Archive for June, 2010
Vintage is not a designer brand
Posted by: | CommentsToday I’m having a rant, not done that on here for a while but some Internet sellers are beginning to annoy me and what much worse they are misleading customers. Have you noticed how words like “Vintage”, “Antique” and “Victorian” are used by many Internet sellers of fashion items these days? Actually I believe that many of them are breaking the trades descriptions act along the way. Hopefully this article will help those looking for genuine vintage or antique to avoid buying new by mistake.
Vintage may be popular but it is not something you can buy wholesale from China, stock up on to a website and sell hundreds of one item. One of the major points about antique, vintage and Victorian is that they are not making them any more. You have to search out pieces and the pieces you find are almost unique.
This guide can also be applied to other terms including Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Georgian and even Retro.
What Vintage is not:
Vintage is not brand new, you cannot buy it wholesale over the interenet from China. It rarely comes all clean and nicely packed. Two pieces are rarely alike .
“Vintage ” ( and Antique, Victorian etc etc) is not a designer brand. You cannot get someone to make you vintage if it is new then it is no more vintage than black is white. On the other hand you can come across some brands which are vintage eg can no longer be bough as new.
Vintage necklace
What is vintage :
What is vintage is a great topic for debate. To my mind it should be at least 25 years old, I accept that others would say 20 or 40 years but I am sure that all genuine vintage dealers and collectors would agree it has to have some age to be vintage. In general an item has not become vintage until it is no longer available as new in the shops in its current form.
Due to its age Vintage ( Antique, Victorian etc) also has other interesting features, its style and method of manufacture is of the past. The pieces are pre-owned and many have signs of age or wear. This is not necessarily damage and some signs of age can be most desirable such as metal acquiring a nice patina. Vintage pottery may be decorated in colours which cannot be re0created today due to the toxicity of the processes involved.
Vintage is Green
Unlike most new stuff, buying vintage is green. You are re- using, re-cycling, spending a lower carbon footprint or whatever the latest term is. Much new stuff these days comes from the other side of the world and a far greater percentage of vintage and antique items were made in this country or closer to home.
How to spot real vintage on the Internet
Many items which are described as vintage or antique on the Internet are actually new. Here’s a few tips for spotting real vintage and antique items on the Internet.
- How many of an item does the vendor offer for sale? If they have more than one then it is likely that the item is new. Occasionally it is possible to have more than one item but it doesn’t happen very often. For example there are over 1200 pieces for sale on AntiquesAvenue.co.uk. I have a few duplicates but this would be way less than 1% of my stock.
- How is it described? Vintage style or vintage inspired are most probably new. Does the site actually give an age for the item? Most vintage sellers will give some indication of how old the piece if, if not ask before you buy.
- Is the website specialised? Good Vintage and Antique sellers tend to specialise in vintage and antique items and have very little new or modern stuff on the website.
- Google Shopping. It is a requirement of putting your items into Google shopping that you state is a piece is New, Used or Refurbished. Many many items described as vintage actually say new as the condition in Google shopping so you can check here.
- Look at the photograph? Is it highly professional? Us vintage and antique sellers have to take a picture of every item we sell and because it is used for just the one sale it is not economical to get a professional photographs taken. We cannot get stock photographs from our suppliers and so many of us have photographs which are taken by amateurs
- Is there a comment about condition in the listing of the piece? If so then it is more likely to be a genuine vintage or antique item. Sellers of new dont comment on condition normally.
Buying Vintage Style
My aim here has been to educate those interested in buying genuine vintage or antique so that they do not fall for buying new by mistake. Should you prefer to buy vintage style but new items then do look out for items described as “Vintage Style” or “Vintage Inspired”.
Happy Hunting Anne x
Choosing Vintage Rings
Posted by: | CommentsLooking for a Vintage Ring? There is such a wide variety available today. Looking around the Internet you can buy rings from the Roman era through the middle ages, The Georgian and Victorian eras and throughout the 20th century. There are costume jewellery rings and those made of precious metals and stones. Vintage rings varying in price from about £5 to £50,000 . Genuine antique and vintage rings and modern copies. Engagement rings, Wedding rings, Cocktail Rings, Dress rings and many many more.
So just how do you know which vintage ring to choose? Giving this a little thought there are five main factors to take into consideration: What style and age do you like? Is the ring going to be worn every day or just on special occasions? What stones or colours do you like? Your budget? Genuine Vintage / Antique Ring or just antique or Vintage Style?
