Investment Guides

A huge 22.4 carat precious topaz gemstone dominates this gorgeous 18 karat yellow gold pendant from the late 1970s.  1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry is widely celebrated for its chunky, eye-catching appearance.

Collecting 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry is one of the most exciting and rapidly growing trends in the antique jewelry trade.  And yet this era of jewelry remains largely undiscovered, resulting in some of the greatest bargains in the entire old jewelry market.

Let’s start our journey with a relevant anecdote.

I first began collecting vintage jewelry in the late 1980s.  During that time, I distinctly remember buying a book that solemnly declared 1940s Retro jewelry to be the latest addition to the pantheon of vintage jewelry styles.  Antique jewelry aficionados had fallen in love with Retro jewelry’s bold styling, massive semi-precious gemstones and lavish use of multi-colored gold.  On the other hand, post-1950 jewelry was considered much too recent for serious connoisseurs to bother with.

But this got me thinking.

If World War II era jewelry was called Retro, what would later jewelry be called?  At that point in time, it was generally called contemporary or modern jewelry.  These were boring, generic labels meant to be said with a sneer and barely concealed contempt.

But I knew that all that 1950s and 1960s jewelry would eventually age into proper vintage pieces that would turn heads and wow experts and novices alike.  This is despite the fact that no one paid much attention to them at the time.

This conundrum bothered me off and on for the next few decades.

Ironically, it turned out that naming the dominant jewelry style of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s was deceptively simple – just call it Mid-Century Modern (or Mid-Century for short).  The name was already widely used to describe that period’s architecture, furniture and art, so why not its jewelry as well?  It was a natural fit.

A much harder task lay ahead though.

Vintage jewelry crafted in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s loomed large on the horizon.  It was an era of extravagant wealth, obscene excess and outrageous glam culture.  But what should we call jewelry from this remarkable period in modern history?

Welcome to Millennium era jewelry!

Why did I choose to call it that?  Well, there are a few reasons.

Spanning the time period from circa 1975 to the year 2000, the movement encompassed the final decades before the turn of the millennium.  It is also something of a nod to the Millennial generation, which was born during the 1980s and 1990s.  Lastly, the name is evocative of the flashy designs and vibrant colors often found in jewelry of this fin de siècle era.

 

 

Millennium jewelry is often characterized by simple yet bold geometric shapes and a vivid approach to the use of color – so much so that it often bears a strong resemblance to jewelry from the Art Deco period of the 1920s.  In fact, it isn’t uncommon to find online listings of 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry described as being “Art Deco style” or “Art Deco inspired” or even just “Art Deco”!

Perhaps the biggest difference between Art Deco jewelry and Millennium jewelry is that the edges and corners of the latter are often slightly rounded or melted in appearance.  Imagine microwaving a stick of frozen butter for a minute.  The core of the butter will still be frozen solid, but the edges and corners would be rounded and soft.  So if you see round corners and melted edges on a piece of otherwise geometric vintage jewelry, it is almost certainly from the 1980s or 1990s.

It might seem like a small thing at first that Millennium era jewelry and Art Deco jewelry share a common look.  But Art Deco jewelry is currently one of the most desirable and popular antique jewelry styles in the market.  And in my opinion, 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry is the clear spiritual successor to Art Deco jewelry.

But Millennium era jewelry was more than just streamlined geometry and bold angles.

It also didn’t shy away from more rounded, organic shapes, especially as the 1980s transitioned into the 1990s.  In this regard, it shares a lot in common with Modernist jewelry.  Modernism was a contemporaneous jewelry style that exerted strong influence over the more mainstream Millennium style.  Indeed, it wouldn’t be amiss to say that a lot of Millennium era jewelry is often just a slightly more conservative version of Modernist jewelry.

1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry also drew inspiration from wildly different time periods and styles.  There was a revival of neo-Victorian style jewelry, along with neo-Etruscan and neo-Assyrian design during this time.  Modern cameos rendered in archaic or ancient styles were quite common as a result.

In fact, ancient art, coinage and jewelry became major sources of inspiration during the Millennium era.  This was perhaps most obvious with Bulgari’s Monete line of jewelry, which featured genuine ancient Greek and Roman coins mounted in modern yellow gold settings.

 

What the makes 1980s and 1990s so special? – A short cultural history

 

The Millennium epoch represented an absolutely iconic time in modern history.  The closing decades of the 20th century were a time of overwhelming optimism and exuberance after the malaise of the 1970s.

The era kicked off with Manhattan’s infamous Studio 54 – a late 1970s nightclub of almost unimaginable debauchery that attracted the highest luminaries of the age.  Drugs, nudity, alcohol and sex were common features of the hedonistic hotspot.  Beetle’s member John Lennon, artist Andy Warhol, Queen front man Freddie Mercury, fashion designer Calvin Klein, Rolling Stone’s lead singer Mick Jagger and real estate mogul Donald Trump were just a few of the celebrities who attended this most desirable of New York party destinations.

For those of you who are interested in learning more about the history of Studio 54, I’ve embedded an excellent YouTube video on the subject below:

 

 

The 1980s was a golden age of American culture in particular and Western culture more generally.   This apogee of cultural self-confidence was really only rivaled in the 20th century by the decade of the 1950s and perhaps the 1920s.

Indeed, Americans during the 1980s were absolutely fascinated by the 1950s.  This is obvious from blockbuster movies such as Back to the Future (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989) and Stand by Me (1986).  Although all released during the 1980s, each of these films explored themes and settings from the 1950s.

