Jewelry that is more than 100 years old is classified as antique. Such jewelry is collected for its beauty, its uniqueness and its investment potential. Market fluctuations do not usually affect the value of antique jewelry. With the demand for it being higher than its availability, prices go up. Of course, in the present depressed economy, almost everything has been negatively impacted with the exception of high-end items.

Types of antique jewelry

Antique jewelry is grouped, generally, by historical periods. Each type is characterized by the prevalent styles and fashions of the period in which it was made and the country in which it was made.

As antique jewelry is handmade to a large extent—it was around 1830 that the mass-manufacturing mania caught on in the jewelry industry—we also have the variety presented by each individual jeweler’s unique skills and design sense.

So, how do you know what to collect?

Go by your personal preferences and the jewelry you find interesting. Let your jewelry collection reflect your unique style. Start small, and then expand your scope as you learn more about jewelry and collecting.

You can collect by—

• Period— Georgian, Victorian, Art Nouveau, Edwardian, the Louis style, the Belle Epoque style, the Empire style, etc.

Edwardian bangle

Art Nouveau pin

To learn more about this bangle, click here and here for the pin.

• Theme—Flowers, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, dragons, geometric shapes, cameos, etc.

• Type—rings, bangles, necklaces, stickpins, brooches, lavalieres, pendants, charms, earrings, cuff links, watches, etc.

• Designer—Girolami Venturi, Thomas Flach, Albini, Christian Taute, Lalique, Tiffany, Cartier, etc.

• Metals—yellow gold, red gold, white gold, silver, platinum, etc.

• Gems—diamonds, sapphires, opals, emeralds, paste stones, pearls, coral, turquoise, moonstone, etc.

Lalique glass pendant

This beautiful pendant is being offered on GoAntiques.

Okay, now what should you do before you start collecting antique jewelry?

Get informed. That really should be the first step for collectors in every field. It will save you from being gulled, and it will garner you respect from the professionals. Antique dealers and jewelers are more likely to give you tips about upcoming antique jewelry for sale if they know you are a connoisseur worth your salt.

So build up a good reference library on antique jewelry. See the book list at the end of the story. Learn about—

• The different historical periods of antique jewelry and the different jewelry styles that were prevalent in each;

• The special characteristics of specific period jewelry—the design motifs used, the design elements, the metals and gems used, how hinges, clasps and settings were fashioned;

• The distinguishing differences between real antique jewelry and new reproductions;

• Hallmarks, maker’s marks and caratage rules;

• Different diamond cuts. Specific cuts—rose cuts, cushion cuts, brilliant cuts—were fashionable in specific periods. Knowing them can help you identify the period of the jewelry.

Tiffany yellow-gold ring

Click here for more information this gorgeous ring.

Visit online auction sites like GoAntiques to see what is currently available and at what rates. Know what is most sought after.

Here are some places where you can buy antique jewelry.

• Online—Check online stores, auction sites like GoAntiques, jewelry collectors’ Web sites.

• Antique and jewelry shops—Some shops specialize in antique jewelry.

• Estate sales—Heirloom treasures may crop up here.

• Antique auctions—Auctions organized by auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s are probably your best bet for getting extraordinary and rare antique jewelry. At, of course, appropriately exorbitant prices. You may also find outstanding pieces at jewelers who specialize in only the finest pieces.

• Antique dealers—Establish contacts with reputed antique dealers, and ask them to look out for antique jewelry for you.

Carved Elizabethan lady cameo

Find more information about this beautiful cameo by going to GoAntiques.

Here’s what you ought to do before buying antique jewelry.

Set a definite budget.

Visit different outlets and compare prices for similar types of jewelry.

Examine the jewelry. Check for maker’s marks, metal color inconsistencies at solder joins and seams, indications of repairs or breakage. Ask online sellers for closeup photos.

Ask if the jewelry has ever been repaired or the gemstones replaced. Repairs and replacements detract from value. Inquire about metals used and about provenance.

Check if hinges, catches and settings are in good condition. Some amount of wear is expected in antique jewelry, but it shouldn’t be too worn.

Check if the design elements and forming techniques correspond to the period in which it was made.

Bakelite cameo pin

This unusual pin is being offered on GoAntiques.

Ask the jeweler for a “return within a week for a full refund” buying option while you have the jewelry appraised. Get this buying option and the jewelry description detailed on the receipt, and have it appraised by an independent, certified jeweler.

Caring for your antique jewelry

• Keep it safe and insured.

• Know how to store. Diamonds, for example, scratch other diamonds if heaped together. Opals, corals and turquoise are easily damaged. Necklace strands get entangled. Pearls spoil if not aired from time to time, and pearl silk strands weaken if hung up. Store in separate trays and not in an airless safe.

