RAPAPORT... Deciding on whether to buy or pass on a piece of estate jewelry often means making a decision on the spot. You have to think on your feet, cautions Kimberley Thompson, estate buyer, J.B. Hudson Jewelers, Minneapolis, Minnesota. “You have just a few seconds to boil down the essence of a piece when you’re looking to buy. You need to know what you’re looking at and if it feels bad, don’t do it.”
Some pieces, says Jim Rosenheim, chief executive officer (CEO), Tiny Jewel Box, Washington, D.C., are only good for parts. “Not every piece of jewelry made in the 1920s is a great piece of Art Deco jewelry. In every era, there is good, bad and indifferent. The good things you want to turn around and restore and sell. The middle-of-the-road things you ask yourself questions about and the really horrible stuff you cannibalize because that’s all it’s worth.”
There really are two very different philosophies on how to buy estate jewelry, says Benjamin Macklowe, of the Macklowe Gallery, New York City. “One is buy everything that comes your way at a price and then try to move a lot through the trade and only keep the pieces you like best. Another is to be selective and buy only things that you really feel you’re willing to live with for a while — because you are going to live with them for a while. We tend to opt for the second of those options. We try to buy things that we think are really great examples of the period. We don’t want to buy lesser pieces with lesser stones and lesser-quality manufacturing because, in the end, those are not what we want to represent to our clients.”
Is it marketable? What you buy on the estate jewelry market should match the standards for the rest of your store, advises Thompson. Leaving aside the normal wear and tear associated with older pieces, quality issues are an important part of deciding whether or not to purchase a piece of older jewelry. Are there major clarity issues, enhancements? Is the piece intact or has it been altered — did someone do lead-based solder repairs; is the clasp original?
Just because a piece is well made, however, doesn’t automatically mean it will sell — or that you should buy it, caution the experts. “You need to consider what the demand is for that type of piece,” says Rosenheim. “An awful lot of the things that come in are duplications, similar to pieces already in stock and frankly, in an economy that’s a bit soft, you don’t want to duplicate your efforts. You want to use your money strategically.”
Thompson points out that “If I have 65 brooches, I’m probably not going to offer really well for a brooch. But a great pair of little Art Deco or Edwardian earrings, you can’t get enough of those. You never have enough in your display case.”
Do your homework“Learn much more than you think you already know,” sums up Macklowe. “Look at jewelry dealers who have stocks you want to emulate and learn from them.” Agrees Thompson, “In this industry, there’s free education from dealers that you work with. And there’s great education out on the internet, if you look at other wonderful estate jewelry websites. And look at the auction house catalogs. But the biggest thing is to invest in books about jewelry and read them.”
One very important reason to know what is and isn’t the real deal is the issue of reproductions. “It is definitely a problem,” says Stuart Singer, Stephen Singer, Inc., estate jewelry dealer in New York City. “There are a lot of repros and they’re getting better, which means that they are getting harder to spot.”
On the other hand, sometimes it’s easy to spot a reproduction, points out Macklowe, if you recognize that the materials are not consistent with the original. If something is made in white gold, yet attributed as Art Deco, it’s obviously a reproduction. But, he warns, a piece may be made of the right materials and still be a reproduction. “You have to learn about the history of gemstone cuts and how metal is done and how things are marked.” And, adds Rosenheim, you need to know the characteristics that define the real article.
Eric Bitz, vice president, David & Company, a retailer/Swan & Company, a wholesaler in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, explains that the telltale signs are there if you know what you’re looking at. “Vintage pieces over time develop a patina and other signs of wear that become easy to distinguish as you get to see and evaluate more pieces. Another sign to look for is the cut of the stone — is it an older cut or a more modern cut?” You also need to consider, he says, “the overall construction of the piece, looking closely at workmanship of both the front and back of the piece. The more pieces you get to see, the better feel you will develop for evaluating them.”
Adjusting for AestheticsIn broad strokes, says Singer, “the better the design and quality, the less that intrinsic value comes into play. If you get a generic piece of gold jewelry, you throw it on the scales and that’s it. But as soon as it has an interesting design, as soon as it has a history — all of those things that ultimately jewelry should have — then a much more subjective element comes into play.”
It is challenging for a person starting out, states Janet Levy, principal, J. & S.S. DeYoung, Inc., New York City. “It’s not black and white. A lot of it is gray area. With an Art Deco bracelet, for instance, which has, let’s just say, 10 carats of diamonds, its condition, whether it’s signed, whether it’s had any alterations and the style of it are all going to affect what you’re going to want to pay for it.”
Ultimately, Levy says, choosing a piece is a whole lot like falling in love. “So trust your own love of jewelry and your taste. If you look at ten bracelets and one really speaks to you and you love it, then that’s the one you should buy, because that’s the one you will sell.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - August 2009. To subscribe click here.