I believe that 1980s society was so obsessed with the 1950s because the average American subconsciously understood that these two decades represented parallel cultural pinnacles.  This is such a rare occurrence that it has probably only happened a handful of times throughout human history.  And the fact that these cultural zeniths were separated by only a single generation simply increased the already overwhelming attraction.

U.S. cultural dominance during the closing decades of the 20th century is best exemplified by the absurd number of iconic songs and movies that were produced during this relatively short period.

It was the time of superstar musical artists such as Madonna (her first album debuted in 1983), Michael Jackson (1979 for his break through solo album Off the Wall), Prince (1978), Whitney Houston (1985) and Bon Jovi (1984).  The 1990s continued the trend with the rise of Nirvana (1989), Snoop Dogg (1993), Pearl Jam (1991) and Guns & Roses (1987), among others.

On the movie side of the equation, The Terminator (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), the Indiana Jones trilogy (1981 – 1989) and the original Star Wars trilogy (1977 – 1983) were all outstanding gems.  The 1990s then gave us such hallowed works as Pulp Fiction (1994), Forest Gump (1994), Groundhog Day (1993), American Beauty (1999) and the Matrix (1999).

Not everything was multi-colored jubilance during the Millennium era, however.

The late 1970s and 1980s were a time of extreme international tension due to the Cold War.  The Cold War was the ideological stand-off between the United States and its allies, representing the capitalist block, and the Soviet Union and its satellites, representing Marxist thought.  The Cold War played out in endless espionage, foreign conflicts and diplomatic disputes between the two sides.  European capitals such as Berlin, Helsinki and Vienna became infamous for their dangerous cloak and dagger spy games.

Fears of nuclear annihilation were a very real, everyday specter during this time.  This reality injected terrible anxiety into ordinary life, but also had the perverse effect of encouraging many people to live each day to its fullest.

Fears of nuclear extinction eased considerable in the autumn of 1989 when revolutions in Eastern Europe’s Soviet-backed Warsaw Pact members restored democratic governments to those countries for the first time since before World War II.  The tide of potential nuclear war receded even further after the Soviet Union disintegrated in December 1991.

The inexorable rise of Wall Street and other financial centers was another trend that heavily influenced Millennium era culture.  New York, Tokyo and London developed into massive international financial hubs where huge sums of money were raised, bet, won and lost with stunning speed.

Major financial innovations during this period included exchange traded stock options, junk bonds and the securitization of debt securities, to name just a few.  These inventions were enormously influential in their time, often leading to massive fortunes being minted (or squandered) practically overnight.

The party almost ended when a synchronized, global stock market crash unfolded on October 19, 1987.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its largest ever one day drop on that date, falling by a stunning -22.6%.  However, markets largely recovered within a few months with no long term economic consequences.

Tokyo was the financial darling of the 1980s due to Japan’s enormous combination stock and real estate bubble during that decade.  The Japanese stock market bubble ultimately burst on the last trading day of 1989, allowing New York and London to jointly pick up the bull market baton in the 1990s.  This culminated in the absurdly euphoric NASDAQ Dot Com bubble that peaked in March of 2000 before messily deflating.

The 1987 movie Wall Street’s rapacious main character Gordon Gekko really set the mood for the era when he said “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”  So many people at the time believed him that the movie quote launched a thousand investment banking careers.

The 1980s and 1990s were also notable for the rise of consumer electronics during that period.  Sony’s signature Walkman portable cassette player first debuted in 1979, quickly becoming a must have device for millions of on-the-go music lovers.  Personal computers also originated in the 1970s, but only really hit their stride in the 1980s.  Laptops following soon after, becoming well known by the late 1990s.

But perhaps the best loved of all Millennium era consumer electronics was the VHS cassette with its accompanying VCR and camcorder devices.  These inventions brought films, TV shows and home movies to households all over the world, assuming you could afford them!

 

Why should you collect 1980s & 1990s vintage jewelry?

 

Millennium era jewelry has a number of tremendously desirable attributes beyond just its cultural or historical importance, however.

1980s & 1990s vintage jewelry is still relatively available in today’s marketplace at reasonable prices.  The importance of this fact is impossible to overstate.  Most older styles of antique jewelry long ago disappeared into strong hands – dedicated collectors who will not sell these quality pieces without receiving a fair (and high) price.

As a result, nearly all pre-1960 jewelry styles, including Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Mid-Century, Retro and especially Art Deco, have spiraled upward in price over the past decade.  The lockdowns and inflation associated with the early 2020’s COVID pandemic put the proverbial icing on the cake here.  In some instances, antique jewelry prices shot up by as much as 40% or 50% nearly overnight.

But 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry is recent enough that material coming out of current estate liquidations is still plentiful.

On the demand side, few old jewelry collectors have warmed to the idea that Millennium jewelry is genuinely “vintage enough” yet.  This is in spite of the fact that even the most recent examples of Millennium era jewelry are 25 years old – easily meeting even the most stringent definition of the term “vintage”.  The oldest pieces hail from circa 1975 and are fully half a century old at this point.  So it is utterly impossible to argue they aren’t legitimately vintage.

 

Photo Credit: TreasureHuntingSpot

1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry is renowned for its bold styling, as shown by this handmade sterling silver lioness statement pendant set with ruby eyes.

 

Another reason to adore 1980s & 1990s vintage jewelry is because of its use of high quality materials.  The final decades of the 20th century was a rather prosperous time in the West.  This meant that Millennium jewelry tended to rely on expensive precious metals and gemstones in ways that more recent styles of jewelry don’t.