AntiquesAvenue’s guide to choosing the right vintage ring should help you with these questions. For today we are assuming that you are looking for a decorative ring rather than a wedding, engagement or eternity ring which can have different considerations.
What Style and age of Ring?
As mentioned earlier, rings are available dating back to the Roman era if you wish to by an antiquity rather than an antique but for today’s wearer of antique and vintage jewellery a ring from the Georgian era or later is the most likely choice. So you have a liking for a particular style?
Victorian ring
Georgian rings are available and can be still worn today. Most Georgian antique rings are quite dainty and would suit a smaller hand or a young girl. If you are contemplating purchasing a genuine Georgian ring I suggest that you keep it for best. Most Georgian rings available today are made of gold and set with stones including paste ( glass) , pearls, garnets or may have a locket compartment. These rings need specialist care as the stones have closed backs and you need to avoid getting them wet – not good for doing the washing up or housework in!
Victorian Rings. When we come to the Victorian era there is quite a choice of rings although again most of them we find today are made of yellow gold. If you wish for a white gold or silver ring you would be better looking at 20th century rings. There is a huge variety of Victorian rings available and some of them do come in larger chunkier sizes or can be adjusted to fit by your favourite jeweller. Specialist Victorian rings include snake rings, buckle rings and mourning rings.
Looking about the Internet you can buy what claims to be a Victorian ring from £1.24! You dont need me to tell you that isn’t real, it doesn’t even look Victorian with a white metal finish and 1950s style aurora borealis stones. A real Victorian ring is unlikely to be less than £50 so be suspicious of anything too cheap. Edwardian Rings tend to be quite similar to Victorian rings
Art Deco Rings are so popular at the moment especially ones set with square cut precious gems such as Diamonds, Emeralds and Sapphires. These are available in yellow gold, white gold, silver and platinum. Here the choice is down to personal preference and budget. Art deco rings are much more modern in style but not as robust as today’s jewellery, I would reserve and rings of this age for best and not for ever day wear.
1950s vintage rings to 1980s are relatively abundant and more robust than older rings and normally all other things being equal will be cheaper than antique jewellery. If you are looking for an every day ring or a ring with modern style then one from this era is the best choice.
Every Day Rings
Want to wear your ring every day? You need something made of a harder metal and with a hard stones set into it with a simple setting. Platinum and 9 carat gold are more hard wearing than silver or 18 carat gold. 9 carat gold will be the cheaper choice . If you are looking for a white metal ring for every day wear then avoid gold as there is no such thing as true white gold , what you see is normally Rhodium plated to give a white appearance and this plating can wear.
Good choices of harder wearing stones are Diamonds, Sapphires, Rubies, Topaz and possibly Spinnels. At the other end of the scale pearls, turquoise, corals are really just for special occasions as they do not wear particularly well in a ring.
A simple setting is a good choice for an every day ring, something complex can wear more easily and be quite difficult to keep properly clean.
A budget alternative for an every day ring is to buy silver set with a cheaper stone such as quartz , amethyst, aquamarine or tigers eye. This ring oculd then be treated like clothing and replaced once it is worn out or fashions change
Vintage Ruby Ring
Stones and Colours
For most colours there is a choice of stone to have in you ring and this will depend on personal preference, perhpas your birthstone, your budget and how robust you need the stone to be. At the cheaper end you have costume jewellery stones in most colours either diamante or Cubic Zirconia. If you want real stones then there are a few ideas:
Clear: cheapest is quartz, medium is spinel and luxury is diamonds
Blue/Purple: Cheapest is Amethyst or Aquamarine. More costly is Sapphire. Topaz can be a nice hard wearing stone found in shades of blue most of which have been achieved with a little help from man.
Yellow: Citrines are cheaper than Topaz but personally I prefer a pretty lemon coloured citrine. topaz is harder
Green: Peridots are nice and a budget alternative to Emeralds. Emeralds do not wear well so keep for best. How about Jade?
Budget
As I mentioned earlier there is a wide price range on vintage rings. You can still get a genuine vintage ring made of silver from about £25 and a vintage gold ring from about £40. With scrap gold at around £10 a gram you will not get anything much cheaper than this today however the gold price affects the cost of new jewellery at least as much as it does vintage and antique jewellery.
For less than £100 you can get a great selection of vintage 9 carat gold rings set with a wide variety of stones. This sort of budget will buy you a nice ring with a large amethyst or citrine or perhaps a cluster of small diamonds.