• Avoid daily use. Household and garden chemicals adversely affect the jewelry. Also, antiques may not stand up to regular wear, and repairs are hard, expensive and value reducing.

A well-cared, lovingly assembled jewelry collection is an aesthetic pleasure, and it may also prove to be financially rewarding.

Cartier engagement ring, circa 1905

The Cartier ring is without question a beauty. Click here if you would like to find out more.

Recommended reading

“Antique Jewelry: A Practical & Passionate Guide” by Rose Leiman Goldemberg

“The Official Identification and Price Guide to Antique Jewelry (Official Price Guide to Antique Jewelry)” by Arthur Guy Kaplan

“Antique Trader Jewelry Price Guide” by Kyle Husfloen

“A Connoisseur’s Guide to Antique Jewelry” by Ronald Pearsall

“Jeweled Garden: A Colorful History of Gems, Jewelry, and Nature” by Suzanne Tennenbaum

“Masterpieces of French Jewelry” by Judith Price

“Illustrated Guide to Jewelry Appraising, 3rd Edition: Antique, Period, and Modern” by Anna M. Miller

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Examples of Bakelite

It started with a cardboard box at a garage sale purchased for $1. In the box was a plastic jewelry set—a bracelet, ring and earrings—all in polka dots. That was the beginning of Maggie Turnipseed’s collecting Bakelite plastics. “There is something about the quality of the pieces. They are very smooth, and they come in a rainbow of colors,” said Turnipseed, a WorthPoint expert on a wide spectrum of collectibles and antiques from hatpins to Victorian jewelry to cast-iron doorstops.

“I wish I could collect just one thing, but I am always finding something new,” said Turnipseed, who is an antique dealer and an accredited appraiser of antiques and residential contents with the International Society of Appraisers. Her specialties are decorative arts, Victoriana, Victorian and Edwardian jewelry, American art pottery and Mexican sterling.

Bakelite wasn’t in her résumé, but Turnipseed applied her tried-and-true technique to the new collectible. “That’s how I usually start. I buy something that catches my eye, and then I try to learn everything I can about it,” she said. “The learning is the most fun.” For Maggie’s blog on Bakelite, click here.

It all began in the 1970s when as a college student Turnipseed became fascinated with hatpins. The pins at 9 to 18 inches (big enough to secure a large hat in thickly piled hair) were stylish and often decorated with gemstones and porcelain. “They were part of an elegant age, although they were really made to hold on a hat,” Turnipseed said.

Antique hatpins

Collecting something as small and obscure as a hatpin in the days before the Internet was a challenge, but over the years, Turnipseed continued gathering them, and today some hatpins sell for thousands of dollars. For more information on them, visit the American Hatpin Society.

From hatpins, Turnipseed moved on to chatelaines, purses worn on the waist that are the forerunner of the lady’s handbag; tussie-mussies, cone-shaped, flower holders carried by Victorian ladies; tea balls, the delicate, little metal-and-silver infusers for brewing tea; and Victorian jewelry.

Chatelaine

“If there is a theme here, they are all very feminine items from the Victorian and Art Nouveaux eras,” Turnipseed said. They can also be described as the art and artifact of a genteel lifestyle now long gone.

The tussie-mussie, or nosegay, for example, had both practical and romantic applications. In the more odiferous Victorian Age, a time of soot, open sewers and carriage-horse droppings, the nosegay, held in hand by a finger ring, could provide a scented burst of relief. The flowers were also signs and symbols—the Langue of Flowers it was called. Pansies signified loving thoughts, mint warm feelings, ivy friendship. “Just think of putting the wrong flower in your tussie-mussie and sending the wrong message!” Turnipseed said. Click here to learn more about tussie-mussies.

A tussie-mussie

Among Turnipseed’s newest collections is Victorian jewelry, which just like the Bakelite, began with acquiring a few random pieces that caught her eye. “It is the story of my life. I go to an antique show and get distracted. I should wear blinders,” she said.

Again, as she did with Bakelite, Turnipseed embarked on the study of Victorian jewelry, collecting books and price guides. “You just read and read,” she said. “The Internet has also made a big different because now you can see pictures of so many items.”

At the moment, Victorian jewelry and Victoriana are a buyer’s market. “Victoriana just is not ‘it’ right now,” Turnipseed said. It is a cautionary tale of the fickle nature of the collectibles market. “Art Deco and midcentury are hotter because that is what the young are collecting, if they are collecting at all.”

So Victoriana may be in that soft spot between really old and rare and really trendy and really a good buy. “I am hanging on to my collection,” Turnipseed said. “One day the market will turn. I’m betting on it.”

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