vintage costume jewellery

So, yes I did just ask another question about wedding gifts, but this isn’t the same ? reposted. I am getting married today and am going to present my MIL and SIL with some family heirlooms. I also wanted to give my mom a gift as a thank you for everything she’s done for me. Since I am giving my 2 inlaws jewelry, I thought I’d give her along the same lines. My mom doesn’t really wear any jewelry but pins (not even a wedding band). She collects parrot pins and displays them in a huge frame in her bedroom. So I spent months and months looking for a parrot pin that was not costume (you have no idea how hard that was). I finally found a really nice sterling silver one. Since she never pays more than a $1 for them, I couldn’t imagine her having a silver one, so i bought it. I am not really able to just stroll into her bedroom, so i never got to check if she had the same one. When I was over at my parents last night to celebrate my last night before I’m married, I snuck in her room and low and behold she has 3 of the exact pin I got her. I thought I had gotten her something special she didn’t have anything like, and she has a whole bunch just like them. I don’t know what to do. I spent months searching for a nice parrot pin made of a precious metal and only came up with one, that apparently is a really common design. It’s not like I have the time today to scour antique stores looking for a replacement. I need suggestions of what I can do to personalize it? I already checked, and it is not engraveable on any part, so that’s out. I was thinking of running up to the craft store and finding a ribbon and tying a little bow around it’s neck, so shed know which one came from me. I don’t know, but I really do need some ideas? As I said, it’s sterling silver, it is "puffed" (not flat) so it’s difficult to add embellishments to. Help?

And before everyone brings up about gifts should be given at the rehearsal dinner bla bla bla, we didn’t do that. Were having a simple ceremony at the courthouse with just my parents, his mom and his siblings. We didn’t want all the fuss and stress that comes with that.
Good idea Jenny, but she knows all about parrots. She’s had 3 of them for 37 years. There’s not there’s much more for her to know. I like the shadowbox idea too, but I did one for her with a clay parrot pin a couple years ago for mothers day.

What if you framed it in it’s own shadow box with a poem under it or something? Then it would stand out from the others and it would have the poem to make it more personal. I understand this would take a while. You don’t have to write the poem just find one that already states how you feel. One of my favorites is kind of little kid-ish but that’s what makes it so sweet. It’s simple.

You tickled my toes,
You checked for monsters,
You showed me the stars,
And you taught me how to reach them

I love you mom.
-Author unknown

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I bought this gorgeous bracelet yesterday at a local antique store and I don’t know how to polish and clean it? What would be the appropriate and easy way to do it at home without damaging it?

It really depends on what it’s made of. You don’t want to wear off any of the finish if it’s plated and if it has any stones, you have to be careful of those too. I own and sell a lot of estate jewelry and most of the time I give it a quick dip in a rubber bowl with a little mild dish detergent (just a tiny squirt) and lukewarm water. Swish around fast, then pull it out and wipe with a soft cloth. For nooks and crannies, I use a clean soft brush, like a paint brush.

If it has any pearls on the bracelet, then don’t use any cleaner at all. It would be best to take it to a professional.

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Either in Australia or overseas, it doesn’t matter too much however it must be wholesale lots of vintage and antique jewelry.

All info appreciated.

Thanks

try here
www.eshoppingfashion.com
www.amazon.com
they are reliable online stores, they ship worldwide. hope this helps.

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We were asked to make an essay of what we see and what we like in a museum. I made an essay in english, and tried to translate it in Spanish, although i am not sure if i was able to do so correctly.

Could anyone please read through my essay and do the necessary corrections? im not particularly sure about the phrases with adjectives and prepositions. by the way, everything has to be in the present tense.

thank you very much! i included the english version for reference.

here it is:

English:

The Metropolitan Museum of Manila shows the unique and excellent works of Filipino artists. It displays relics and other collections as well.

I see the works of Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Juan Luna and Agnes Arellano. The exhibition of large sculptures is very beautiful. I also admire the magnificent paintings by Romulo Galicano and formal costume designs by Patis Tesoro.