Vintage or just Vintage Style ring
Of course I personally always say go for the genuine vintage. Why? Well for a start when you have a piece of new jewellery and a piece of vintage jewellery which are the same except for age then the vintage one is likely to cost less. But that is not all, it is actually quite unlikely that you will find a genuine vintage ring being worn identically by someone else – your choice is much more likely to be unique.
Your antique or Vintage ring will still be antique or vintage in 10 or 15 years time. A new ring will simply be second hand or out of date.
Whichever vintage ring you choose they are a lovely form of vintage jewellery and bound to be loved for years to come. If you need more help do pop over to www.antiquesavenue.co.uk where i will be happy to assist you in selecting a special ring.
I hope this guide helps. Happy Hunting Anne x
Vintage Brooches and Butterflies
Posted by: | Comments
Butterfly Bracelet
Dear Readers,
I know you all love to get a first look at the fresh vintage jewllery stock I add into the website but there are so many its often difficult to show them all. Yes, I really do try and add 40 or 50 pieces of jewellery a week. Here are 2 of the vintage brooches I’ve added today and a look at some of the vintage butterfly jewellery I have available as well.
Flower basket brooch
Haskell?
What is it about butterflies that everyone loves? is it that they are so delicate, colourful or just so fleeting? Whatever their attraction butterfly jewellery is always popular and I’ve recently acquired some lovely vintage pieces.
More recently added pieces can be found here:
Jewellery Rainbow
Posted by: | CommentsLooking at some of my lovely old vintage and antique jewellery earlier today I was struck by the rainbow of colours in front of me. both fine and costume jewellery can be found in every colour imaginable . Traditionally a rainbow has seven colours; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. I always remember this by the first letters of the phrase” Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain”.
The Jewellery Rainbow
Red: Rubies and Garnets
Orange: Amber, Carnelian,
Yellow: Citrines, Gold
Green: Emeralds, Malachite,Jade, Aventurine, Chrysoprase
Blue: Aquamarine, Sapphire, Turquoise
Indigo: paler amethysts , some Lapis Lazuli
Violet, Amethyst
More Colours for jewellery
Pink: Rose Quartz, Coral
White: Silver, Platinum, Moonstone, Pearl
Brown: Smokey Quartz, Tigers Eye
Black: Jet, Hematite,
Multi colour: Opal, Mother of Pearl
Lets take a look at some colourful Antique Jewellery:
Amber Earrings
Garnet Earrings
Turquoise Brooch
Amethyst Ring
Citrine Brooch
Want more colours? There is always Antique Costume Jewellery to take a look at . How about bright Pink with these Lucite Brooches?
Lucite brooch
Antique and Vintage Brooches
Posted by: | CommentsThere’s a lot of fresh antique and vintage brooches on antiquesavenue this week. From Victorian through to the 1950s, there has to be a brooch for every taste. Here is a quick tour of these brooches
Victorian Amethyst Brooch
Victorian Amethyst Brooch
Here’s a genuine Victorian brooch set with a real amethyst and with a glass covered locket panel at the back containing a lock of hair. This brooch is made of gold toned metal and it also has a hinged loop so that it can be worn on a chain as a pendant.
This Victorian brooch measures about 5.5 cms long. At some stage during its life this brooch has been repaired and there are signs of this. Now the brooch is solid and wearable but offered at a bargain price due to the repairs
A very unusual Victorian cameo brooch. This cameo is carved from agate and I believe the gentleman in the picture is Napoleon. Agate cameos are much rarer than shell cameos partially because it is much harder to carve. Finding a cameo brooch where you can name the subject is also quite rare making this a very good piece of antique jewellery.
Art Nouveau Cameo Brooch
Art Nouveau Cameo Brooch
Here is a super and really rare cameo carved from Queen Conch giving a beautiful pale pink and white colour. The cameo depicts an art nouveau lady and an owl with its wings open . This is the first time I have seen this cameo. The cameo is set into a gold toned frame, in total the brooch measures about 5.2 cms long and about 4.4 cms wide.
Over the years this brooch has suffered a little with the frame being a bit wobbly ( there is one of 4 pins missing at the back) and the catch has been repaired at some point. The cameo its self has faired much better, the line you can see in the revers is from the original shell and does not go through to the design. There are two short tiny stress lines but the cameo really is sound in itself.
