diyiyeok03

Heartland: Costume jewelry has vintage appeal

One of the biggest potential misconceptions about that messy box of old costume jewelry in Grandma’s closet is that it’s worthless.

The connoisseur of vintage costume jewelry knows, as D. Brett Benson points out, a brand like Trifari produced different levels of quality — a mass-produced commercial line, an in-between line sold at better department stores and a high-end, or couture line that could rival Cartier in design.plastic injection mold manufacturer

“I have costume jewelry priced at $25,000,” says Benson, a Chicago-based dealer, Tremont native and self-described mover and shaker in the global vintage jewelry market. “Even during its day, some of it was very expensive.”

Another misconception is nobody wants it.plastic injection mold

Dealers will buy it to resale,The quality of your coffee roasting and chocolate processing machinery can make all the difference in your level of success. in effect a salvage and recycling operation. Collectors will steal for it.

At least the man Benson calls “my friend Dennis” did.
plastic injection molding
Google “Brett Benson” and “Dennis” and up pops a November 2000 article in New York magazine headlined “Costume Drama.” Benson’s friend, Dennis Maselli, thought nothing of spending thousands of dollars to feed his obsession with Bakelite jewelry, a plastic costume jewelry in vogue during the 1930s-era Art Deco years. Maselli, whom Benson calls a scholar of the field, served three years in New York’s prison system after pleading guilty to stealing $7 million from the law firm where he was head of payroll.

The auction house that sold Maselli’s collection sorted through some 10,000 pieces of jewelry, including 4,000 pieces of Bakelite, worth an estimated $1 million according to another article in Forbes.

Dealers loved Dennis. Rather than haggle for a lower price, he’d pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars more than the value. Benson sent items to him at least once a month for four years and later organized a pre-sentencing dinner for him where all dealers wore “Free Dennis” T-shirts.

“He really changed the market,” Benson says now, somewhat wistfully. “He actually set the value.”

Almost all the local dealers know Benson, 53, whose interest started when he was 9. They all know each other and they all know brand names like Eisenberg, Original by Robert, Juliana, Coro, Sarah Coventry and Avon. Make that classic Avon.

They also know the market for vintage jewelry is changing in ways that have nothing to do with Dennis.

The huge online market for vintage has had an impact. Kim and Dan Phillips’ decision to close Illinois Antique Center will have an effect. Record high prices for gold and silver may take a toll on the availability of finer pieces.

John Vrabel, who deals in vintage accessories such as watches and cufflinks, says customers might not be willing to pay $1,000 for a vintage gold watch but he can scrap it and get $950.

“It’s more valuable dead than alive.”plastic injection mold maker

On the flip side, high gold and silver prices could draw new customers looking for more affordable types of vintage.

Abbie Ann Alexander, owner of AAA Antiques on Lake Avenue, has a shop full of vintage jewelry. It’s the single largest item at her store and probably what she sells most.

She knows Benson and people like his friend, minus the tendency toward larceny. She also teaches vintage jewelry classes for Peoria Park District and Bradley University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

“There’s a lot of fanatics here in town, they buy and sell,” she says. “Some just hoard and won’t show it to anybody.”

But most of the people who take Alexander’s vintage jewelry classes just want to identify a piece they inherited.

Vintage jewelry is not confined to costume jewelry. Trying to define it is like trying to define antique, Alexander says. Generally vintage jewelry is anything older than the 1980s, which happens to be a hot period right now. But definitions overlap with estate jewelry and antique jewelry, generally anything more than a century old.

Collectors build collections on a variety of characteristics. For instance, by manufacturer, material (remember Dennis and his Bakelite collection,) or designer (Alexander collects Georg Jenson and Miriam Haskell, mainly broaches).

Alexander organizes her classes by four historical time periods which mirror the architectural and furniture styles of the time.

The Victorian era coincides with Queen Victoria’s reign, approximately from the 1840s to 1860s, and is generally quite ornate. Mourning jewelry was also popular, as was jewelry made of woven human hair, sometimes the hair of the person being mourned. The arts and crafts movement from the 1890s to 1920s resulted in artistic, handmade pieces with simple lines. Art Nouveau, with its curving lines and feminine motifs, took off around the same time. Art deco, followed by retro or modern, fill out vintage jewelry eras.

Dealers like Alexander love to talk about stones set in prongs versus glued-in stones, real rhinestones versus fake rhinestones, or signed versus unsigned pieces. As knowledgeable as they are, they know the appeal of vintage jewelry can’t be defined.

“Mostly, it’s the desire,” Alexander says.

Benson wonders if the desire that drives collectors will remain as they age out of the business.

“We’re at an uncertain time, I don’t know where it’s going to go. Now people are looking at it more for fashion than collectability.”

But he does know post-World War II American-made vintage jewelry is prized in Europe.

“It was the best, so people still want it.”