Similarly, I like the antique pottery, mugs and weapons belonging to the 8th-13th century. I also like the religious items from the Spanish period. They are very interesting. Lastly, I like the pieces of gold rings and other jewelry very much, since they are very shiny and attractive.

Spanish:

El Museo Metropolitan de Manila exibe las obras extraordinarias y excelentes de artistas filipinas. El exhibe reliquias y otra coleccion tambien.

Veo las obras de Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Juan Luna y Agnes Arellano. El itinerante de esculturas grandes es muy precioso. Ademas, admiro pinturas magníficas por Romulo Galicano y diseños formales del traje por Patis Tesoro.

Del mismo modo, me gustan bastante cerámica antigua, jarras y armas perteneciente a la siglo VIII hasta el siglo XIII. Me encantan artículos religiosos desde el período español tambien. Son interesantes. Por ultimo, las piezas de anillos oros, y otro joyas me gustan mucho porque son muy lustrosas y atractivas.

Thanks again! i really appreciate it.
taking into account your corrections, i made the ff changes and came up with this:

is this work correct this time? although i had to decide between diff versions. thanks!

El Museo Metropolitano de Manila exibe las obras extraordinarias y excelentes de artistas filipinos. Exhibe reliquias y otra colecciones tambien.

Veo las obras de Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, Juan Luna y Agnes Arellano. El itinerante de esculturas grandes es muy precioso. Ademas, admiro pinturas magníficas de Romulo Galicano y diseños de trajes formales de Patis Tesoro.

Del mismo modo, me gustan bastante la cerámica antigua, jarras y armas del siglo VIII hasta el siglo XIII. Me encantan los artículos religiosos desde el período español tambien. Son interesantes. Por ultimo, las piezas de anillos de oro y otras joyas me gustan mucho porque son muy lustrosas y atractivas.

Look I’m Mexican so obviously I speak spanish.
Here is how it should be:

El museo Metropolitano de Manila muestra el único y excelente trabajo del artista Filipino ( I guess Filipino is the name of the person but if not then it should be: …trabajo de los artistas filipinos). Exhibe reliquias y otras colecciones también.

Veo los trabajos de Felix Resurrección Hidlago, Juan Luna y Agnes Arellano. La exhibición de esculturas grandes es muy hermosa. También admiro las magníficas pinturas de Romulo Galicano y los diseños de trajes formales de Patis Tesoro. (also could be "vestimenta formal" but that is for specific clothes of a place or people like the ninja clothes)

De igual forma (Del mismo modo, De la misma manera, Igualmente, everyone without comma) me gusta la alfarería antigua (it also could be cerámica but I guess then you would say ceramics), jarras y armas de entre los siglos VIII y XIII (notice that in spanish for centuries we never use arabic numbers, we use only roman numbers). También me gustan los objetos (artículos is only for things that you can buy such as food or clothes, examples: artículos deportivos, artículos de cocina) religiosos del periodo español. Son muy interesantes. Por último me gustan mucho las piezas de anillos de oro (in spanish this is kind of strange, could be better if you say "me gustan mucho los anillos de oro" or "me gustan mucho los diferentes anillos de oro" if they are a lot) y otra joyería porque es muy brillosa (you can’t say brillantes because that is for an intelligent person, he/she is brilliant, another thing, lustrosas is not a valid word, it doesn’t have sense, like if you say "the jewerly is polished by itself") y atractivas.

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I bought this cross broach antiquing and I’m not sure if it is just costume jewelry or if it has real meaning. It looks like military crosses, but in the searching I’ve done I have not been able to find anything on it. It is silver, with 8 points, four large and four smaller, and has the outline of a womans head in the center. the points are rather ornate. I’ll try to upload a picture as soon as I can.
[IMG]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/bandgeekTsax/broachffront.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/bandgeekTsax/broachback.jpg[/IMG]
well that didn’t work… here’s links instead.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/bandgeekTsax/broachffront.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/bandgeekTsax/broachback.jpg

Without a pic, it’s really hard to say. I could probably tell with a pic.