For example, yellow gold was a mainstay of 1970s and 1980s jewelry.  It was not unusual for pieces from that time to be fabricated from large and heavy 14 or 18 karat gold settings.  Platinum then made a resurgence in the 1990s for higher end pieces, with mixed yellow gold and platinum or simply all platinum settings abounding.  These metals might be polished to a mirror-like brilliance, hammered to dulcet facets or brushed to a velvety satin sheen – anything went.

Of course, fine Millennium era jewelry can certainly be found in sterling silver or mixed silver and yellow gold, especially pieces from the 1990s.  But you are much more likely to come across silver in fine Modernist jewelry of the period.  There can be considerable crossover between the two styles, though.

It is also noteworthy that fine 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry is often set with very valuable precious and semi-precious gemstones.

The Big Four gems – diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds – got a lot of play during this time.  In fact, the Millennium era was the last time jewelry frequently sported rubies, sapphires and emeralds in profusion.  Due to the ever escalating cost of the Big Four gemstones in the modern world, it is highly unlikely we will ever see them casually deployed in mainstream fine jewelry again.  This prediction excludes white diamonds, however, which are significantly more common than their colored Big Four counterparts.

But more than just the Big Four gems were mounted in vintage Millennium era jewelry; almost every gemstone type imaginable was used in addition.

 

1980s & 1990s Vintage Hardstone Bead Necklaces for Sale on eBay

(This is an affiliate link for which I may be compensated)

 

This means second tier gems like tourmaline, jade (both jadeite and nephrite), topaz, aquamarine, zircon, tanzanite and fancy garnet (primarily green tsavorite and orange Spessartite) were also happily embraced.  These somewhat less expensive stones were often given a checkerboard cut, which is a surefire indicator that the gem in question is from the 1990s.

Organic gems such as coral, pearls, mother of pearl and amber found favor as well.  And when gemstones wouldn’t give the right effect or were too expensive, enameling was a common alternative technique that imparted huge expanses of vivid color very cheaply.

Second-tier gemstones were often liberally sprinkled onto fine Millennium jewelry designs with little regard for cost.  Anything that gave a vibrant, interesting and colorful visual effect was readily employed.

It helped that these stones were much less expensive in the late 20th century compared to today.  Back then, an adventuresome jeweler willing to spend a mere $50 to $100 at wholesale prices could procure a veritable treasure trove of second-tier gems to craft into a masterpiece.  This allowed ample opportunity to mark up the resulting piece of jewelry while still keeping the final price reasonable to the retail buyer.

The 1980s also saw the rise of third-tier gems for even less expensive, mass produced fine jewelry.  These “Little Five” gemstones – amethyst, citrine, blue topaz, peridot and red garnet – were cheap, abundant and spectacularly colorful.  This allowed them to be used in a wide range of boldly designed, but lower priced fine jewelry that demanded calibrated cuts.

Calibrated gems are stones cut to the exact same shape and size for mounting in standardized settings – for example, a lot of 7mm x 5mm oval cut amethysts.  Necklaces and tennis bracelets were favorite destinations for these cheaper, third-tier calibrated stones due to the high carat weight and uniform color/clarity match that was often required in these jewelry types.

Mass produced fine jewelry laden with cheap calibrated cut gems was commonly retailed in major department stores such as Macy’s, J.C. Penney’s, Filene’s or Kaufmann’s.  I generally recommend that collectors avoid buying these cheaper varieties of 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry if future price appreciation is important.

 

Characteristics of Millennium era vintage jewelry

 

The Millennium era features bold and sophisticated statement pieces that appeal to a wide range of old jewelry buffs.

Dichromatic jewelry designs were immensely trendy during the early part of the Millennium era.  Dichromatic refers to any two colors used in combination to create a striking, high contrast effect.  Some examples include onyx and yellow gold, lapis lazuli and yellow gold, pearls and yellow gold and diamonds and yellow gold.  Dichromatic jewelry design reached the peak of its popularity during the 1980s, but gradually fell out of favor during the 1990s.

The explosive use of color was also a prime characteristic of 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry alongside dichromaticism.  Pastels, primaries and neons were all on the menu, with any and all hues welcome.  This trend was reflected in the prodigious and unrestrained use of colored gemstones during the period.

It was not unusual to see several different types of colored gems boldly mounted right beside each other in the same piece.  In extreme cases, Millennium era pieces have a stunning visual quality that is reminiscent of Cartier’s Mughal Indian inspired Tutti Frutti jewelry of the 1920s and 1930s.  This has helped to reinforce the perception of Millennium jewelry as having an Art Deco vibe.

 

Photo Credit: JewelryAuthority

This stunning onyx and 14 karat gold hardstone bead necklace, circa 1990, is a great example of dichromatic design in Millennium jewelry.

 

One frequently encountered type of 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry is hardstone bead necklaces and bracelets.  These were typically crafted from carnelian, onyx, chalcedony, chrysoprase or jade, often interspersed with solid karat yellow gold spacers or melon beads between them.  Non-hardstone lapis lazuli, malachite, coral, amber and turquoise beads were also frequently used in much the same way to the same effect.

These semi-precious gemstone and gold beads created a big, dazzling look in a very cost effective manner.  Surprisingly, many 1980s and 1990s vintage hardstone bead necklaces and bracelets can still be found under $500 today.

Another type of jewelry that was extraordinarily popular during the 1980s was clip-on earrings.  These earrings would typically be worn by women who didn’t have pierced ears.  However, they could also be worn by those who did, but didn’t want the extra weight of a particularly bold and heavy pair of earrings to stretch their earlobes.  This made clip-on earrings a versatile and perennial favorite during the Millennium era.

