Vintage Jewelry?

[heavens2]

Hi! Am new to the forum but have lurked on the site for a while. Have finally decided on vintage jewelry as an online resale biz and wondered if thrift stores would be a good source? Usually I'm there once a week for clothing but have never looked at the jewelry cases. We have lots of Goodwill, a few Salvation Army stores, and several independently operated thrifts here in the Richmond, VA area. Or should I stick to yard & estate sales instead?

Opinions?

Betsy

[mccoysnina]

I collect vintage jewelry and find it at all kind sof places.  Yard sales and garage sales and church/school sales usually have the best prices since they are usually held by families or groups that usally are just trying to raise a few bucks and no one really knows what they have.
Thrift shops can be great places to buy too as long as someone (usuallya manager ) doesn't decide to ask ebay prices for items. 
Estate sales can also be a good place to look but they tend to be pricier than regualr garage sales since many times they are being run by people who run them for a living and are much more inclined to know the value of things.
Antique and other resale/consignment stores tend to be the most expensive.
Now having said this, I've found great pieces at all kinds of shops for reasonable prices.   You just have to look and look again and keep looking everywhere. 
And it helps to know what you are looking for.  You will always do better if you know more than the person who is selling.  Not every seller can know everything about what is caluable and what is not.  You will have a decided edge if you know what you are looking for, what it is worth and when to walk away.  At my favorite thrift, a certain color price tag is marked down 50% on Thursday.  I have often looked at a piece, decided I wouldn't pay what they were asking  but came back on Thursday and if the piece was still there would buy it.  Sometimes a piece is gone but often it is still there.  But I am willing to pass it by if marked more than  I want to pay. 
So look everywhere, know what you are looking for and don't get upset if you don't get a particular piece.  Another one will come along.  Once I was on my way to the local quickie mart.  It was the night after Christmas and it was garbage night.  I passsed by a house with the garbage already set out.  In the top of one can was a jewelry box.  My antannea went up and box came home with me.  I'm guessing someone got a new jewlery box for Christmas and threw out the old one.  The box itself was covered with a nasty pink contact paper.  I started peeling that off and found a nice white leather underneath.  Inside the box was filled with vintage jewelry.  I cleaned up the box and gave it and the jewelry to DD who played with for a long time and still wears some of the jewelry today. 
Like I said, you gotta look everywhere.
Jeannie

[heavens2]

Wow! Thank you for such a detailed response! Loved your story about the trash heap jewelry finds.  Hope to have as much luck as you've had. The thrill of the chase is my favorite part!

[valleythriftshopper]

I guess the only way to know is to start canvassing your local thrifts and checking out the jewelry.  It is slim pickings around here and also there are alot of people looking for jewelry, that is a tough item to choose to sell exclusively.  A woman who used to work at a local Sal Army always had on cute vintage jewelry, she told me her & her husband go to auctions and she gets good deals on tray lots.  Yard sales are good, but you have to be one of the first people there because as I already mentioned the competion is fierce. 

Having said that I have actually found several really nice collectible pieces of vintage jewelry this summer at one local thrift, which is probably just a fluke, but I hope my luck continues.  Here is one necklace that I found which is a 1950's Schreiner piece.  I didn't know much about this company before, but they are collectible pieces because the jewelry was hand made and not mass produced.  This one is a beauty and was only $1.00!

[mccoysnina]

Gorgeous piece.  And it is like I said.  You can find good pieces anywhere and everywhere for good prices if you keep looking.
I thik that is why I love it so.  Never know what will turn up where or when. 
Jeannie

[heavens2]

We spent most of the day at a flea market, trying to sell off some accumulated stuff... didn't really take the time to search for vintage jewelry there, although I was given a grab bag of modern costume pieces for free from a watch dealer. :-) Stopped by one our many Goodwill stores a little while ago just to see what they had and was shocked at their prices! They had two jars of jewelry that were sealed at the top with tape. They each weighed several pounds. One jar was $65 and another was $85! And none of it looked particularly vintage... Gorgeous $1.00 necklace you found, ValleyThriftShopper! There's so much to learn, isn't there?

Thank you both for this discussion. Am enjoying it thoroughly!

Betsy

[mccoysnina]

Must be a GW thing, I have seen that at our local GW too.  And like you, none of the jewelry looked like anything I would pay that kind of money for, all of it included.
Sometimes wonder if thrifts have forgotten they are thrifts.
Jeannie

[Magpie18]

The GWs in Southern California (Los Angeles Cty) do something similar.  The clearance jewelry is put into standard florist vases (aprox 12 inch height) & sealed up with tape.  The vase & contents are marked at $39.99

By the time the jewelry is put in the vase, it has gone through at least one week at 50% off tagged price.

I can understand buying broken or flawed jewelry for crafts but that price point is too high

Too much of what is in those vases are cheap plastic mardi gras beads or shell leis

[valleythriftshopper]

That is completely lame!  And to think I mentioned to the cashier at my overpriced Sal Army here that $1.99 was too much to charge for the donated greeting cards because you can get the .99 cent Hallmark cards at CVS.  If I saw a jar of junk jewelry for 40  bucks I probably wouldn't go back to that store again, I hope no one actually buys it. 

My jewelry find today was more on the comical side- a vintage Monkees charm bracelet for .50 cents.  It looks like this but not on the original card.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/the-monkees-vintage-charm-bracelet-1967-davey