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What steps do I need to take to sell this jewelry?

Some is very old, even antique — some would only be grandparents or great grandparents (1800s-1900s)

Mainly gold chains, but a few key pieces of costume jewelry with heavy amounts of gold and gems inserted. (Not sure how much they weigh, im guestimating them all)

Other than weighing the gold myself, how would I go about actually getting the value of these pieces I want to sell? I would take to a jewelry shop that buys — but I do not want to get ripped off. Nothing is appraised. And some of the older pieces do not have visible karat labels on them that I can see.

Completely clueless about the gems.. how do I find out the actual quality and value of my diamonds and other gems…

I am a refiner and diamond buyer in Florida, and will give you the information you need to sell your items without getting ripped off.

Gold (Based on todays price of $993/oz)- 10k- $9 gram, 14k- $13 gram, 18k- $17 gram.

Silver- 925/Sterling- $9 a ounce.

This is the absolute least you should get per gram. A lot of place buy it according to pennyweight (DWT) to convert grams to pennyweight just multiply the gram price by 1.55.

I pay around 6% more than the numbers I listed above, if you want to sell them to me give me a call at 877-487-1386. If you know the weight I can pay you via paypal even before you ship out your items.

The diamonds are nearly imposible to know because so many factors go into the selling price. I personally WOULD NOT sell any diamonds, gems etc. right now because of the economy. Diamond prices are down 60% from 6 months ago. Now is the time to sell any gold or silver but not diamonds, gems, or costume jewelry.

Hope this helped.

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So I have this necklace, well technically it’s a chocker I guess, and it belonged to my great-grandmother. I’ve had it since I was a kid and I’d guess the piece must be at least 50 years old. I’ve always loved it because it reminded me of the necklace Audrey Hepburn wears in Breakfast at Tiffany’s: http://images.forbes.com/images/2001/10/10/pow_400×475.jpg
Mine has 3 strands of pearls and a similar but smaller jeweled centerpiece. I think it would be considered costume jewelry. The jewels in the center are fake; however, the pearls might be real, or at least cultured.

Over the years, the necklace has taken some abuse. Two of the strands of pearls (one on each side) have unraveled. I have the pearls, but I was wondering about how much it would cost to repair it. And where could I take it to be done? A regular jewelry store? Or do I have to find some sort of specialty store? It’s too delicate for me to do myself.

A regular jewelry store could restring your necklace and put knots between beads or pearls to protect them. In case the string broke, the pearls would not roll all over the floor. Do not know how much it would cost to have the pearls restrung let alone if you wanted to put knots between each pearl, but it probably would be expensive. I’d suggest you go to a bead shop and sign up for a bead stringing class. They’d teach you how to repair your special necklace, they would have all the tools you need, you’d have fun and also would learn a new skill. Who knows. You might discover after seeing all of the beads and findings in the store that you’d like to make another necklace. Bead shops have all thicknesses of thread so they probably would have the right type for your project.

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I bought a lot of antique jewelry at an auction. Some appears to be real, some definitely fake/costume. However, there are a few pieces where it is honestly hard to tell. They may be real or good quality fakes. How can I tell? If I take it to a jewelry store, will they be able to tell? Will they charge me for the assessment? I don’t care if it is real or not because I like it, but if it is real, it probably needs to be insured. Thanks for all help.

Check with your insurance company. Most have a jewelry assessor who will assess at a nominal fee. The couple of hundred you might have to pay will be more than worth the money, believe me…even some costume jewelry can be valuable. Years ago, my husband bought a guitar at a pawnshop. To "sweeten" the deal, a pearl necklace was thrown in. I always assumed it was fake, although a very good one. I had that appraised this year and it’s worth $1800. I’ve been wearing it for years with t-shirts. Needless to say, even though I still wear it with t-shirts, I now have it insured appropriately and have had it restrung.

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my friend inherited some nice costume jewelry and now we’re trying to find out more about it.

Here is this website(if it helps)- http://www.antiquingonline.com/

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Zeitgeist: A Century of Idar-oberstein Costume Jewellery

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