You're asking me???

I still consider myself a vintage jewelry newbie.  I have loads of questions about designers, construction, identifying pieces, pricing, and other topics. Sometimes I worry that I make myself a right pest when I'm chatting with members of the EcoChic team on Etsy.

But recently, I was asked by one of my supervisors at work to look at some costume jewelry that her father had started buying at estate sales.  According to her, her dad had met someone who'd made "Loads and loads of money" buying jewelry cheap and then re-selling it. He had decided to start buying lots of jewelry at the ends of estate sales in the hopes that he'd have something good and make "Loads and loads of money." So Cath had brought in a box of her father's finds for me to look at.  "Is any of this any good?" she wondered.

I started to go through the pile. In the back of my mind, I was thinking "I don't really know a whole lot, I only know enough to be dangerous." But she asked for my help, and being a teacher by trade, I am always happy to share my knowledge.  Her dad didn't have anything spectacular, there were no unsigned Miriam Haskells or rare DeLizza & Elster Juliana Parures or anything. Pity. After I sorted out the pieces stamped "Chico's" and "Claire's" I took a hard look at what was left. 

Her father has a good eye: he had several gorgeous Lisner and Coro pieces with unusual Aurora Borealis, Ruby colored or Topaz stones, BUT they were missing more than half the stones or had other damage to the pieces! Everytime I saw one of these pieces missing the stones I groaned a little inside. I told her that unless her dad found someone who wanted the pieces for crafting, he wasn't going to get hardly any money for those pieces because they were missing stones and were broken.

For the remainder of the items, I wasn't sure how to start pricing them for her, so I told her the truth. "The only information I can give you is what I would price these things for MY store."  Most of the pieces that she had, I genuinely would price at about $10 or $12 a piece.  But there was one star piece in the whole pile. Her dad had found a B. David choker made with tiny perfect pink rhinestones. The rhodium plating was perfect, all the stones were bright and clear.  I told her honestly that I would price that choker at between $30 and $40 in my shop, and that if she was willing, I'd buy it off of her for a fair (agreed between the two of us) price.

She sold it to me, and then said that she was glad that I was willing to look at the jewelry and she'd probably have more from her dad in the future. I left work that day still stunned that someone had come to me looking for advice on costume jewelry. 

I still consider myself a vintage jewelry newbie, but I've come to realize that I'm like my students in many ways.  I always tell them, "You know more than you think you know. You've just got to trust yourself."  So now, I realized that I know more than I think I know, and I just have to trust myself.

I feel confident that the information I shared with her was correct, and that I was fair and honest in my dealings with her. There's not much more that you can ask of yourself.

I will still include that disclaimer when talking to people.  You know, the one that says "I am not a vintage jewelry expert!" But I'm farther along the path to vintage jewelry knowledge than other people are.