Buying Vintage Jewelry:
How To Separate The Old From The New

By: Tara Nash, Gemologist, G.I.A.

As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper, July 2006

If you’re like most vintage jewelry collectors, you value antiques, not for the precious metals or gemstones they contain, but the small piece of history they represent.  But how can you be sure you are actually buying an antique?

With the demand for vintage jewelry quickly exceeding the supply, many jewelers are making reproduction pieces from molds of antiques.  Reproductions can be a nice alternative, if represented honestly, but dealers anxious to make a sale often pass off reproductions as antiques to uneducated consumers.

Some buyers, myself included, work with an expert who can help authenticate and circa date antique jewelry purchases.  But consulting an expert after the fact may be too late.

Jewelry historian, Karen Lorene, author of Buying Antique Jewelry, Skipping The Mistakes, suggests you look for these glaring signs of reproduction jewelry:

To do so, you will need a loupe (pronounced loop).  This tiny magnified glass is your window to another world.  It is portable, easy to use, and inexpensive (between $5-20 on-line or in a jewelry supply store).

Holding the loupe up to your eye and the piece you are examining about two inches from the loupe, look for the following signs of a reproduction:   

   1.  Fat prongs that do not show any wear and do not ‘hug’ the stone
   2.  Stamped gold marks that are as well-defined as if they were stamped yesterday
   3.  Minute holes, called Porosity, on the inside edges of jewelry, indicating that a mold was used in               production

4. A wrinkled surface to the gold appearing to flow over itself    
5. Modern safety catches (the first safety clasp was not introduced until after 1900)

   Excellent example of porosity

   Example of a brand new stamp inside a modern piece of jewelry

   Clasp on a pin made in the 1880's

Even if you are satisfied by this examination, be sure to ask for a receipt.  A friend of mine recently purchased a diamond ring at a local auction.  He brought the ring and its appraisal card to me for a second opinion.  The ring was described as a 1.01 carat diamond solitaire with SI2 clarity.  A quick look through my loupe revealed obvious signs of fracture filling (not disclosed on the appraisal).  Looking more closely at the picture on the appraisal, I could see that the ring shank was squared off while the one I was holding was rounded.  It wasn’t even the same ring!  Stamped on his receipt in bright red was ‘No exchanges.  No refunds.  No exceptions’.   The receipt is a legal document between you and the seller.  If you buy an early Victorian ring circa 1850 and take it to an expert the next day to find out it is a Victorian ‘style’ ring circa 2005, you have no legal recourse if the seller did not include a description of what was promised to you. 

Your receipt should include the following:

     1.      Name, address & phone number of seller
     2.      Date of purchase
     3.      Full description of item being purchased including materials and age of piece
     4.      Return policy:  how long, cash or credit
     5.      Amount paid
     6.      Signature of salesperson   

Karen Lorene advises the beginning jewelry buyer, “If in doubt, don’t buy.”  One bad purchase could diminish your passion for an exciting hobby.  Look at as much vintage jewelry as you can get your hands on and carry a book on antique jewelry.  This will help you ‘skip the mistakes’ and make buying antique jewelry the rewarding experience it should be.

The Antique Shoppe
"Florida's Best Newspaper for Antiques and Collectibles
PO Box 2175, Keystone Heights, FL 32656-2175
Phone: (352)475-1679 Fax: (352)475-5326

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