Finding Vintage Jewelry For Your Store

How To Find Vintage Jewelry For Your Store Do you know that you can find some quality signed pieces in some unusual places for stocking jewelry stores from ? You probably haven’t been “ garage sale hopping “ in your search for stock, but you might be amazed if you would. I have found many excellent pieces; signed and unsigned, that I have bought to stock my jewelry cabinet. Garage sales, estate sales, yard sales, even Good Will and Salvation Army stores hold these treasures. If a piece doesn’t look in great shape and isn’t too expensive, buy it anyway, you may need a stone or two out of it for another piece that holds more promise of a sale. Many of these pieces will require cleaning and/or repairing, but that’s no problem, you’re a jeweler ! I have found that my stash of unsaleables has come in handy when I need to repair others. When cleaning and repairing, utmost care needs to be taken because of the age of the piece. Make sure that the stones you are putting back in are identical, and the glue, well the glue needs to not be seen ! I have found some lovely pieces that have been subjected to fervent glueing, this is bad because if the type of glue used is not right for your job, it will ooze out and turn yellow around your stone or pearl. You get clouded stones and pearls that look like they were dipped in cheese sauce ! Don’t pass a nice piece by if it isn’t signed or it doesn’t have semi precious jewels or metals in it; you want to have something in all price ranges at your shop. Not everyone can pay for signed pieces; think of the small boy who comes in to buy for his mother’s birthday or the person who cannot afford something expensive but has a thought of love and need for something nice. Cater to your ENTIRE community and the people will think of you and your store for all their gift giving needs. Ebay, yes you read right, Ebay ! I have made a few good buys there, just be careful of doctored photos and terrible lighting in photos to where you cannot see flaws. Also be sure that the dealer has very good ratings in their buying and selling feedback. You can find jewelry sold in lots that are fairly decent in price and can be used to stock your repair pile. As for signed pieces, you may want to do a small report on the piece and frame it nicely to sit beside your piece in the jewelry cabinet. This will tell the potential buyer why it is a great find and let them appreciate the history behind the name on it and enable you to fetch a larger price. Include the history behind the name ( Coro, Lisner, etc. ) and also the patent number and designer so the customer can see it’s value. I have been blessed to find a few wonderful pieces designed by Adolf Katz for Coro and have researched them and found the patents, giving the potential buyer a feeling that they have found a treasure and a piece of jewelry history. So next time you see a flea market or garage sale, don’t pass by without doing some treasure hunting, you may just find enough to put a sale on at your store. All it takes is a little cleaning, repair, and research and you can present your finds to your customers.