Everything from cheap fashion earrings to gem-studded solid karat earrings were made in the clip-on format during this time.  Regardless of how much they cost, they were almost always large, eye-catching and flashy.  Hoop, half-hoop, oval, circle and other geometric motif designs were prevalent – the bigger, the better.

Clip-on earrings mounted with pearls or mabé pearls were especially common during this time.  Mabé pearls are an inexpensive type of large, domed, button-shaped cultured pearl.

Although the popularity of clip-on earrings declined markedly starting in the early 1990s, they still continued to be made right up until the present.  However, it is much more common for clip-ons to be found among fast fashion jewelry these days rather than fine jewelry.

 

Fine Vintage Millennium Era Clip-on Earrings under $1,000 for Sale on eBay

(This is an affiliate link for which I may be compensated)

 

When looking to buy vintage 1980s clip-on earrings there are a couple pitfalls to look out for.  First, make sure that you aren’t looking at a pair of omega back earrings that has had the posts removed, thus turning them into modified clip-ons.  These modifications destroy the collectible value of the piece.

Happily, the removal of omega back earring posts can easily be discovered by turning the piece over and closely inspecting its back.

Second, be aware that screw-back earrings, while definitely vintage, cannot be from the 1980s or 1990s.  Screw-backs were popular from the 1920s through the 1960s, but died out during the early 1970s.  So you won’t find any of them produced after that decade.  There is no such thing as vintage Millennium era screw-back earrings – at least not that I’ve seen.

The late 1970s and 1980s period also saw the rise of individual artists who marketed their products under their own names.  This was a new feature of the jewelry market specific to that time.  Previously, higher-end jewelers had typically acted as wholesalers, distributing their items through luxury houses under contract.  So before the 1970s you would typically see a hallmark for Tiffany & Co. or Cartier – the jewelry retailer, but not necessarily the actual designer or creator of the piece.

All that changed with the explosion of smaller jewelry artist-retailers who both made and sold their works directly to the public.  Famous makers of 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry included Verdura, Elizabeth Locke, Marina B, SeidenGang and Elizabeth Gage, to name just a few.  Unfortunately, most of the vintage pieces from these artists will run you thousands of dollars on the secondary market.

In stark contrast to this is work by prominent designer David Yurman.  His immensely popular vintage gemstone terminated cable bracelets and other mixed sterling and solid karat gold jewelry can often be found for well under $1,000.

 

Photo Credit: TimelessGems925

Vibrantly colored gemstones, like the pink tourmaline terminals on this classic David Yurman cable bracelet, are a hallmark of Millennium era jewelry.

 

Of course, the big luxury houses like Van Cleef & Arpels, Buccellati, Tiffany & Co., Boucheron, Cartier, Bulgari and Harry Winston also produced very fine high end jewelry in the 1980s and 1990s.  But be prepared to open your pocketbook if you want any of their vintage creations.  Prices for their goods generally start in the multi-thousand dollar range and quickly rise from there.

 

What should you look for if you want to invest in 1980s & 1990s vintage jewelry?

 

Tip #1: Gems, gems, gems!

First, consider pieces that contain Big Four gemstones (ruby, sapphire, emerald and diamond), assuming you can find them at a reasonable price.  Fine colored gems have been getting progressively more difficult to find and mine successfully.  This has caused prices for rubies, sapphires and emeralds to skyrocket over the past several decades.

And the trend looks nowhere close to changing in the near term.

White diamonds, although substantially more common than the colored members of the Big Four, are still highly desirable when mounted in Millennium era jewelry.  They are generally larger in size than diamonds you will find in comparably priced contemporary jewelry.  And you are also assured that the diamonds in your 1980s or 1990s jewelry will be natural, earth-mined stones.  Synthetic diamonds didn’t really start showing up in jewelry until the early 2000s.

Don’t forget second tier colored stones either.  High quality tourmalines, fancy garnets, aquamarines and topazes – to name just a few – represent compelling value when set in fine 1980s or 1990s vintage jewelry.

Whichever colored stones you gravitate towards in 1980s &1990s vintage jewelry, make certain they are transparent and without too many flaws.  Mass produced fine jewelry of this period sometimes used lower quality rubies, emeralds and sapphires, in particular.  These low quality gems will be opaque or translucent at best; they should be avoided under all circumstances.

 

Tip #2: Get chunky and bold!

Vintage Millennium era jewelry is your chance to release your inner wild child!

Millennium fashion was all about flair.  Big, assertive and glamorous pieces were in vogue.  Yellow gold was dominant for the first 15 years of that period, with platinum and silver growing in popularity after 1990.  The overall size of jewelry tended to diminish somewhat during the 1990s.  But individual pieces remained striking in appearance, even if somewhat smaller in dimension.

If you are a lover of over-the-top, vintage statement jewelry, then the Millennium era is for you.  It’s still possible for an average person to acquire large, showy examples of fine Millennium jewelry that would be completely unaffordable from earlier Art Deco or Retro periods.  Buy now, before everyone else figures out how amazing 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry really is!

 

Vintage Millennium Era David Yurman Jewelry for Sale on eBay

(This is an affiliate link for which I may be compensated)

 

Tip #3: Shop the bargain rack!

Fine Millennium vintage jewelry is incredibly undervalued right now.  It is possible to find a good selection of pieces priced for less than $1,000 and occasionally even under $500.  And remember that I’m talking about examples crafted from solid 14 karat gold, 18 karat gold or platinum.

