RAPAPORT... In the estate jewelry market, 80 percent of what is on the market can be classified as merely ordinary, or worse, only good for scrap. It’s the elusive other 20 percent, the prime examples, for which all dealers compete. The categories of usable, collectible jewelry, explains Stuart Singer, Stephen Singer, Inc., estate jewelry dealer in New York City, include “true period pieces, generally prior to the sixties. But that’s not to say that there isn’t anything from the seventies and eighties that’s nice, or even from the nineties at this point. But the truly collectible would be Winston, Tiffany, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Webb, Verdura, the fifties, the forties, Retro, Deco from the twenties and thirties, which is probably still the hottest thing, and then Edwardian and Victorian before that.”
It’s hard to find the interesting thing, concurs Simon Teakle, antique and period jewelry specialist at Betteridge Jewelers in Greenwich, Connecticut. “That’s part of the beauty of the business. The hunt and the gathering of inventory is part of the thrill and excitement. And the great thing about jewelry is that it really can materialize anywhere —anywhere in the country, and in so many parts of the world.”
What’s Out ThereToday’s marketplace has certainly become a more competitive market, says Singer. “There are more people buying.
So we’re actually seeing less goods because there are more people doing it.” There is stuff walking in the door, he says. “Can I buy it? Yes. But if you don’t buy it right, it’s going to be just another piece of inventory you have forever sitting in the safe.”
Gold and retro have come back stronger, says Janet Levy, principal, J. & S.S. DeYoung, Inc., New York City. Art Deco, she points out, is very collectible, as well as Art Nouveau. “It all seems to be doing well at the moment. And even 1960s and 1970s pieces are going to start being a little bit stronger now. If you get past a 40- or 50-year period — the 1960s were 50 years ago — it’s a generational thing. You get to a new generation who start to look at the jewelry differently.”
Signed pieces take priority, says Eric Bitz, vice president, David & Company, a retailer/Swan & Company, a wholesaler in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. “The demand for Deco is always there, and will continue to be. At the last show we did, people were asking for signed pieces. It seems to be one part of the market where demand to some degree hasn’t been affected.”
Economic InfluencesThe recession has made an impact on the estate jewelry market. “We have seen a lot more of the lower end,” says Levy. In light of record gold prices, “people started going through their broken bits and leftovers and grandma’s jewelry that they never wore and are packaging that up or bringing it in to a jeweler and saying, ‘I’d like to cash this out.’ We’ve seen more of that. On the high end, I really haven’t seen a huge amount of jewelry coming onto the market. With the very high-end pieces, if the people don’t desperately need the money, they probably don’t feel it’s a good market to sell it in, so they might want to hold on to it until they feel the marketplace is stronger.”
“I think there’s a little bit more out there than before but not nearly the amount you’d expect with as difficult as the economy has been for everybody,” says Benjamin Macklowe, of the Macklowe Gallery, New York City. “I think it’s quite interesting that there’s a perception among people who don’t have to sell that if they do, they’re going to be taking a haircut. And a lot of people don’t want to do that.”
“I think a lot of dealers have a feeling that the current market is slow, which should result in more people needing cash and giving consideration to sell their better items,” says Bitz. “But it almost seems currently some private customers who have these great things but are not in need of cash are not jumping to sell. So while you are seeing a great deal of items for sale, it is still challenging to find the exceptional piece you hope for. It’s just timing and exposure. The more pieces we see over the counter, the greater the chance we have of seeing something that we really want to buy, that is the perfect piece for us.”
Kimberley Thompson, estate buyer for J.B. Hudson Jewelers, Minneapolis, Minnesota, says she’s “definitely seeing more things coming out on the market, but not necessarily finer things. I think the economy has affected the middle to lower market the most. I’m seeing a few fine pieces trickling through but it’s definitely on a need-to-sell basis.”
In today’s environment, where we’re in a recession, Teakle says, “people are cautious about value and where to put their money. But for really good things that are realistically priced — you can’t ask crazy prices — there are plenty of buyers.”
Purchasing estate jewelry as an investment, on the other hand, says Macklowe,“is not an investment vehicle for the faint of heart. You have to know what you’re doing. I really think the whole idea of people buying jewelry for an investment is just a way of people convincing themselves that it’s okay to spend money.” And while the jewelry industry always has collectors and estate jewelry obviously is much more collectible, jewelry, he says “is an emotional purchase. It’s because you’re in love, you’re excited, you’re having a wedding, an anniversary and you’re celebrating. And when people are feeling less celebratory as they are now, there’s going to be less jewelry buying. It’s really a pretty simple equation.”
This market has definitely changed what people are purchasing, says Thompson. “They’re purchasing pieces that are either sentimental to them because it looks like something mom had or grandmother had or it might remind them of a trip they took on their honeymoon, but they are definitely buying pieces to wear and enjoy and become signature. My fashion business has slowed but the estate business is plugging along steadily.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - August 2009. To subscribe click here.