Estate jewellery has become a returning fad in fashion with period pieces making their popular debut. Driven in large part by dramas like Hannibal, the Crown, and Downton Abbey, vintage and antiques are making a big splash in popular fashion today. These unique pieces offer the chance to step into history, wearing something totally distinctive.
Why Pieces are Sold
“They only sold it because it’s brought bad luck into the home…”
When you’re looking for art deco rings, eventually you’ll ask yourself why someone would want to sell a piece so beautiful. If you let your imagination run wild, you can come up with all sorts of scary reasons (like cursed jewellery), but the truth is almost always much more mundane. Some pieces are valuable because of the rare circumstances surrounding them (IE, jewellery worn by someone famous who died tragically), but mostly people just change their tastes or want to consolidate. Try and keep that in mind as you’re shopping, especially if you’re the type of person to feel strange at an estate sale. A shop like Cynthia Findlay Antiques may feel more comfortable and familiar, and they’ll have a wide selection of pieces from nearly every era.
Quality of Pieces
“They’re only selling because it’s a cheap, knock off of the real deal…”
Antiques and vintage pieces usually contain very intricate metalwork, a kind of celebration of the era from which it came when the technology to do such things was novel. They often used gemstones you don’t see in general public, and they tend to look extremely distinctive. If you learn to identify these unique features, and authenticate gemstones, you can eyeball a piece for quality and make a snap decision. Otherwise, trust a jeweler to do that work for you.
Final Thoughts
Remember, estate sales are fun but you don’t want to over pay for something without getting value back. Sometimes, they make great inspirational journeys to learn more before you order custom jewellery from Toronto.
