Styles of Jewelry Over the Past 300 Years. How to Spot Reproductions and Fakes. How to Get Accurate Appraisals. How Much You Should Expect to Pay. Where to Find the Best Bargains.
The other day a friend told me that he tried to buy his wife a pink sapphire ring for $32,000 in the boutique of a famous design house. Fortunately she turned him down, because pink sapphires are only worth a few hundred dollars a caret.
I pointed out to him that he will always find the best buys in jewelry "second hand". Like fine art, jewelry does not lose it's value by having been pre-owned. On the otherhand, it increases in worth by having been worn and admired over the ages.
You can make this easy experiment. Visit several stores dealing in new jewelry and take a good look at the pieces you find attractive. Then visit an estate jeweler who specializes in jewelry that is pre-owned. You will find that the older the piece, the more warmth and charm it will radiate. The difference can be quite marked.
Old poor quality jewelry is usually scraped for its gold value and the stones are reset in more modern designs. Only the finer pieces end up with the estate jewelry dealer. You will find the workmanship to be finer because it is handmade by expert craftsmen, not machine made. And the prices a lot better because the demand for estate jewelry, though growing quickly, is not at the level of modern jewelry.
In these pages, we cover the following topics. Just click on those you would like to view.
Styles of Jewelry Over the Past 300 Years.
How to Spot Reproductions and Fakes.
How to Get Accurate Appraisals.
How Much You Should Expect to Pay.
Where to Find the Best Bargains.
And any other subject on Antique and Vintage Jewelry you would like to suggest. Just Email me your topic suggestions to headress@tampabay.rr.com by clicking at the bottem of the page.
Fred Hare
Links to other sites on the Web
Fine antique and estate jewelry for sale.
Curioscape - The Internet's Exclusive Directory for Antiquing and Collecting on the Net.
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