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A discussion of brooches in another thread reminded me of how much I like costume jewelry. My mother has a small collection of Weiss, Coro, Eisenberg, and others, mostly earrings and pins but some necklaces and rings too. I haves few pieces and would love to have more, but I don't know how often I would wear them. Do you collect? Do you wear yours?
I bought my daughter a beautiful vintage wiess necklace set for her wedding. the only trouble with trying to collect the stuff, on ebay anyway, you almost always get out bid at the last moment by the serious collector.
Yes! For years I have collected just about any kind of costume pieces. While I have a few Coro, Weiss, etc., don't wear them as much as I used to...but still enjoy them just the same.....sometimes I just pull them out to look at them...
Last summer, maids stole 63 pieces...not only was I angry, but sad , so many were hand-crafted/one-of-a kind, or just unusual or quite old...
The wide variety is astonishing! My personal favorites are sterling silver (Danecraft), Navajo silver, Italian mosaics....with artisan earrings next, enamel/silver bracelets too.... and animal pins! Website Etsy.com is a great place to view all sorts of pieces for sale.
Thanks for posting!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JustJulia
A discussion of brooches in another thread reminded me of how much I like costume jewelry. My mother has a small collection of Weiss, Coro, Eisenberg, and others, mostly earrings and pins but some necklaces and rings too. I haves few pieces and would love to have more, but I don't know how often I would wear them. Do you collect? Do you wear yours?
GBH, that is horrible that your maids stole from you! I have about 8 micro mosaic drop necklaces that I love dearly and some date back to the 1890s.
As to the question - yes, yes, and yes. I have Coro, Weiss, Lisner, Kramer and others I can't remember right now. I have old shell cameo pendants, crystal necklaces, italian wedding cake necklaces and much more.
Do I wear it? No, but I do love to look at it and once in a while I will wear a micro mosaic necklace. I have about five categories I look for on Ebay (or did). They were: micro mosaic, wedding cake, vintage crystal necklaces, X rhinestone necklaces/earrings, damascene, vintage porcelain bead, and vintage shell cameo stuff. Most of it I just keep in a safety deposit box for "someday," as to have so much of it around here would just make me nervous. It's my "if I ever go broke" backup "I can always sell it" collection.
I bought my daughter a beautiful vintage wiess necklace set for her wedding. the only trouble with trying to collect the stuff, on ebay anyway, you almost always get out bid at the last moment by the serious collector.
By the sniper. I used to do the same. I pretty much had it down to a science. At around 35 to 40 seconds I'd input the bid. The bid might be three times the going rate (knowing full well I might end up with someone else doing the same). Then I'd countdown to about 8 seconds and confirm the bid. Usually worked. If you're serious about a piece, I would use this strategy.
In the old Ebay days you could go into other's profiles to see what they'd bought. This gave me an idea of what I was up against and how high a bidder was willing to go and what other things they had purchased. Ebay used to be much more fun.
Yes. My grandmother loved jewelry and I got her's when she passed away. She traveled extensively and bought jewelry as her souvenirs. So there are pieces from all over the world.
When I lived in L.A. I always wore jewelry. I enjoyed that people appreciated pieces from the 30's and 40's. Now that I'm out with the cowboys, not so much. Just my Navajo/Hopi sterling silver rings and things. A lot of Native Americans set out blankets at tourist attractions and rest stops here. My DH knows that if we stop to use the john I'm going to spend 30 minutes talking with them and adding to my collection. It's the best way to get some wonderful wearable art dirt cheap. A lot of people just walk by them. But if you're in AZ and you see a Native American sitting on the ground, or in a small booth, with jewelry or sand paintings or pottery or rugs for sale for goodness sakes STOP! You are buying direct from the manufacturer, lol!
A word about things getting stolen. A good, heavy safe suitable for home use is fairly cheap. And it will slow down the "tourists". Even though what I have isn't especially valuable it holds tremendous sentimental value. And for really good pieces safety deposit boxes at the bank are very reasonable. I never leave anything lying around. Everything gets locked up as soon as I take it off.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 05-01-2011 at 12:12 PM..
A word about things getting stolen. A good, heavy safe suitable for home use is fairly cheap. And it will slow down the "tourists". Even though what I have isn't especially valuable it holds tremendous sentimental value. And for really good pieces safety deposit boxes at the bank are very reasonable. I never leave anything lying around. Everything gets locked up as soon as I take it off.
I did buy a safe and I do have an alarm system so between the two I do keep some pieces in there. Like you, I pretty much don't leave anything lying around (well, except if I know no one will be in my house). And when I had contractors in my house everything was in the bank or hidden in places they would not get to (the less valuable stuff)
I once made the mistake of showing a (former) friend my jewelry collection and, wouldn't you know it, my favorite gold rope necklace disappeared. She was the only person in the house in that two month period and I'm very careful with jewelry, so I am almost sure she took it. Of course, I can't prove it and, of course, she denied it. And then I had another friend come to visit and I gave her my bedroom and, once again, she packed a pair of my shoes in her suitcase. I only found out because I woke up when she was leaving and I guess she felt she had to fess up. She too is now a former friend. I don't know what is up with these friends that you can know for years who will steal from you.
Moral of the story - keep any valuables (or even not valuables) under watch as even the "best" of friends can decide you don't really need "that" as much as they do.
I'd have to say my favorite (although there are so many) pieces would be the wedding cake necklaces and the micromosaic stuff along with the vintage cameo pieces. I love the nice Kramer rhinestone stuff too.
I always feel horrible for people who have things stolen. Horrible. I feel so sorry for GreatBlueHerron.
But I had a sticky-fingered relative. A cousin who took "Mi Casa, Su Casa" a little too literally. Lesson learned. Not only did we buy a safe, we put deadbolts on the doors to the bedrooms so little-miss-no-conscience wouldn't be able to go anywhere beyond the living room and the john when she came to family gatherings.
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, so many were hand-crafted/one-of-a kind, or just unusual or quite old... 
but I have been buying costume jewerly just recenly! I am in love.