Don’t be afraid to go down market with your 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry purchase.  Because it isn’t widely recognized yet, superb specimens can sometimes be picked up for surprisingly little money.  If you’re willing to search diligently, even as little as $300 or $400 will sometimes get you a gem of a piece!

In any case, the AntiqueSage rule of thumb for buying vintage jewelry according to intrinsic value applies here.  If a gem-set, karat gold or platinum piece costs less than 2x intrinsic value, then it is almost certainly a good deal.  This means anything under about $100 per gram is worthwhile.

 

Tip #4: Beads are best!

As previously mentioned, hardstone bead necklaces and bracelets represent some of the best value in vintage Millennium era jewelry at the moment.  Just a few hundred dollars will get you a beautiful example of 1980s hardstone bead jewelry, trimmed out with solid karat gold spacer beads!

Hardstone bead jewelry was so emblematic of the era that it is a little dumbfounding as to why it is so cheap right now.  The only potential answer to this conundrum is that wild and bold beads are…out of fashion?

That doesn’t sound right.

Anyway, who cares why they are cheap?  All that matters is that some chump is selling grandma’s bewitching 1980s onyx bead necklace and you can scoop it up for a criminally low price!

My prime tip here is to look for examples that are knotted between each individual bead.  This is not only a sign of quality, but ensures you cannot lose more than a single bead if the necklace or bracelet ever breaks.  It also prevents the beads from wearing on each other to the detriment of the gemstone material.

This preference for individually knotted beads does not apply to gold or silver spacer beads.  These relatively soft metals will not damage any adjacent hardstone beads.  As a result, it is normal for metal beads not to be individually knotted.

A bonus tip for hardstone bead necklaces or bracelets is to inspect the clasp closely.  The clasp is often a giveaway as to the piece’s overall quality level.  More expensive specimens usually have fancier clasps, sometimes set with diamonds, rubies or other expensive stones.  In contrast, a very simple clasp is generally a sign of mid-tier construction.

 

Tip #5: Brooches for the win!

Brooches are one of the great unsung bargains of the vintage jewelry market.  They can usually be purchased for significantly less, gram for gram, than comparable rings, necklaces, bracelets or earrings.  The reason for this is simple; brooches are out of fashion at the moment.

However, this fashion refugee status may slowly be beginning to change for the better.

Brooches are riveting in the context of 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry because this was the last time period where they were commonly produced, sold and worn.  So there are significant numbers of Millennium era brooches on offer in the market today, often at very attractive prices.

If you are interested in learning more about antique brooches, I wrote an article titled “Antique Brooches & Pins – A Dazzling Past” that delves further into the topic.

 

So there you have it – everything you ever wanted to know about 1980s and 1990s vintage jewelry.  If you love antique and vintage jewelry like I do, you’ll adore everything the Millennium era has to offer!

 

Read more thought-provoking Antique Sage gems & jewelry articles here.

-or-

Read in-depth Antique Sage vintage jewelry investment guides here.

This sumptuous calibre cut green tourmaline and yellow gold Edwardian bar pin was made in the United States circa 1915.  Antique brooches and pins represent one of the best values in vintage jewelry today, giving far more bang-for-your-buck than similar quality rings, pendants or bracelets.

I recently visited a local antique store in search of a piece of nice vintage furniture to spruce up my house.  Much to my chagrin, I discovered that everyone in my part of fly-over country apparently took the advice I had laid out in an article I wrote in late 2019 titled “Is 2020 Finally the Year to Buy Antique Furniture?”

In retrospect, the answer was clearly yes.  2020 was the year to buy antique furniture.

Who knew?

By the time I got around to browsing the aisles of this particular antique shop, any decent piece of old furniture was long gone.

But there was something else I saw there that caught my eye.  In a display case filled with vintage costume jewelry and mediocre low karat gold Victorian pieces there was a hidden gem.  Nestled in the corner amongst the dreck was a gorgeous yellow gold Edwardian bar pin set with a row of bright green stones.  The very first thing I noticed upon handling the piece was how heavy it was given its small size.  Even though it only measured 40 mm (1.6 inches) in length, the antique pin weighed in at a hefty 4.16 grams.  When a piece of vintage jewelry has great heft for its size it is almost always a sure sign of quality.

Upon closer inspection I determined that the brooch was solid 14 karat gold set with 10 immaculate, square-cut green tourmalines.  The tourmalines totaled a substantial 1.9 carats and were all calibre cut – a style where square or rectangular stones are precisely faceted to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with no gaps in-between.  Calibre cutting first became popular in French jewelry around the year 1900 before rapidly spreading across the globe.  But calibre cutting was very labor and material intensive; yields on calibre cut gems from the original rough were invariably low.  As a result, calibre cut stones are usually only found in better pieces of antique jewelry (and are almost never found in modern jewelry).

The overall effect was stunning.

The rich yellow-gold hue of the millegrain setting beautifully highlighted the luscious deep-green calibre cut tourmalines.  And the goldwork itself was flawless – solidly hand-worked without a trace of porosity or messy solder.  You would be amazed at how many pieces of supposedly fine jewelry have nasty, sloppy goldwork – things like bulky prongs or rough finishes in hidden areas.

We can use this tidbit of knowledge to our advantage, though.  You can learn the true quality level of a piece of jewelry by turning it over and looking at its back under magnification.  Any deficiency in a piece’s goldwork will be instantly visible.

But this gold and tourmaline Edwardian pin was a true jewel all around – even when viewed from behind.

