12 Fast Ways to Identify Antique Vintage Higher Quality Costume Jewelry

12 Fast Ways to Identify Antique Vintage 

Higher Quality Costume Jewelry

These are the questions and statements you should ask yourself before doling out your hard-earned cash for something that might just be really inexpensive and never will gain in value. 

1. Are the stones claw set or glued in?

The preference would be for claw set stones. The oldest pieces of costume jewelry are made that way. Yes, some designers are using the claw set method. However, more modern pieces simply have the rhinestones pearls or whatever glued in. It is a quick, easy, cheap way to add decoration to a piece of costume jewelry. 

2. Can you see glue or solder that is sloppily left behind?

Okay, this simply speaks of quality or lack thereof. If the piece is made messily or very cheap of course quality control will not be number one on the list. Those pieces of jewelry probably were made as quick throwaways but in some cases survived. 

3. Although this is not always an indicator of quality because some high quality designers did not sign their pieces; Is the jewelry signed AKA Hallmark by the designer? You can easily research designers/makers of costume jewelry to see which are the creme de la creme versus the more domestic pieces. There are costume jewelry pieces that can command hundreds of dollars and others that only command a few. 

NOTE: An example, Juliana pieces many times are not signed. However, if you find those types of pieces at a good price snap them up really fast. The quality is evident if you use some of the tips that I am sharing. 

4. Are the stones clear or cloudy? 

Some stones are set with a foil behind them which gives them a really brilliant shine. That is usually an indicator of quality but when the stones are cloudy usually that means they are probably made a plastic and got heated up at some point or they just were poorly cut and set in the first place. 

Pictured: Beautiful clear sparkling rhinestones strung throughout on metal chains with a decorated clasping system. c. 1940's - 1950's.

5. Some people classify sterling silver under the costume jewelry category. If you find pieces that are affordable that are actual sterling silver snap those up too. Sterling silver is third to platinum Gold and then sterling after that is copper. If I found anything set in those particular metals and the prices were reasonable I would definitely consider purchasing if they fit my collection. Most costume jewelry is made with selter, tins, steel, and other non precious metals. That is normal however if the metal is very thin that is a lesser quality piece. Of course if there's flaking and loss of color to the metal or verdigris that may be something that you would want to walk away from. 

6. What type of pearls did the designer use? This sort of relates to #9 below but because faux pearls were a favorite of designers deserved its own attention. In the 1960's and older pearls were a status symbol or a symbol that one had arrived or was taking next big steps. Therefore, they were incredibly popular and if you could not afford the real thing faux products became easy imposters when made well.  Most sea pearls and baroque pearls are relatively inexpensive. You want to find costume jewelry pieces that use those particular stones versus plastic pearl beads or plastic coated faux pearls. 

7. Is the metal casting clean, finished and seamless?  Figural jewelry that is cast - meaning it has no additions to it, should have a clean casting and you should not be able to see any seams or lines whereas the metal was poured into a mold. All parts of the jewelry should be smooth and seamless.

8. How does the jewelry clasps or close (if applicable)? The lowest quality pieces will have the most inexpensive clasps and closures. Some will be made of metal that is such poor quality that they will break easily or will not hold meaning loss of the jewelry.

9. What type of materials were used?  Plastic versus glass, semi-precious stones, clay, bone, woods. I tend to stay away from plastics. There are enough pieces out there that were and still are being made with higher quality materials such as those I listed above which would be better additions to your collections and for resale.

10. How was the enamel applied?  Was it fired on or poured enamel versus painted on? Enamel can be a tricky creature. If you drop the piece the enamel can crack. The stronger enamel will be fired on after it's poured or will be simply a poured enamel that hardens. Painted on enamel tends to chip. 

11. Do the mechanical and or functional parts work correctly and easily? Make sure the jewelry operates correctly. Too many times I've seen people purchase an item and then they have trouble with the clasp, if there's supposed to be movement to it such as danglers it does not dangle as it should, those are collect mechanical costume jewelry want to make sure those cool mechanics actually work without effort. If a ring is supposed to be adjustable can you easily adjust it or does it start to make it cracking sound or feels like it's cracking. 

12. How was the jewelry strung?  Pay attention to the material that was used for the stringing. Example in some cases animal sinews were used, cotton strings, silk string, nylon strings and metal chains. The chains would have been made of semi-precious, precious or non-precious materials. Pictured is a aurora Borealis crystal triple strand 1930s necklace with metal linked chain stringing. Metal is less likely to break, wear out or need restringing making it the better of materials for that task.

FAQs

Q. What is casting of metal 

A. Hot metal poured into a mold. 

Q.  What is verdigris?

A.  Their degrees is a disease that occurs with non-precious metals. Usually it occurs because of water, condensation, alcohols, perfumes and colognes have been in contact with the metal. It turns the metal a greenish color which can impact your other non-precious metal pieces. Ergo you need to remove that piece from your collection. Just like rust it is damage.