Tuesday, November 8, 2011

What's in Style Right Now? Vintage! Part 2

Continuing with the article I saw yesterday about great jewelry buys for under $100, I wanted to look at item number 2. 


It's for sale for $26.96.

I betcha I can find some Vintage Jewelry that has the same style!


VezaVe has this great 1950s Necklace


Shopon Sherman has this great Coro Lucite Set!  (Look! Earrings too!)


Creativegatherings has this one, with fantastic lemon glass and rhinestones!

All these previous necklaces were found on Etsy in less than 5 minutes.

Goes to show, you can find great vintage jewelry that's low on cost and high on style!

More to come!

Monday, November 7, 2011

What's in Style right now? Vintage!

I was reading the news this morning and found an article entitled "Bright baubles: Get statement jewelry for under $100" on msnbc.com. Looking at the image on that page, I saw vintage pieces, even though those pieces were new! 

Lets do a comparison.  Here's a screenshot from that webpage:



Number 1:  The BaubleBar Drop Earrings, priced at $94

I found earrings on Etsy that had a similar style for much less.

Like these from Masterymixedmedia

or these by PritiStar

or these by JanasTreasures


We'll keep visiting these suggestions over the next few blog posts.  In the meantime, don't pay $94 for a pair of earrings when you can pay less for jewelry that's got much more style, and history!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Trust

Trust is one of the most important things in any relationship, but especially in the relationship between buyer and seller.  I understand that when people are purchasing from me, online, they are trusting in my photos, my descriptions, and that my prices are fair.  I trust that they will be honest with me regarding any issues they may have and that they will deal as fairly with me as I try and deal with them.  Thus far, my trust has not ever been broken.

However, I know several sellers who have had that trust broken by buyers, and several buyers who have had that trust broken by sellers.  This does not help the overall culture of online commerce.  As a result, there are somethings that I do to help preserve the trust. For in-country purchases, I use delivery confirmation.  This way, I know that a package I shipped arrived at the address given to me by the buyer.  For pieces that are more expensive, I purchase shipping insurance.  I use only shipping companies that I trust, like the USPS.  I use only PayPal.

Does that mean that I am not trusting when I do these things? Or do these things make trust more possible?

Friday, July 8, 2011

Struggles

I am not a natural saleswoman.  Sure, when I was little I had a lemonade stand periodically throughout the summers, and when I was in Girl Scouts I sold cookies.  I never "worked retail" though.  I did flirt with the idea of selling stuff like Tupperware or Pampered Chef or even Lia Sophia jewelry, but was talked out of it by my hubby.  I liked the stuff, but I'm not a very good seller.

Which is one of the reasons why I don't seem to be doing so well with the blogging bit.  Blogging requires salesmanship. However, I truely believe that with effort, anyone can turn a weakness into a strength.

Through the encouragement of several friends, I've improved my tweeting abilities (@PinkAstilbe), and I've even got a semi-decent facebook page, though I'm not very good at finding followers.  Like me please!

I'm starting to realize that I cannot just tweet the newest items that I've listed.  I need to share my personality with people.  I need to sell not just my jewelry, but myself.

I'm going to try and be better with the blogging.  Not just focus on vintage jewelry.  I'm NOT going to delete my old posts, they're part of the learning curve. However, I will try and be a bit better with them.

Thanks for following me, if you did!

-Joanne
PinkAstilbe Vintage

Monday, April 25, 2011

Two of my current favorite pieces

I do collect jewelry, and I sell jewelry.  Sometimes I'll buy a piece intending to sell it so that I can then buy more expensive pieces, but then I end up falling in love with them.  My husband tells me to list everything I buy for the purpose of selling, regardless of if I fall in love with those pieces.  I have two pieces listed in my Etsy store that I am getting the biggest kick out of wearing lately.  I get so many compliments on them that I'm surprised they haven't sold yet!

The first is a vintage milk glass and metal floral brooch that also has a bail on the back to be worn as a pendant.  It is so cute, springy and lovely!  It weighs almost next to nothing and doesn't appear from any one particular decade.  I'd guess it to be in the 1960's but it works with modern styles so easily!  (You can see the listing here.)


The second is also a brooch and pendant combo.  This one has the tiniest cameo set in the middle of an abstract-ish five petal flower and accented with small rhinestones.  It too is so modern looking but with that vintage flavor, I'm not sure why it hasn't sold either!  (You can see the listing here.)


I certainly hope you can see why I love these pieces!  They've got so much personality. Both are unsigned, but both have prong-set stones and lovely detail work.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Lessons Learned

One of the big deal makers in costume jewelry is DeLizza & Elster.  The problem is, they never signed their pieces because they often made jewelry for other companies.  They had one line of jewelry that was only out for about two years called "Juliana."  Most people will refer to jewelry made by DeLizza & Elster as "D&E Juliana" or just "Juliana."

I'd been thinking that Juliana jewelry was way out of my league price-wise and had mistakenly assumed that I wouldn't find any where I shop.  Because of this stupid assumption, I had put off doing a lot of research on it.  I mean, I'm in grad school and doing research on a daily basis; I really didn't want to do any more. 

