Is My Costume Jewelry Worth Anything? How do I know if my old costume jewelry is valuable? You are in the right place if you want to know this answer!
Costume jewelry includes a wide array of decorated items that most of us wear for personal adornment that are designed and manufactured as inexpensive ornamentation intended to complement a specific fashionable outfit or garnet. This greatly differs from fine jewelry, which is often more costly and is regarded primarily as keepsakes, collectibles or investments.
Generally, costume jewelry has become immensely popular and there are multiple styles that are being designed and each and everyone that exists in the jewelry world is intended to match various personalities and occasions.
At the same time, costume jewelry is not made from any precious metals or stones, which may have you questioning whether the ones that you already have and would like to sell are worth anything anyway.
In this write-up, we will look at whether your costume jewelry is worth anything and give you a few tips on how you can identify whether your old costume jewelry is valuable.
Is my Costume Jewelry worth anything?
Your costume jewelry can either be worth a few dollars or a fortune! The problem that comes in when trying to figure out whether your costume jewelry is worth anything, is that the monetary value of jewelry is never constantly and fluctuates without giving off any notice.
Sometimes the jewelry pieces that we think are extremely valuable and could earn us a great ton of money can actually be worth mere dollars and those that seem the simplest can cost a lot more.
When it comes to costume jewelry, it doesn’t necessarily have to be crafted from gold or diamonds for it to be a valuable jewelry piece.
All kinds of antique and vintage costume jewelry are actually very desirable on the secondhand market. With this in mind, it is so easy for you to convert your costume jewelry into a few hundreds of dollars once you are able to establish its value.
How do I know if my old costume jewelry is valuable?
Finding out whether you have any valuable costume jewelry in your already existing collection may be a daunting task if you have an untrained eye.
However much so, here are a few important things that you would need to look out for to establish the value of your old costume jewelry;
1.Look for a jewelry mark on your old costume jewelry
Among the first things that you would find yourself noticing before purchasing any high-end piece, is a few hallmarks at the back of each one of them.
A single hallmark or stamp has the potential to tell you the metal content of your piece and in the event that your jewelry piece is not made of any metals, the hallmark will then tell you the manufacturer, the origin or designer associated with that particular jewelry piece.
Majority of the time, you would find these hallmarks on the inside of any ring or bracelet, the post of an earring or on the clasp of any necklace.
In as much so, there are times when you may not be able to locate the hallmark on certain pieces because they may be quite antique or because they have worn off from regular wear.
The point is all kinds of fine jewelry tend to have hallmarks.
Allow me to explain this further…
If you are dealing with gold pieces then a few hallmarks that you may encounter are 14K, 750, 18K, 585, 10K or 375 whereas Platinum pieces have markings such as PLATINUM, 950 or PLAT.
Silver, on the other hand, has been stamped Silver, 925, Sterling or 800. Other fine jewelry hallmarks that exist are Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and Tacori among other popular fine jewelry brands.
All in all, each kind of metal has its own mark which majority of the time is a great sign.
Now, when it comes to costume jewelry, amongst the most common hallmarks that you may come across are AVON, Sarah Coventry and Trifari among others.
Majority of the time these are somewhat an indicator that the specific piece of costume jewelry you have is not really valuable.
Also, most costume jewelry pieces do not really have a hallmark even when they are new. But, if your item is antique, you can always get them appraised.
2.Check whether green residue on the jewelry pieces
To help you determine the value of your costume jewelry pieces, you would need to check whether they have a green residue or whether the finish is beginning to delaminate.
If you find any of these, its value is quite low.
To expound on this further, the green gunk that you find on your favorite costume jewelry pieces is known as verdigris, which often forms when they come into contact with different pollutants and water as time goes by.
In simple terms, this often happens when copper in your jewelry oxidizes.
In as much as it may seem alarming at first, the good thing is that it is absolutely harmless and you can always clean it off before you sell them at a throw-away price.
3.Try and check for clear details
You are advised to inspect the back of your costume jewelry pieces and carefully examine the details of its design.
When you find it quite sloppy or running together, chances are that you are dealing with a low-value piece but if the details are crisp and clear, then it is of a higher quality and you can always sell it at a higher price.
Conclusion
Knowing how to identify and establish the value of your favorite costume jewelry pieces is a great step towards selling all the pieces that you would want out of your jewelry box.
Whether you own rare pieces, designer or most-sought after pieces, there is always the chance that its price can be a lot higher than you may have imagined it to be.
All in all, always ensure to do enough research before choosing a buyer and always bid high so that you do not end up settling for less than the actual piece would cost.
For more useful tips, please read here or visit our latest published articles.
Tiger is a fashion&jewelry lover. He is also a fashion jewelry manufacturer that help thousands of small business to grow and also do business with some big fashion jewelry brands. He is a truly metal expert and he will share some information you are looking for.