1950s moon glow Lucite Brooches
Moon glow Lucite brooches
A stunning pair of vintage brooches made of pink moon glow Lucite and dating from the 1950s. The brooches have moon glow Lucite beads and also matching pink aurora borealis beads. Each brooch has multiple tassels hanging down. These brooches measure up to 7 cms long and will make a real statement when worn especially if you wear both together.
Vintage Charms News
Posted by: | CommentsThe latest Vintage Charm news from AntiquesAvenue. I’ve been adding lots of fresh vintage charms to my website over the past few days especially some interesting vintage silver charms including opening charms and some quality Nuvo silver charms. Here are a few of the best :
Opening egg charm
I love this vintage charm, In the shape of an egg, this vintage charm is made of silver and there is a bow decoration on the front. Open up the egg and inside is a tiny bird sitting on her nest of eggs. This is a very well made vintage charm and quite unusual. This charm measures about 2 cms long.
Inside the charm
Have you seen a charm quite like this one before? I haven’t. What an eggcellent gift it would make .
If you like charms which open and has a cute surprise inside I am also offering an acorn with a squirrel inside, a mushroom with a pixie and a Doctors bag which opens to reveal a baby inside.
Building Charms.
Charms in the shapes of buildings are always fun especially when we can name the building or monument. Just added into the shop are St Pauls Cathedral and the Blackpool Tower. If you are interested in building charms I also have a few churches, a water wheel and some cute windmill charms.
I’ve also been adding to my range of Nuvo silver charms which now include, moving piano player, man in bottle, opening Bible with Angel, Dog chasing cat up lamp and an opening moped helmet. Take a look there are quite a few more rare Nuvo silver charms available . Also I have a specialist area devoted to Chim Charms which whilst possibly less sought after than Nuvo charms are of excellent quality.
Gold tips for Vintage Jewellery buyers
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve reached the point in my exploration of vintage jewellery materials when its time to look at Gold, one of the best loved jewellery materials of all. Here are a tips which may be useful if you are looking at buying vintage gold jewellery.
What makes gold Jewellery Special?
Gold is one of the major materials used in Jewellery. It has special properties which make it more suitable than other metals for use in Jewellery. Its quite easy to shape into a piece of jewellery and then holds its shape and ( given the occasional light clean) gold jewllery will stay bright and shiny for ever. Gold Jewellery wont rust or tarnish or turn your neck green. Gold is also a quite heavy material which gives a nice weight to a piece of solid gold jewellery. As well as all this gold is beautiful it is bright and this brightness doesn’t fade.
gold ring
Gold Colours and Purities
You can find gold jewellery in several different colours and gold purities. Both the colour and the purity is adjusted by other materials mixed in with the pure gold. Pure gold is bright yellow, look at a pure gold coin and you can see how yellow it is in its pure state. Pure gold is can be mixed with silver, copper, palladium to bring down the purity and change the colour.
Add in copper and you get the lovely rose gold which is so sought after in antique jewellery. Silver and palladium make it whiter, white gold is coated in palladium. Purple gold has added aluminium and blue gold includes iron. The purities of gold used in the UK are:
.375 parts per thousand ( 9 cart gold)
.585 (14 carat)
.750 (18 carat gold)
916 (22 carat)
990
999
You can also come across 15 carat gold (.625) which was legal between 1854 and 1931.
Very little British gold jewellery will be found over 22 carat as the gold is too soft to wear well. With modern British gold jewellery you can determine the carat of the gold by reading the hallmarks . The gold hallmark varies depending upon the carat and the age of the piece . Until you become familiar with gold hallmarks you can refer to a reference book such as Bradburys Book of Hallmarks.
Gold Brooch
Gold Plate, Gold Plated, Gold Filled and more
As they say ” all that glitters is not gold” and this certainly applies to jewellery. Much of the gold coloured jewellery we see today is not gold at all. Here are a few of the terms you might come across;
Gold filled – a shell of gold filled with another material. In the USA the gold layer must be at least 1/20th of the thickness of the piece to be called gold filled. This law does not apply to the UK
Gold back and front – I often see this on gold coloured lockets. There is an outer skin of gold and inside the locket is a base material
Gold Plate – Used for solid gold objects.
Gold Plated - where there is a very thin coating of gold over a different metal.
Gold gilt or gold wash – a wash of gold used to protect the underlying metal or give it colour. The underlying material is often but not always silver.
Rolled gold – again not gold but yet another term for a thin layer of gold over an unknown metal.
Gold tone or Gold colour – gold in colour but probably has no real gold in it at all.
