Costume Jewelry - The Vintage Stuff is Worth Some Serious Dough!

Fashion jewelry made its first appearance in the U.S. following the conclusion of World War I. First purchased in French boutiques by American GI’s fighting in the war, superbly crafted yet inexpensive costume bracelets, pendants, and necklaces were purchased in record numbers. New designs featuring a host of semi-precious stones and unique materials caused a rapid rise in popularity allowing the poorer Americans to feel rich. Soon after, American companies quickly dominated the market. Some of the most popular manufacturers of vintage costume jewelry include:

• Trifari
• Florenza
• Weiss
• Eisenberg

Authentic costume pieces are basically any type of jewelry not featuring any type of precious metal or gemstone yet produced in large quantities. This cheap yet beautiful alternative soon found its way into jewelry collections across the nation. Essentially, the jewelry was a thrifty alternative to the relatively excessively priced fine pieces made of out precious metals and featuring gemstones like diamonds, rubies, sapphires, or perhaps even pearls.

Virtually any vintage fashion jewelry was readily available for anywhere between $1-10 prior to World War II. Some manufacturers were forced to go out of business during the Great Depression, but surprisingly, a lot of the companies survived and did quite well after World War II. The hay day for the jewelry came in the 1950's and 60's spurred on heavily by advertising on television. Today, high quality costume pieces are more popular than ever and make great gifts for young girls, teenagers, and even adults just looking to add some diversity to their jewelry collection.

While cheap to buy when first released, vintage costume jewelry pieces produced between 1920-1970 are often seen as treasured collectibles in today's frenzied market. Incredibly, there are many pieces being sold in flea markets for a few bucks while being worth hundreds! There are three main things that help determine the value of authentic vintage pieces:

• Rarity
• Stone/Gemstone Quality
• Craftsmanship

Although there were a number of manufacturers, they produced jewelry in varying quantities. For instance, major players like Florenza and Coventry unleashed thousands of copies for every design. Some of the smaller manufacturers like Barclays, DeMario, and McClelland produced much smaller volumes and as such pieces made by them are both rarer and worth more money on the marketplace. Indeed when all other factors are held even, the DeMario necklace will almost always be worth more than a similarly designed Coro version. You definitely need to do your homework, however, because even the large players produced some designs in small quantities making them more valuable than typical pieces from the company.

In many cases, the quality of the stone plays the largest role when it comes to determining value. While none of the stones would be considered "precious" in the traditional sense, there were companies that crafted pieces consistently using high quality stones and semi-precious gemstones, such as:

• Eisenberg
• Bogoff
• Weiss
• Hollycraft

One place renown for using exceptionally high quality stones is Eisenberg. It is hard to find a piece at a flea market that is not already high-priced unless you happen to stumble upon an unsigned one. You want to locate those pieces produced by Hollycraft, Weiss, and Bogoff because they tend to be under-priced on the market and thus make a better investment. Besides the materials used, the quality of metal and craftsmanship will help determine how valuable a piece is on today's market Manufacturers known to consistently craft superior pieces were:

• Danecraft
• Trifari
• Kramer
• Monet

Jon Kreps is a jewelry expert specializing in vintage cameos, indian jewelry, and authentic costume jewelry. To learn more about cameos or other vintage jewelry, visit http://www.vintagetemptations.com

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