Vintage costume jewelry, unlike the fashion jewelry sold in department stores today, actually appreciates in value so you have to know what you are looking for when purchasing. Identifying the profitable pieces to collect boils down to knowing what actually determines value on the market.
Costume jewelry is always mass-produced using cheaper materials like semi-precious stones. Costume pieces were basically your low-cost but flashy alternatives to the fine jewelry. None of the fashion pieces sold in department stores today will ever appreciate in value but this is not the case with most vintage pieces. Making big money is possible when collecting but you need to understand what determines value so you can purchase the most profitable pieces to resale. One needs to look at five different components to determine value:
Rarity
Market Demand
Originality of Design
Craftsmanship and Materials
Condition
The demand varies greatly among costume jewelry pieces and can play a larger role than any other variable when it comes to final price determination. Simple economics dictates that higher demand will command a higher price. Currently, signed pieces by Miriam Haskell are en vogue and commanding top dollar in the collectible world. Learning which pieces are collectible and which are just pretty is the most critical step towards collecting for a profit. True collectors seeking profits need to remember that the popular pieces do not always have great designs or materials--but they still tend to be more profitable to collect.
What, if any, variables will influence demand for a piece and perhaps make it more valuable? The design of the piece itself plays a large role in the demand for the piece and thus also has a big affect upon value. Seasoned investors sometimes avoid collecting the signed vintage pieces because everyone is already looking for them. Instead, they will focus on unsigned but well-designed pieces because they tend to be more profitable than many of the signed necklaces, brooches, etc. A large portion of the entire vintage costume stock is unsigned despite having been made by some of the most respected companies in the industry. The unsigned pieces tend to be undervalued and the most profitable to collect and one sure way to identify a particular manufacturer is by design. Unsigned pieces by companies like Bergere and B. David are highly prized by collectors and can be identified by their distinctive but high quality designs.
If other pricing factors are held constant, then the rarity of the piece will greatly determine value. While there were dozens of manufacturers, they all produced jewelry in varying quantities. Profits tend to be lower when talking about pieces made by the larger players like Coro and Accessocraft who produced jewelry in large batches. DeMario, McClelland, and other small companies might only have batch sizes numbering in the hundreds.
When other pricing variables are held constant, signed pieces from the small companies tend to be worth more money. Still, careful research is required because even larger manufacturers sometimes produced specialty batches. These were smaller batches making the pieces more valuable than others produced by the same company.
The overall design is accentuated by the quality of craftsmanship and materials used to produce each piece. The gemstones are typically the most relevant materials to the price of a vintage piece of costume jewelry. Costume jewelry is literally defined by its relatively cheap materials and yet there were a select few manufacturers who almost always used superior materials and production techniques. When talking about gemstone quality, the best companies to look for are:
Bogoff
Bergere
Weiss
Eisenberg
As with all antique valuations, the final condition of the piece plays a pivotal role in the price determination. Be careful to note and account for any excessive signs of wear, discoloration, lost stones, or damage of any kind to the jewelry as this will necessarily lower value. Remember, even vintage pieces showing considerable signs of wear can still command $100 or more. As all vintage costume jewelry has some degree of wear given its age, collectors still make handsome profits by collecting and selling even the "ugly pieces".
Costume jewelry is always mass-produced using cheaper materials like semi-precious stones. Costume pieces were basically your low-cost but flashy alternatives to the fine jewelry. None of the fashion pieces sold in department stores today will ever appreciate in value but this is not the case with most vintage pieces. Making big money is possible when collecting but you need to understand what determines value so you can purchase the most profitable pieces to resale. One needs to look at five different components to determine value:
Rarity
Market Demand
Originality of Design
Craftsmanship and Materials
Condition
The demand varies greatly among costume jewelry pieces and can play a larger role than any other variable when it comes to final price determination. Simple economics dictates that higher demand will command a higher price. Currently, signed pieces by Miriam Haskell are en vogue and commanding top dollar in the collectible world. Learning which pieces are collectible and which are just pretty is the most critical step towards collecting for a profit. True collectors seeking profits need to remember that the popular pieces do not always have great designs or materials--but they still tend to be more profitable to collect.
What, if any, variables will influence demand for a piece and perhaps make it more valuable? The design of the piece itself plays a large role in the demand for the piece and thus also has a big affect upon value. Seasoned investors sometimes avoid collecting the signed vintage pieces because everyone is already looking for them. Instead, they will focus on unsigned but well-designed pieces because they tend to be more profitable than many of the signed necklaces, brooches, etc. A large portion of the entire vintage costume stock is unsigned despite having been made by some of the most respected companies in the industry. The unsigned pieces tend to be undervalued and the most profitable to collect and one sure way to identify a particular manufacturer is by design. Unsigned pieces by companies like Bergere and B. David are highly prized by collectors and can be identified by their distinctive but high quality designs.
If other pricing factors are held constant, then the rarity of the piece will greatly determine value. While there were dozens of manufacturers, they all produced jewelry in varying quantities. Profits tend to be lower when talking about pieces made by the larger players like Coro and Accessocraft who produced jewelry in large batches. DeMario, McClelland, and other small companies might only have batch sizes numbering in the hundreds.
When other pricing variables are held constant, signed pieces from the small companies tend to be worth more money. Still, careful research is required because even larger manufacturers sometimes produced specialty batches. These were smaller batches making the pieces more valuable than others produced by the same company.
The overall design is accentuated by the quality of craftsmanship and materials used to produce each piece. The gemstones are typically the most relevant materials to the price of a vintage piece of costume jewelry. Costume jewelry is literally defined by its relatively cheap materials and yet there were a select few manufacturers who almost always used superior materials and production techniques. When talking about gemstone quality, the best companies to look for are:
Bogoff
Bergere
Weiss
Eisenberg
As with all antique valuations, the final condition of the piece plays a pivotal role in the price determination. Be careful to note and account for any excessive signs of wear, discoloration, lost stones, or damage of any kind to the jewelry as this will necessarily lower value. Remember, even vintage pieces showing considerable signs of wear can still command $100 or more. As all vintage costume jewelry has some degree of wear given its age, collectors still make handsome profits by collecting and selling even the "ugly pieces".
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→Pricing Vintage Costume Jewelry
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→http://fromemaliwithlove.blogspot.com/2011/04/pricing-vintage-costume-jewelry.html
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