Yellow Metal – This is a term you see in auctioneers catalogues frequently. As the hallmarking act requires that all modern gold is hallmarked if you are going to sell it as gold auctioneers frequently refer to pieces without hallmarks as yellow metal. In many cases the jewellery will actually be made of real gold however it also may not, it is up to the bidder to make their own judgement. Similarly they may call something “White Metal” but white metal might be gold, might be silver or might be platinum. On the other hand ” White metal” may just be any other white coloured metal too.
Here is a good tip to bag a gold jewellery bargain. Once you are a little familiar with gold jewellery and think that you can tell costume jewellery from real gold by looking at it then you can selectively buy ” Yellow Metal” jewellery at auction. Choose pieces which date from before 1950. Why? Well the next paragraph I quote from the Website of the Birmingham assay office:
PRE 1950’S EXEMPTION
*Gold, 375 parts per thousand; silver, 800 parts per thousand
6th April 2007 also sees another amendment to hallmarking legislation in respect of items originally brought on to the market pre 1950.
Before 1975, many precious metal articles (e.g. rings, whatever their weight, other than wedding rings) were exempted from hallmarking. Platinum was not hallmarked at all. Any article covered by these exemptions, if (a) of minimum fineness* (b) proved to have been manufactured before 1975, may still be described and sold as precious metal.
However, even articles which should have been hallmarked when they were made, but bear no hallmark, are now treated as exempt if they were manufactured before a specific date. Since 1999, the date has been 1920, but the amended legislation alters this date to 1950. Therefore, any pre-1950 item may now be described and sold as precious metal, if the seller can prove that it is of minimum fineness and was manufactured before 1950.
The only question remains is how you prove it is gold and prove its age and that must be down to expertise.
Gold Lavalier
Care of Gold
The lower the carat of gold the harder a metal it is likely to be and the better it will wear. Less than 18 carat gold may tarnish a little but an occasional clean will restore its former glory. The higher carats are a little softer and can wear if worn next to something harder. Normally Jewellers advise not to wear 9 and 18 carat gold rings next to each other or the softer one may wear quicker.
Gold can be cleaned with most jewellery cleaners ( not silver dip) and placed in an ultrasonic cleaner quite successfully. Take specialist advice if the gold is set with gemstones as these may have different cleaning requirements.
Value of Gold Jewellery
Gold has rocketed in price over recent years, if only I had put all my savings into gold 5 years ago and not bought a house I’d be a much richer woman! In the past gold jewellery has been an excellent investment however I have no knowledge if it will be so in the short term future or not.
Scrap Gold is valued by the gram and carat . This means, that all other things being equal, an 18 carat gold piece of jewellery should be worth exactly double the price of a 9 carat gold piece. Gold jewellery is usually worth considerably more than scrap to allow for the workmanship and antique / vintage rarity involved.
It takes a specialist jeweller to value your gold jewellery. Unless it is very damaged I suggest that you do not take your jewellery to one of these ” We buy gold for cash” companies which have recently appeared on the Internet as they are not giving good value for money.
Buying Vintage and Antique gold Jewellery
AntiquesAvenue offers a range of antique and vintage gold jewellery which is always changing and being added to regularly. Perhaps of special interest is the range of gold charms and gold brooches, gold pendants and gold rings I have. Please let me know if there is anything special you require and I will keep a look out for you.
Have you any tips to look for when buying vintage gold jewellery? If so please do leave a comment. And as usual if you do leave a comment you can only have one link in the website box and none in the text.
Vintage Jewellery Picture Gallery
Posted by: | CommentsLooking for Vintage Jewellery? Have you ever seen the picture galleries on Google for AntiquesAvenue’s Jewellery? Every week I add all my available stock and you can view my items as a picture gallery rather than looking through the shop.
To access the picture galleries you can just go to Google and type what you are looking for into the search box. For example type ” Vintage Jewellery” and hit enter and then select the “Shopping” option from the top menu. You will then see a whole array of different items including lot of new jewellery, books and Jewellery stands. However on the left hand side is a menu headed any shop and you should see AntiquesAvenue listed their. Click on AntiquesAvenue and you will see all my items listed as Vintage Jewellery.
You can of course repeat this search with terms such as Antique Jewellery, Glass Necklaces, Silver Charms , Art Deco Jewellery , blue brooches or any other term which suits your requirements. Here are a few I have created for you
I hope you find this tip useful
Anne