By my estimate, the brooch was made in America around 1915.  Its simple, but boldly linear design foreshadowed the rise of the Art Deco movement in the early 1920s.  The brooch would have been a fairly high end piece for its time, with a retail price of at least $10 when new – equivalent to a hefty U.S. gold eagle coin containing about half a troy ounce of pure gold (the U.S. was still on a gold standard in the 1910s).

This is ideally what antique jewelry is all about.  Here was a chunk of finely wrought precious metal dripping with luxurious gemstones – a feast for the eyes.

The tag on the piece asked $325.  This was a good start.  If the asking price is too high, negotiating a reasonable final price becomes all but impossible.  I asked the woman behind the counter if the price was negotiable (pro-tip: the prices in antique stores are almost always negotiable).  Because the store was a co-op (several dealers sharing a single physical location), the clerk had to call the item’s dealer to inquire.  The final price proffered by the dealer was $275 – a $50 discount.

I wavered.  I had been hoping the dealer would come down to $250.  I said I would think about it and walked out of the store.

After several weeks of deep thought, I stopped back at the antique shop and asked if the discounted $275 price still stood.  A short phone call to the dealer confirmed that it did and I walked out of the store the happy owner of an exquisite piece of fine antique jewelry.  In the end I decided that a $25 difference in price – the cost for two people to eat at a fast food restaurant these days – was ultimately immaterial.

But my story raises an interesting question.  Why are antique brooches so cheap?

In a vintage jewelry market where it has become progressively more difficult to find any high quality pieces for less than $700 or $800, why could I walk out of an antique shop with a superlative Edwardian pin for under $300 – less than the cost of a monthly car payment?

 

Photo Credit: Tim Evanson (Creative Commons 2.0 License)

 

Brooches and pins have had a tough time of it lately.  The market for antique brooches has been soft for more than two decades.  As a result, prices for these wonderful pieces of history have been depressed.

As simple as it may seem, the primary reason vintage and antique brooches are so inexpensive is that they are currently out of fashion.

A brooch is a piece of jewelry meant to be worn on a blouse, jacket or dress.  But since the early 1990s we have trended towards less and less formal women’s clothing.  Brooches look best on lapels, collars, straps and other relatively formal fashion trim.  The formless, undulating sweaters and T-shirts of the modern age simply don’t accommodate pins or brooches well!

This means that a glut of vintage and antique brooches has flooded the market while demand has remained subdued.  Consequently, prices for old pins are often much, much lower than equivalent pieces of antique jewelry in other forms – like rings or pendants.

Of course, I don’t expect this state of affairs to persist forever.  Clothing styles make long round-trips from more formal to less formal attire and then back again.  Granted, these fashion trends can take decades to fully unfold, so this isn’t a situation I expect to positively resolve within the next few months!

Another thing that antique brooches have going for them is that there are a limited number of general jewelry types in existence.  For example, we have rings, earrings, necklaces and pendants, bracelets and anklets and, finally, brooches and pins.  Every other type of jewelry gets tossed in a minor catch-all category (i.e. tiaras, hat pins, nose studs, etc.)

In the final analysis there are just 5 broad classes of jewelry.  This fact alone practically guarantees that brooches and pins will come back into style at some point in the future.

Indeed, the brooch has been with us continuously since ancient times.  The Celts, Greeks and Romans used cloak pins called fibula that were made out of bronze from a very early period – before 1000 BC.  These fibulae were the very first brooches.

Although purely utilitarian to start, the fibula soon evolved into a full-fledged jewelry piece that was indispensable to any high-class ancient woman.  Instead of bronze, more expensive examples were wrought from silver or gold.  By late antiquity, enamel and gemstones were often liberally applied to fibulae as well, completing their journey from utilitarian fashion accessory to pure luxury good.

During the early medieval period the safety pin like form of the ancient fibula gradually changed into the annular brooch – a bejeweled circle with a pin behind it so it could be fastened onto a cloak or shirt.  Once the annular brooch developed, every other shape of brooch imaginably wasn’t far behind – squares, cruciforms, discs and, of course, the familiar bar pin.

So the brooch has been with us for a long, long time.  It isn’t going anywhere, regardless of how hopelessly unfashionable it might seem today.

But the real reason I like antique brooches as an investment is because they are incredibly undervalued.  Dollar for dollar they are one of the least expensive forms of vintage jewelry (along with other fashion refugees like cufflinks).  So a hypothetical $1,000 spent on antique brooches will go further than if the same amount was spent on vintage earrings or bracelets, for example.

 

Edwardian & Art Deco Antique Brooches & Pins for Sale on eBay

(This is an affiliate link for which I may be compensated)

 

Perhaps my favorite way to exploit this mispricing is to look for antique brooches that contain natural (non-synthetic) colored gemstones.  It has become clear that the modern world is facing a looming colored gemstone shortage.  Yet imminent disaster has been avoided over the past couple of decades by an improbable series of events.

First, there have been a handful of major colored gem field discoveries since the 1990s.  The resulting mine output hasn’t been massive on an absolute scale, but it has been sufficient to keep the global markets supplied at the margins.

Second, the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 and the austerity policies adopted by most developed countries in its aftermath suppressed demand for jewelry and, by extension, colored gemstones during the 2010s.  However, these anti-middle class austerity policies are being abandoned due to a combination of COVID response (with its direct cash payments to citizens) and popular political support for higher wages for the average worker.

But before we can fully explore the economics of investing in antique brooches, I think it is important that we understand colored gems a bit better.

