How To Sell Jewelry on eBay | Queen of Auctions

‘Jumping into Jewelry!’
by Kathy Flood (Antique Trader Columnist and Jewelry Expert)

I’m excited. I just thought of a negative when it comes to purchasing jewelry for resale. If I hadn’t thought of it, none of you would believe such a lovely purchasing landscape existed. After all, jewelry is everywhere; its variety is vast; surprises wait around every turn; profit margins can be handsome; and jewelry is small in size, which is a huge plus. (Like everyone, I succumbed to Lynn’s rhapsodies on dinnerware. I went out and bought a plate – and sold it. Fantastic. But packing it, it seemed so huge compared with jewelry, I felt I might as well be shipping an armoire. Not really, but jewelry’s scale totally spoils you. It usually only requires a tiny box and bubble envelope. Ahhhh.)

Okay, so … the negative: No matter how cheap a piece of jewelry is, it’s usually locked in a case. For all of you accustomed to rummaging freely through stalls or garages and examining merchandise at leisure, having to ask to see jewelry, piece by piece by piece, does slow you down. (And you should carry a loupe to look through because many marks and hallmarks are teensy, or hiding in unlikely places.)

There … If you aren’t too turned off by having to squint and ask people to open sesame, it’s all good (mostly). Jewelry hunting and reselling are unequivocally fun. Very few people who start looking for lockets and lavalieres … stop. That’s because the breadth and scope of styles, brands and designs are mesmerizing, and because, well … for example: I pulled in to an exceptionally trashy flea market, an incredible pit, really, and found a seller hawking costume jewelry. Every piece was encased in filthy plastic. I spotted, through the dust, what looked like an interesting necklace. Opening the baggie to look more closely, I uncovered a perfect vintage collar with cream-color enameled medallions shimmering with pink dangling beads. Marked Coro, it cost $1 and sold that night (BIN) on eBay for $200. Who could walk away from that?

This article is intended for beginners determined to dip their toes in an ocean of vintage costume jewelry. Here are five top tips for buying jewelry to sell on eBay. (I won’t tell you where to look because, as noted earlier, jewelry is everywhere. Treasures frequently turn up in holes-in-the-wall. Or, as a character notes in the book Cadillac Jack, “Anything can be anywhere.”

1. Trifari

Trifari is a good name to greet, meet and get to know. Even if you already recognize it in the guise of contemporary fashion jewelry at, say, Kohl’s, it’s more appreciated historically as one of the all-time great (and prolific) American jewelry companies.

Trifari turned out, over many decades beginning in 1925, a gargantuan number of bracelets, brooches, and bijoux in general, so – you’ll find pieces easily. But Trifari also created more costume-jewelry masterpieces than any other company. That’s something jewelry collectors will pay many hundreds of dollars to own because of a style’s beauty, rarity, or the creative genius of designer Alfred Philippe. And Trifari’s appeal is global, so you can count on the world watching (or at least checking out) your eBay auction.

Early on, before you hold, examine and read about tons of Trifari, buy cheaply and rely on the Wow Factor. If a pin not only doesn’t take your breath away, but also bores you silly, chances are it’s not going to sell for much, if at all. (Tailored Fifties or early Sixties earrings won’t pay for any flight to the beach.) But brilliant design work, extraordinary enameling, complicated metalwork, lavish specialty stones, and especially quirky figurals (see No. 5 below) can pay off in a big way when you find them.

My general rule of thumb is, if fairly interesting Trifari is for sale at $5-10 in an antiques mall, estate sale or thrift shop, I count on reselling at $50. (That’s my own experience, in an oversimplified nutshell.) When you find something exceptional, profits are much prettier. Here’s a gorgeous early Fifties Trifari heart brooch. I have it up for $295 (I’m a BIN believer) or MAO. That’s possibly a little high, but it’s wonderful – and uncommon.

This listing is here.

* Venue Vidi Vici: Just thought of one where-to-find tip. Dealers who aren’t into jewelry often put all their baubles into a locked case in their stalls or booths and assign one price to any piece a shopper wants, typically $5 to $10 each. These dealers don’t distinguish much between trash and treasure, so these are good places to locate random masterpieces. I have.

2. Sterling Silver

Sterling silver is the serious heartthrob of many collectors. Since silver is a precious metal, it’s often not classified in the costume-jewelry category. But my own first most intense or memorable experiences with it came from famed costume-jewelry companies who converted to silver from base metals during WWII, so it will always be fine costume jewelry to me despite the fact it enjoys its own intrinsic value. What artists have done with this metal takes it far beyond the price of silver or any mere categorization. Whether vintage golden-age designs out of New England or the Southwest, iconoclastic studio art, beautiful metalwork from Scandinavia, Mexico, Peru, Israel … this is a realm with great riches, both in terms of aesthetics and values.

Sterling silver is an area that requires mental energy, beginning with familiarization with marks and hallmarks. If it proves to be an area you love, buy related books and start memorizing. Whenever you see silver that catches your eye, don’t fail to examine it and note who made it. If not signed by a designer, at least see where it was made. Actually, it’s not a bad idea to look at more silver than does catch your eye. For instance, Ming’s sterling pieces aren’t all flamboyant enough to grab you immediately, but the creations of this Hawaiian company are collectible, so …Patiently looking at anything in sterling with Hawaiian motifs, from hibiscus to folk people, may pay off. I found $8 Ming’s (unnoted on dealer tag) troll earrings that sold for $195, and a $20 floral set that sold for $110.