I've learned a hard lesson.  Turns out, a piece I recently sold was D&E, and I could have asked at least double what I did, AND I discovered that two pieces I already had were D&E Juliana. Simply because I looked at THIS excellent webpage!  I've gone and amended my listings.  You can see these pieces HERE and HERE.

Lesson Learned!  Do your research!

I'm still trying to come up with more ideas for blog posts.  Maybe I'll write a full on APA style research paper on D&E Juliana jewelry and link it here... after I'm done with grad school.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cheating?

I got a new "part time job" working at a local antique store / re-sale shop organizing the jewelry displays.  I'll be paid in jewelry. 

Does this count as cheating?

=D

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Maker's Mark: G.L.P.

I'm planning to use this blog to share information that I find while researching marks and signatures on the back of vintage pieces.

One of the pieces that I picked up recently is an Amethyst brooch with the initials G.L.P on the back of the clasp.

It took a while for me to find any information, because this company was not very big, nor was it in business for very long, but here's what I found:

"The George L. Paine Company was founded in Attleboro, Massachusetts shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. They produced solid gold and gold filled pieces according to the book American Jewelry Manufactures by Dorothy Rainwater on page 184." (Item listing on Amazing Adornments)

"The George L. Paine Company of Attleboro, MA was in business from 1909-1922." (Item listing on Worthpoint)

And finally:

"G.L.P., or G.L.P.CO, is the hallmark for George L Paine & Company. Founded in 1909 in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, and last known in business in 1922. Their products were mostly solid gold, 10k gold front and gold-filled jewellery. Marks used on jewellery - G.L.P., G.L.P.CO, GLP, GLP CO." (Vintage Cove)

The first quote has given me a resource to check out from the library. It's on my request list from inter-library loan.  Once I get it, I'll try and put more information up on this company. 

Until then, you can check out the brooch at my Etsy store.  G.L.P Art Nouveau or Edwardian Amethyst Brooch

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Do you like Mysteries?

Here's a mystery for you.  What is this piece?  It has no hardware on the back and no markings to show that hardware ever existed.  As you can tell, it's got some fantastic artistry to it with all that wire roping. 


Visit the Etsy Listing for more information on this piece.

Isn't it so cool???

Why I love Vintage

It's so cool!

The pieces are usually very different from anything you'll find in "mall-world" and they have such personality.  Just like jewelry at the mall, there are different price points in vintage jewelry.  So no matter what your budget you can find pieces you like and can afford. 

Most of the pieces are well made.  As evidence in the fact they've made it this long, many vintage jewelry pieces are simply constructed better than modern pieces.  Let's face it, quality has dropped as companies have lowered standards inorder to raise profits.

Speaking of price point, the other thing with vintage jewelry is that its collectible.  So when you're ready to move up in price-point, you can always re-sell the jewelry you have in order to buy more of what you want.  There are all sorts of collectors out there.

Here's one of my favorite pieces in my collection right now.  This little heart pin I bought recently at a local antique store for $5.00.  It was labeled as purple glass and "antique."  Turns out it is a genuine amethyst, with a gold plated over silver setting, and is worth over $100.  Beyond the fabulous bargain, I wear it because it makes me smile...and that's what good jewelry should do.  It should make you feel pretty and make you smile.  I happen to find that joy in Vintage jewelry.


I have two pieces very similar in appearance to this on sale at my Etsy store. One is a GLP signed brooch, and the other is unsigned, but still gorgeous!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

What the heck is a Pink Astilbe?

Welcome to Pink Astilbe Vintage! I'm so glad that you've found us and want to know more.

First of all, an explanation. It's pronounced "Uh-still-bee" and its a flower that grows in my garden.

When I started my Etsy store, I had to come up with a user name that would also be part of my URL. Originally, I was making beaded jewelry and thought that it was good enough to sell. My first ideas, things like "beads-r-us" or "beading-chick" were taken, which ended up being a good thing. My hand-made jewelry was nice enough that people smiled at me and liked them as gifts, but honestly, no one would pay for them.

Regardless, I still needed a name. I spent a good couple of hours staring at the screen trying to come up with a great name. I finally sighed, leaned back in my chair and stared vacantly out the window at my garden. What was in bloom? Roses? All the possible combinations with "rose" in the name was taken. Sweet Woodruff? Taken. Creeping Charlie? Too creepy. Finally my eyes settled on the fluffy puffs of the Pink Astilbe in bloom underneath my gnarly old tree.

Aha! Pink Astilbe! Unique enough that no one would likely have it and, luckily for me, vague enough that when I switched from trying to sell my not quite right handmade jewelry to sharing my love of vintage jewelry (and subsequently funding my vintage jewelry habit) it made the switch with me.

Here's a picture of a Pink Astilbe flower for your reference.

Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to share my love of vintage jewelry, information that I've learned about vintage jewelry from my own research, and increase awareness of my store. Look for further posts with new listings, announcements of sales and even hints about finding good pieces! -PAV