The colored gemstone market is both highly fragmented and relatively small.  It is estimated that more than $170 billion worth of gold is mined every year, compared to just $16 billion for rough diamonds and a piddling $3 billion for all rough colored gemstones combined (excluding jade).

Almost all colored gem mining is artisanal in scale.  Artisanal mining refers to small groups of individual miners that primarily use hand tools (or hand-held power tools) to extract gems.  Colored gemstone miners rarely enjoy the benefits of the massive mechanization seen in the diamond industry.  And it would hardly matter if they had access to all that expensive equipment anyway – most colored stone deposits are too small for large scale mining to make economic sense.

Due to God’s wonderfully dry sense of humor, almost all major colored gem deposits are located in geographically remote and politically unstable regions.  The biomes surrounding these mines are typically scorched deserts, burning savannas or primeval jungles.

Poor countries like Afghanistan, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Tanzania are some of the places renowned for their rich deposits of colored stones.  But these are destinations few tourists would willingly visit.  As you can imagine, gem mining is an extremely challenging industry with deadly landslides, cave-ins and flash floods being commonplace.  And that is before one takes into consideration the tangential dangers inherent in bribing corrupt government officials, dodging armed rebel groups and side-stepping bloodthirsty bandits.

Another problem is that gemstone deposits do not last forever.  Many famous mines have now been completely, or nearly completely, exhausted over the centuries.  For instance, the last jewels of the renowned Golconda diamond mines of India reached the world about 300 years ago.  The legendary Kashmiri blue sapphire mines in the snow-capped Himalayas fell silent a century ago.  The fantastical Mt. Mica tourmaline workings located in the backwoods of Maine, U.S.A. have all but ceased production.  And the once prolific Thai ruby mines that provided almost the entire world’s supply of the noble red gem from the 1960s to the 1990s are effectively played out today.

In other words, now is a great time to buy colored gems as an investment.  And antique jewelry – especially antique brooches – represents a near ideal vehicle to exploit that trend.

 

Retro & Mid-Century Vintage Brooches & Pins for Sale on eBay

(This is an affiliate link for which I may be compensated)

 

So here are a few pointers when looking to buy antique brooches and pins.

First, look for examples that are well endowed with diamonds, colored gemstones or a combination of the two.  Although I am not a huge fan of white diamonds as stand-alone investments, they are still quite desirable in period jewelry – especially when they are old cuts.  Another benefit of buying antique brooches set with colored stones is that you are likely to get either completely untreated or lightly treated specimens – a great boon in a world where modern gem treatments are becoming ever more invasive and difficult to detect.

I do have a word of caution, though.

Synthetic colored gems were commonly mounted in jewelry starting at the end of the Victorian period/beginning of the Edwardian period, circa 1900.  Because they were the latest technological innovation, these synthetics (usually calibre cut Verneuil flame-fusion rubies or sapphires) were often mounted in very fine, expensive jewelry.  It isn’t unusual to see synthetic gems sitting side-by-side with natural diamonds in high karat gold or platinum settings.  In fact, antique jewelry mounted with synthetics is collectible in its own right, although it will never be as valuable as similar jewelry set with fully natural stones.

In the end, it is up to you whether or not to accept vintage brooches and pins set with synthetic colored stones.

When hunting for gem-laden antique brooches, I feel it is also important to avoid examples mounted with stones that are too small.  One of the age-old tricks of the jeweler who is trying to keep costs down is to mount a piece with a myriad of very small stones.

I consider gems of 5 points (0.05 carats) or smaller to fall into this category.  These tiny gems cost very little, so a dazzling effect could be created for very little money.  Very small gemstones are not completely valueless, but they add very little to the intrinsic value of a piece.

As investors, we want to see larger gems mounted in our jewelry if at all possible.

Our ideal antique brooch would have a central colored stone weighing in at over 1 carat, surrounded by other smaller gems greater than 5 points each in size.  But I have found this condition to be almost impossible to meet at a reasonable price point these days.

Therefore, I have become more opportunistic when hunting for antique brooches.  I’m willing to entertain specimens that have no large central stone at all, but are instead set with many smaller stones that are greater than 10 points each.  The yellow gold and green tourmaline Edwardian brooch I describe at the beginning of this article is just such a piece.

I’ve also become more flexible about the colored gemstones I’m willing to buy in antique jewelry.

I like almost all colored gems from an investment perspective.  The big three – rubies, sapphires and emeralds – are all classics.  But it is very difficult to find antique jewelry set with larger sized specimens for a fair price.  Synthetics are also a potential pitfall here.

Stepping down a tier, we come to aquamarine, beryl, spinel, tourmaline, topaz, opal and jade.  These are all solid choices that are generally more readily available than the big three.  These are the gem-laden antique brooches that I favor most at the moment.  They provide the best combination of large gemstones, reasonable availability and low price.

Pearl brooches are another interesting choice, but you want to stick to natural pearls if at all possible.  These are generally found in Victorian, Art Nouveau and Edwardian era pins – all created before circa 1915.  This is due to the fact that cultured pearls first became commercially available in the mid-1910s (for baroque shapes) and around 1920 (for fully round shapes).  Pearls set in jewelry from before this time will be natural.

Half pearls (also called split pearls) and tiny seed pearls are the least valuable types.  They are often found in Victorian brooches as accent stones.  Baroque pearls, which range from off-round to fantastically shaped, are greater in rarity and value.  But fully round pearls, especially fully round pearls that are matched for size and color, are the most valuable of all pearls.

