For New Collectors:
Why Collect Unsigned Vintage Costume Jewelry?
1. The vast majority of
vintage, and especially antique (pre-1930) costume jewelry is unsigned. You will
miss way too many highly collectible items. Many unsigned pieces are just as
beautiful, well-made and durable as signed jewelry, and they are far less
expensive. It's good to learn inexpensively when you start collecting.
2. Many wonderful designer jewelry firms failed to sign their jewelry during
different periods or different circumstances. For instance, much early Miriam
Haskell jewelry is unsigned.In fact, many designers never signed their
earliest pieces.
Eisenberg failed to sign some of their jewelry
between 1950 and 1975. You can ID some of the jewels they made through this
period through vintage
ads. Be
sure to go to antique fairs to look at and hold real Eisenberg jewelry.
Then you will understand how it is made and what the backs look like (many
online dealers show images of backs) so you don't end up with a cheap knockoff,
or worse yet, fake Eisenberg.
Weiss left many of their jewels unsigned. These were wholesaled to
department stores like Sears and J.C. Penny's, who would put the jewelry in
their own gift boxes. One of the most fun jewelry collecting categories would be
unsigned Weiss. Buy jewelry books and look at photos of signed Weiss jewels.
Then try to find them in the field unsigned. Most dealers don't mark up Weiss
jewelry if it is unsigned, and you can find it all over flea markets, thrift
stores & auctions. With so much fake Weiss on the market, its more fun
to find an unsigned Weiss than to turn over the back of the jewelry you ordered
online and find it's fake!
Anyhow, these are my main
reasons for collecting unsigned vintage & antique costume jewelry.
In addition, books frequently
recommended for beginning collectors:
|
