Vintage Costume Jewelry

Deciding to start your vintage costume jewelry collection brings all kinds of excitement! All the sparkle, all the glamour of a time gone by. It's jewelry made well, and which has stood the test of years. They are fascinating, and who doesn't love looking at jewelry?

But before you dive headfirst into buying your new treasures, you need to decide the "why" of your collecting. Here are the three main types:

Just Want to Wear It: If this you, buy what you like, when you like! Signed or unsigned, it really doesn't matter -- only that you love it.

Collecting for Investment: You'll want the name designers with signed pieces. Your jewelry will be cataloged and probably not worn; especially since some of the pieces are so valuable!

Collecting to Wear and Invest: This is probably most of us. We'll collect some pieces that we love to look at, but probably won't ever wear (but which are highly collectible). Then we'll also find collectible able pieces that we just love to wear (and proudly, too).

Signed or Unsigned Jewelry?

Unless you're buying just because you love it, you'll likely want to stick with signed jewelry pieces for your collection. The biggest exception to this rule is Juliana vintage jewelry, which wasn't normally signed (except by a paper hangtag).

Staying with signed designer pieces means that you're buying a known quality. And it's also easier to sell signed pieces when you want to upgrade your collection.

The Importance of Reference Books

I cannot stress the importance of getting at least one or two good reference books on vintage costume jewelry. You'll learn what's worth collecting, and the styles of jewelry the maker made. The books are loaded with color photos of both jewelry and vintage ads showcasing the jewelry.

You'll also learn about the marks the designers signed with. Some marks are more valuable than others, and they did change over time. You need to know what's truly a bargain and what's nice, but overpriced. Below are some excellent costume jewelry books that I recommend before doing any serious costume jewelry collecting.

OK, so you've decided that you'd like to start collecting some signed vintage jewelry. But there are so many manufacturers! Which ones are valuable and which ones are just pretty?

The reason you need to know this is twofold. First, you don't want to pay too much for a piece; just because it's signed, doesn't mean it's valuable. Conversely, you need to know when a piece is a steal...or at least being offered at a fair price.

Famous Collectible Designers (1930s-1960s)

Although vintage technically refers to anything at least 20 years old, the most collectible at the moment are pieces that date from the 1930s through 1960s. Not to say that pieces from the 70s and 80s can't eventually be just as valuable; only that they aren't at the moment.

Some famous, affordable and collectible vintage costume jewelry designers with whom you can start your collection include the following:

Coro
Eisenberg
Hollycraft
Kramer
Lisner
Trifari
Weiss

Some other highly collectible (but more expensive) vintage jewelry carries the names of:

Hattie Carnegie
Juliana
Miriam Haskell
Sherman
Schiaparelli

Just a note: Juliana jewelry isn't signed, but is very, very popular. You need to learn more about Juliana before spending money on it, because it's usually not inexpensive.

These lists are not comprehensive; there are other designers who are also collectible, but usually more for sets rather than single pieces. The exception to this may be in their Christmas Tree pins, which tend to be quite collectable in general.

When you start your journey into the wonderful world of vintage costume jewelry collections, you'll have to consider if you should buy single pieces or sets.

Single pieces are obvious; a pair of earrings, a brooch, necklace, bracelet. Sometimes pieces were made just as one kind, other times they were parts of sets. And that's where demi parure and parure come into play.

Parure Versus Demi Parure

A parure is a set that consists of at least three pieces. For example, it could be earrings, brooch and bracelet. Or bracelet, necklace and earrings. You get the idea. A full parure, with four pieces, is even more valuable.

A demi parure consists of two pieces of a set. Examples of demi parures are a brooch and earrings, or earrings and necklace. But any two pieces of a set qualify as a demi.

What you need to know is that a demi or full parure is more collectible than single pieces, and is very often worth more than the sum of its parts.

What About Single Pieces?

Many people (including myself) started out with single pieces of signed jewelry. And there is nothing wrong with that! After all, most of what you will see are single pieces.

Even with single pieces, you can keep a watchful eye out for other single pieces of the set that will make yours a demi or even full parure. I've many times seen two pieces of a set go for just a few dollars separately, but as a set sell for much more. So it's worth keeping an eye out for set-mates when you can.

Whether you go with single pieces or sets often depends on your budget -- not to mention what you find available! So buy what you like and can afford when you find it.