The vast silver spectrum ranges from brilliant mechanical charms to the quirkiest concoctions ever, such as a fantastic 3-D brooch that’s a 1970s Valium pill box. Lots of great silver streaks through a chapter of my upcoming book, Warman’s Jewelry, 4th edition.

Here’s the Ming’s hibiscus set you might not have deemed instantly drool-worthy, but others did. (It’s the one that sold for $110.)

* Cross-category overlap: When you come upon sterling silver jewelry signed Trifari and the piece happens to have clear acrylic or molded Lucite elements (called jellies, or a ‘jelly belly’), do not walk away if the piece strikes you as reasonably priced. Jellies are highly coveted, and not necessarily only the ones by Trifari. Consider any old jewelry that features a glob of plastic ‘glass,’ even if unsigned (as long as the price doesn’t set off alarm bells).

3. Bling

Vintage bling’s power to seduce should never be underestimated. Glitz is a go-to category – whether you like it yourself or not. I would have been a much more successful seller from the start if I’d found a way to love sparkle sooner.

Most collectors are self-confessed magpies. I never objected to it on the so-called “gaudy” front; glitter just left me (ice) cold. It’s grown on me, though, and it’s about time. Do yourself a favor and love it … now. From Eisenberg to Schreiner (and later, Swarovski), costume creations that entrance with their shimmering crystal and specialty stones, especially when lavished on bracelets and necklaces in multiple colors, layers and shapes, bring a bounty of bidders and bucks.

Bling can never be broached without bringing “Juliana” into the banter. This is the “nickname” (actually the name of one of the company’s lines for two years) of jewelry by DeLizza & Elster. It’s never marked, but you might luck out and find pieces with original tags. Look for daring color combinations, lots of art-glass specialty stones, and some of the most-noted clues to recognition: five-link bracelet construction; unfoiled, open-back “skinny” navette stones; puddled gold plating on back … (There are some caveats, of course, from mistaken identity or attribution to buying damaged pieces. For example, a valuable D&E bracelet sadly missing two panels of stones becomes hard to sell even under $50. The same bracelet, intact, is for sale as part of a set or suite for $1,500. Condition is often crucial – which is crucial to remember.) This wholesale compan y manufactured its fashion work for many famous jewelry names until it closed in 1990. To learn more about this sometimes lucrative niche, see my related column on the subject here at the Antique Trader web site.

Click here to see what the asking price is for this beautiful set.

4. Kenneth Jay Lane

Kenneth Jay Lane also enjoys an international fan club, and there’s lots of his jewelry to go around, so it’s smart to get to know the logos. Your interest should be most focused on his early (late Sixties into Seventies) work (especially the elaborate earrings and necklaces, or his fantasy animal figures), signed with the earliest mark, a K.J.L. in oval cartouche. Later jewelry can still be very desirable, but until you know the niche well, don’t go buying up everything you see from the “for Avon” or QVC days. Some faux-jadeite, faux-coral Deco and Oriental designs have remained in the line for decades and still prove enormously popular, as are his cabochon-encrusted animal-headed bypass (or not) bangles.

If a piece of Kenneth Lane wows you, go for it if affordable. If it’s glitzy but somehow icky, you may have found a fake (there’s lots of counterfeit K.J.L., including all Christmas tree pins, and many snakes, for example). You have to be careful out there, but try some baby steps down this Lane. If you trip, you’ll be steadier next time.

Here’s an example of a simulated jadeite and coral animal-head bangle.

KJL BANGLES OFTEN SELL FOR BETWEEN $100 TO $600+, DEPENDING ON AGE AND HOW ELABORATE.

Here is an example of the oldest (and most desirable) KJL mark.

[Lynn here. I bought a Kenneth Jay Lane Enamel Shoe pin recently for a few dollars. It is listed in my eBay store. Kathy, I bet it is one of those QVC or Avon pieces you talk about. Darn it!  Here is my listing.

[Sorry to interrupt and now back to Kathy’s fascinating article]

5. Figurals

Figurals are fabulous. This niche is nearest and dearest to my heart, maybe because I first realized jewelry was collectible (not just wearable) when I saw a Vogue spread about Christmas tree pins, covering everything from Cartier and Bulgari masterpieces to modern spins on pine pins plastic to rhinestone laden. Holiday arbors compose just one popular category in figurals, which also includes everything from cats, birds, crowns and flowers to cowboys, Indians, fictional characters, celebrities and every kind of people ever conceived.

This niche just might be the most fun, but it also proves profitable when you pick up designs by such names as Sandor, Reja, Eisenberg, Coro, DeRosa, Mazer, Boucher and many others (including Trifari, of course). I fell so in love with figurals I wrote an entire book about them (Warman’s Costume Jewelry Figurals), and the new book coming soon, Warman’s Jewelry 4th edition, is chock full of some of the all-time greatest.

People figurals are a popular category. This vintage-1940s queen brooch, although unsigned, is a twin of the famous (and pricey) Eisenberg royal. The unmarked version has sold variously over the years from a low of $50 to a high of $250.

As a special thank you to Lynn’s Queen of Auctions list, the first 25 future jewelry experts (that’s you) who buy the Figurals Book from me will receive a free gift: a Christmas tree brooch like Angelina Jolie wore in a movie, along with the photograph of her wearing it.

Happy holidays … all year long!
– Kathy Flood
ChristmasTreePins.com

A very BIG Thank you to Kathy Flood for sharing her jewelry tips and tricks! We hope to get her on a teleseminar in the near future, but for now…