess of your ear, and is perfectly normal. If you don't like where the earring resides, you can add foam pads to your ears, which will direct the earring to sit at a different spot on your ear while not applying too much pressure. Note: This doesn't always work, and when the foam pads starting getting squashed, the earring might start falling again, and the pads will than have to be replaced. There are also gripper sleeves, but these haven't worked for me in the past. Maybe the ones that are being manufactured now are better. Here's a very nice set that is a good price.

Folly and Olive-Blue, beautiful pieces! Olive-Bleu: that donkey cart piece has skyrocketed in price; keep it safe and blemish free for a higher dollar value for the future.

How difficult is it to find earrings for pierced ears from 1920s-50s? Is there a way to tell that they're not newer retro earrings? Gold colored, pearl, aurora borealis or clear rhinestone pierced earrings is what I think would be the most versatile.

I've lost two clip earrings and I'm not interested in making any more of those experiences so I usually wear retro earrings for pierced ears or bar pole earrings if they compliment the other vintage costume jewelry I'm wearing that day.

Lillemor: If you are asking about European earrings (vs earrings from India or Greece for example) 1920's-1950's typically had clip on earrings. It's rare to find pierced earrings, except as small hoops or studs or doll earrings which aren't earrings at all. There are exceptions of course, but the manufacturing of the period was mostly clip on during this period. What you can do, is convert the earrings to pierced, which would allow you to wear them, but also de-value the price of the earrings to $0, especially if they are signed earrings (Coro, etc). You can also convert a single or multiple earring into a necklace embellishment; if you want to know more info, I can comment on the thread responses.

 

[Kassia]

Ohhh some very nice pieces you gals have.. I have some jewellry that i got from my Mom and Grandmother so will try to take some pics later and post them.. Some are real stones and some are paste... I so wear some of them but not all the time.. I am off to a dance class today but will do the pictures tomoirrow morning.. Maybe you gals know if some of the stuff is worth anything..

 

[Lillemor]

Lillemor: If you are asking about European earrings (vs earrings from India or Greece for example) 1920's-1950's typically had clip on earrings. It's rare to find pierced earrings, except as small hoops or studs or doll earrings which aren't earrings at all. There are exceptions of course, but the manufacturing of the period was mostly clip on during this period. What you can do, is convert the earrings to pierced, which would allow you to wear them, but also de-value the price of the earrings to $0, especially if they are signed earrings (Coro, etc). You can also convert a single or multiple earring into a necklace embellishment; if you want to know more info, I can comment on the thread responses.

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions in both word and pictures. I'm also reading three books on vintage costume jewelry, how to purchase, recognize fakes etc. so some of the advice is familiar. I would probably stick to buying retro pierced earrings or only convert the cheap vintage earrings I know my dad paid max. $2-$5 so there won't really be a question of devaluation. If the clip ons are part of a set, I'll try to find similar pierced earrings.

I have a long strand of uneven jet beads but the string broke. I still love the charm of those uneven, facetted beads so I will try to fix it.

 

[LelaViavonie]

You ladies have some amazing peices of jewelry! I recently have become fascinated with jewelry so im just now getting on the ban wagon... although that does not help my EBay Habbit :rage:

 

[Mojito]

Mojito - I finally had time to research this gorgeous set of yours. Based on my research, I believe the earrings to be 1920's and the bracelet to be 1930's.

The earrings = Ebay value: $25-85; Book value: $85-195

The bracelet = Ebay value: $150; Book value $350-$450

Thank you so much, Vintage Betty! It makes me wonder if perhaps the bracelet, contrary to family legend, was not worn with the earrings and necklace at the engagement party, which would have been in 31 or 32. I'm very pleased to report that my Aunt has found and given me the necklace that matches the earrings - I'll photograph it soon and put it up here.

Your discussion of the characteristics of vintage jewelry was marvellously helpful as well - I'll have to absorb it!

 

[Vintage Betty]

My pleasure. Which books are you reading?

Vintage Betty

PS: Nice Dad!