Recently while shopping on eBay I saw several pieces that were listed as being by certain designers but then went on to say they were unsigned. How can this be?  If you do your research you can assign pieces to certain designers. For example- Miriam Haskell has a very distinct style. ,

Miriam Haskell first began making jewelry commercially around 1924. Like her design predecessors in the Art Nouveau era, she designed and manufactured jewelry that evoked nature in their subjects and construction. She began to create the pieces using organic materials in her jewelry. Not only was Haskell riding the wave of the Roaring Twenties, she was creating a wave of her own. The Twenties were the years that all of the fashion rules were broken. Haskell’s unbounded creativity met with enormous popularity. The prices for her costume jewelry were much lower than the cost of precious metals and stones, so anyone could afford to look fashionable. The popularity of her costume jewelry continued, even after the stock market crash.

 At the heart of a Miriam Haskell piece is a filigree base made of stamped brass. These come from France, Germany, and the US. The filigrees are plated separately in signature Russian gold or a specialty finish, then assembled, and then embellished. Vintage filigrees that are difficult to find are often used. Each element is first picked up by hand. Depending on the nature of the design, the element, no matter how diminutive, is then threaded, encrusted, or wrapped by hand onto a wire, a chain, or handset into a channel or finding. It’s the tight embroidery of the elements-that exposes no sign of the base underneath- that is one of the most distinctive features of Miriam Haskell jewelry. In addition to meticulous construction practices she used sophisticated and unique materials with colors that are characters unto themselves. In the early years, Haskell jewelry was not marked and production was limited. Many of “unsigned” Haskell pieces are questionable as to authenticity.

Haskell never registered her designs. She began to sign her pieces in 1950. The Miriam Haskell trademark was not received until 1988, 64 years after she began designing. Because there were no marks to identify her work prior to 1950, it is difficult to verify many of her pieces.

Several signatures including an incised “Miriam Haskell” on the hook, “Miriam Haskell” in a crescent shaped cartouche, and an oval stamp “Miriam Haskell” on the clasp. Some designs during the fifties were incredibly elaborate, combining stones, pearls, beads, and filigree in new and exciting ways.

So how do I know if this piece is a real Haskell?  Research. Look through photos in books on vintage jewelry; vintage magazine ads and website that specialise in the designer you are trying to research.  My rule of thumb is that if enough characteristics of the designer are present in your piece you can say with confidence that you do have an unsigned piece “in the style of”  your designer. This piece is not signed Miriam Haskell but the over all design has her style written all over it. From the organic style of the flower centerpiece covered with interesting hand wired beads  to the flower shaped beads accented with rhinestones.  it is very likely that this piece is a genuine Haskell pre- 1950.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The brooch below is one  I recently discovered at a flea market is unsigned. Whne I forst looked at it I thought to myself this looks like a Schreiner piece. But after doing more research and comparing it to other Schreiner brooches I have I have concluded that it is not a Schreiner. The center stone even though it has an open back is foiled.  it would have been more in keeping with Schreiner’s style to place an unfoiled stone of a higher quality as the centerpiece of this brooch.

If you are like me you spend a lot of time wandering flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales and auctions. When it comes to buying vintage jewelry keep in mind these tips before you buy. Nothing is more disheartening then getting a piece home and really looking at it after the “honeymoon” of finding it is over.  In the case of this signed Coro brooch , it wasn’t until I got home from a wonderful afternoon of junking that I realized the top left pearl was a lower quality replacement. Now it sits on my replacement shelf waiting for me to find a better match. Taking this into consideration I would not have paid what I did for it at all.
What is the physical condition of the piece? A well cared for and therefore more valuable piece does not have to look new, after all, it is termed vintage for a reason but it should not look it’s age either.

Missing, cloudy, black or mis colored rhinestones stones: these devalue the piece. If stones are missing inspect the area to see if they are missing due to becoming loose from the glue or in the case of prong set stones the prongs have broken off. In the case of missing stones due to old glue this is an easy repair, however, if the stones are missing because the prongs are broken or missing I would put it back on the shelf and say a little prayer to the Rhinestone Goddess for the mistreatment of one of her treasures.

Missing or broken parts and tacky plating:

 Here is a prime example of what to pass up. This brooch has some wonderful stones in it and they would be easily replaced. Take a good look at the metal. it is in very poor condition. The plating has worn off in places and someone down the line tried to brighten it up by using something on it to cover the old plating. Poor workmanship or repair flaws are a sure sign of a lower quality piece. Missing pieces such as the clasp mechanism on the back of a brooch takes some skill to repair. I have accumulated quite a few pieces of old brooches to use for repair. You will want to match the metal color and patina as closely as possible so your repair doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. The same goes for necklace and bracelet clasps. make sure whatever you use keeps the original integrity of the piece as much as possible.

