QuestionI'm overwhelmed by about 300 pieces of vintage jewelry given to me yesterday by the husband of a deceased friend who was a collector. Several have a designer's name/mark, (emmons, eisenberg,). I have 5 pieces of Kirk's Folly. Most is not marked, but I've seen similiar pieces in pictures on the Internet.
My question is: What do I have? Where do I go to have it appraised? Where do I sell it?
AnswerHello Connie - What a wonderful gift from a friend. I'm sure you'll find several pieces to keep and treasure. The others, it is up to you how much time you want to spend selling them. The costume jewelry market fluctuates daily. It sounds like you have some nice pieces and you may want to do some research on those that have designers names. I would suggest checking the online auctions for market values of similar items. You can do a "search" on ebay.com under their jewelry catagory. Also spend some time browsing some of the costume jewelry sites. There are books available both for purchase and at your local library that give "book" values for costume jewelry. Keep in mind, though, that these are just "book" values and do not reflect the current market. Most items will market at 50% or below the book. A few items will market at more, depending on the current popularity of that particular designer or theme.
You could also opt to sell the entire collection to a dealer. Figure the designer pieces as above and then add reasonable amounts for the other items. Ask for an offer and then be prepared to "bargain". You could also sell the items on ebay either by the piece or in lots of 2 or more pieces. Ebay is very easy to use and there are other online auctions available such as Yahoo.
Another option ! Keep it all and become a collector yourself ! It's a very fascinating and addictive hobby.
If you decide you want to sell any or the entire lot, I'd appreciate an email - I may be interested. Hope this has helped. My email wjarrett4303@charter.net
My site is jarrettsjade.com
Sally