Sometimes you will come across antique brooches mounted with ultra-rare gems like color-change alexandrite, green demantoid garnet or canary yellow diamonds.  These are all highly desirable, but imitations abound.  So I advise caution here.

Vintage or antique brooches set with (non-fancy) red garnets, zircons, peridot, citrine, amethyst and other quartzes round out our colored gemstone possibilities.  These types of stones were generally mounted in less valuable jewelry, although there are certainly exceptions to this rule.  I personally avoid jewelry set with these types of stones unless they are truly exceptional, one-of-a-kind works.  As a side note, garnets and peridot are up and coming in today’s gem market due to the fact that they are never treated.

 

Victorian Antique Brooches & Pins for Sale on eBay

(This is an affiliate link for which I may be compensated)

 

Of course, gems aren’t the only thing to consider when investing in antique jewelry.  You also want to look for antique brooches and pins that are good examples of their stylistic period.  You want your 1920s Art Deco pins looking sleek and angular and your 1940s Retro brooches looking big and bold.  Likewise, your 1880s Victorian brooches should be ornate and majestic while your 1900s Art Nouveau pins should exude whimsy and naturalism.

Choosing vintage jewelry with fine period style is so important that I’m often willing to loosen my gemstone requirements if I happen to find an otherwise perfect piece.

I won’t talk at length about the different styles of antique brooches or pins you may encounter when searching antique stores or online listings.  Instead I will list them in chronological order, followed by a brief description.  If you want more information, this excellent article at The Loupe covers vintage jewelry styles in greater detail:

 

• Victorian (1830 to 1900) – Victorian jewelry was ornate, heavy and formal, reflecting the tremendous cultural influence of the grand British matriarch herself. Bright-cut engraved or granulated yellow gold was often combined with rubies, sapphires and diamonds to great effect.  But lower value stones such as amethyst, citrine and garnets were just as popular.
• Art Nouveau (1890 to 1910) – At the close of the 19th century, jewelers became obsessed with the beauty of the natural world. Female forms with long, flowing hair, birds, flowers and vines were all prominent motifs of this style.  Yellow gold and enamel were favored mediums, often set with diamonds, peridot or opals.
• Arts & Crafts (1890 to 1910) – In a rejection of the increasingly industrial nature of jewelry fabrication, Arts & Crafts jewelry was all artisan handmade. The forms incorporated into this style of jewelry could vary considerably; medieval revival, simple geometric shapes and naturalistic motifs were all experimented with at one point or another.  It was common for sterling silver, enamel and lower value gems to be used with an emphasis on the rustic, handmade nature of the finished piece.
• Edwardian (1900 to 1915) – Also known in France as La Bell Époque (The Good Times), Edwardian style combined the best elements of Art Nouveau and Victorian jewelry to create colorful, dainty and somewhat fanciful pieces that still resonate with us today. Edwardian jewelry often featured expensive materials like diamonds, natural pearls, sapphires and other high value gems mounted in platinum or karat gold settings.
• Art Deco (1920 to 1940) – With its precise, rectilinear forms, Art Deco took the world by storm in the 1920s. Sleek platinum or white gold settings dripped with calibre cut emeralds, sapphires, rubies and diamonds.  The dazzling “white look” was in (yellow gold was rarely seen), sometimes accented by colored stones, jet black onyx or carved Chinese jade plaques.  High value materials were de rigueur.
• Retro (1935 to 1950) – A desire to escape the dreary, harsh world of the Great Depression sparked the advent of Retro jewelry. Retro design was characterized by its big, bold, often asymmetrical look.  Scrollwork, ribbons and pave settings were common, often rendered in multi-colored (green, pink, white or yellow) gold.  Due to the interruption of gem supplies from Southeast Asia during World War II, citrines, aquamarine, amethysts and other less expensive gems were used just as often as precious rubies, sapphires and diamonds.
• Mid-Century (1950 to 1970) – Mid-Century jewelry reflected the revived traditionalism and newfound prosperity of the post-World War II era. Playful animal motifs, stylized floral sprays and simple geometric designs were all commonly employed in Mid-Century jewelry.  Diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies were favorite gems during this era.  But slightly less expensive stones like aquamarine, pearls, coral and jade were also popular.
• Modernist (1960 to 1980) – The 1960s brought a renaissance in artist-driven jewelry design. Avant-garde jewelers experimented with abstract designs dominated by organic or hyper-angular forms, extreme textures and unusual gemstone combinations. Almost anything goes with Modernist jewelry; it isn’t unusual to see high value gems like diamonds or rubies sit side-by-side with low-value amber or moonstone.

 

As with any antique jewelry, I would only recommend picking up pins and brooches that are crafted in 14 karat gold or higher purity or platinum.  Palladium – a sister metal to platinum – is also acceptable.  However, palladium was only used in vintage jewelry for a short time during the 1940s as a platinum substitute when World War II caused the latter metal to be declared strategically important.

On a related note, good quality metalwork is too often overlooked in vintage jewelry.  You want clean, competent goldwork (or platinum-work).  Excess solder, porous castings, roughly finished surfaces and bulbous prongs are all to be avoided.  They are not only unattractive, but also indicative of poor workmanship.

Antique brooches are one of the greatest bargains in the world of vintage jewelry today.  Good examples combine the best elements of high intrinsic value, impeccable style and reasonable price in a way that no other type of vintage jewelry can rival at the moment.  Savvy investors interested in tangible assets would be wise to consider buying antique brooches and pins now, while they are still cheap.

 

Read more thought-provoking Antique Sage gems & jewelry articles here.

-or-

Read in-depth Antique Sage vintage jewelry investment guides here.