Poor repair workmanship: Sometimes you find a piece that has already been repaired. Take a good look at it. Did they use the right glue when resetting a rhinestone? If there is a hard yellow glue residue around the stone or pearl it was not repaired properly. Was the repair stone replaced with an inferior one?  These repair mistakes can be easily corrected by you and you can restore the piece back to it’s glory with the proper tools. (see previuos posts about repair kits and tools)

I get asked this question a lot. And I have a few different avenues of research that I pursue when trying to “date” a particular piece.  One way is by looking at jewelry ads from old fashion magazines like this ad for Corocraft from 1957. Magazines are a wonderful way to  ”date” pieces because they will have dates on them and you can tell the approximate date of a piece by matching it to an ad.

Some vintage jewelry pieces have patents on them. This means they have a registered patent number which can be researched to determine the registration date. 

Google  has a new tool called “Google Patents” which contains a search-able data base of all US patents registered from 1790 to 2006. 

Another thing to look for would be a Copyright. In 1956 it became much more cost effective for designers to register a copyright on a design rather than go through the costly  patent process. Pieces bearing a copyright symbol indicates that it was produced in 1956 or later.

You can also look at the makers mark or signature on a piece. For example: The Schreiner Company of New York. Henry Schreiner immigrated from Bavaria Germany to the United States in 1923.  In 1939 Henry opened his own company based in New York.His daughter Terry and her husband Ambrose Albert joined the company in 1951. Henry died in 1954 and his daughter and son in law continued the business until 1975. Signed Schreiner pieces were marked with  “SCHREINER NEW YORK” in all capital letters in an oval. Some times designers did not sign their pieces. Henry Schreiner started out working for Christian Dior before opening his own company and his early pieces are not signed with his name. You can tell it was one of his designs because Henry Schreiner had a very distinctive style.

Another way to date a vintage piece of jewelry is by the style of the piece. Knowing what styles were popular over the years is very helpful.  Again  fashion magazine ads from past years are helpful as are history of costume books.

I do a lot of vintage jewelry repairs for people. Most of the time it involves re-stringing the piece so the owner can wear it. Let’s face it when many of these wonderful pieces were created the stringing materials were pretty much mono filament, cotton string or silk string. All of these materials eventually wear out. Mono filament gets brittle over time, silk and cotton can fray with time and all of these result in a necklace breaking at a very inopportune time and place.

Which brings me to a question of ethics. Is it OK to restring vintage pieces with newer stronger stringing materials?

Well that depends- you knew I was going to say that.

When I am repairing/restringing a piece it is usually for someone who wants to wear the piece.  So I use today’s better stringing materials on the pieces. I never use mono filament because it does get brittle and I do not like the way the necklace lays with it. I have many beautiful leaded crystal strands of beads that have been strung on mono filament. I won’t wear it or sell it if it is strung on this awful stuff. Usually the stringing material is so tight that the crystals actually grind against each other. I think in general that necklaces should be rather fluid- not tight and kinky. Vintage necklaces that I have that are strung on cotton or silk are either too loose- the fibers have stretched perhaps under the weight of the beads- or they are frayed and on the verge of breaking. Again - this is not an acceptable presentation in my studio to sell a piece like this. So I restring the pieces.

I let my clients know that the piece has been restrung. The clasp fits nice and tight and all the jump rings are replaced if necessary or shaped back into perfect circles with ends that align properly.

What about replacing missing beads? Or totally refashioning a necklace? The best policy is to be open and upfront about it when selling a piece. I think there are many vintage pieces out there that have been re-worked or repaired at one time or another.

This Haskell choker was too small for the owner to wear it. She needed it to be about an inch longer to be comfortable. I restrung it exactly like it was to begin with but added in black vintage seed beads on either side of the round black beads through out the entire piece. One would never know that it hadn’t been designed this way in the first place. The client was happy with the solution because she really liked the piece and wanted to wear it and we didn’t want to just add an extender to the clasp.

This necklace was one long strand and the customer just didn’t like it. After careful examination I believe it had at one time been a double strand necklace that some one had restrung into a single. It was really designed to be a double. The pattern that the beads were in did not make sense for a Haskell and the stringing material  was too new. I had no idea what the original patten was of the double strand but was able to put this configuration together using all the beads from the single strand. I used vintage double strand spacer findings so the patina of the metal matched that of the clasp. 

Is it OK to do this? Yes because the client requested it. If it were mine I would make full disclosure that the piece had been reworked. Most of us are buying these glamorous old beauties because we want to wear them and we do. They aren’t museum pieces and to be honest- something collectible is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

I have been out visiting my favorite thrift stores recently. I love this part of what I do!  Making my rounds and taking my time to really look at everything carefully. I do this alone and rarely take a friend along so i don’t feel rushed or get distracted. I found this sweet little Miriam Haskell choker at a local thrift store for $3.00 and it’s in excellent condition.

I once did a repair for someone on another Haskell that used the same baroque pearls and pink glass beads in a different style.  

An important tool to keep in your purse when you are “going junking”  as my friend Shari and I call it - is a magnifying glass. I have a jeweler’s loupe that I keep with me when I am doing my thrift store circuit. I find myself relying on it more and more the older my eyes get.  Keep one handy because you neve know what you might find!