How To Create A Vintage Jewelry Collection - Part One

So, how do you actually start a vintage jewelry collection? Obviously, it starts with the pieces that you gravitate towards. Whether those are pieces that maybe reminded you of somebody that you love, maybe it's a piece that you're attracted to because you know that it's going to be the perfect touch to your ensemble, maybe it's because you know that it's unique and that nobody else will have it.

So, how do you start that collection? You start it with a book. I love being able to share my favorite books with you because they will aid you in your journey to important parts of being able to have your collection, which is owning pieces that are accurately described and authentically vintage. That's kind of a confusing term. If you are new to just starting out and that you love being able to put pieces that are vintage with your collection, how do you actually know that they are authentic or they are accurate? That is what you truly do learn from books.

I love being able to point out from books like this. For example, this is one of my favorites, and this is the one that I like to start off by showing you right away. This is Costume Jewelry 101. This actually says, "The basics of starting, building, and upgrading a collection." It talks to you about identification and values. The important part about that is, you will have a deeper appreciation for the investments that you make, and you'll even be able to decipher whether you're getting a good deal or a great deal by actually researching and reading some of the history and the information that's inside these books.

You learn so much about style, influence, trends, materials that were available, construction. These are all important things that relate to having an accurate and an authentic collection. If you're saying to yourself, "I know, Veronica, but I like just being able to pick pieces that I wear." That's 100% true and really important. If you find something that you love, regardless of the price or regardless of the style, you should add it. You should add it to your jewelry box and you should wear it with your pride. It will bring you lots and lots of compliments.

But why I want you to be able to invest in a few books to aid you on this journey is, you will understand why these pieces are so important. The pieces are important because they are out of production. So, that means it's not like going to the common store that we go and we pick up things at now. We're picking up true pieces of history. Some of these pieces come from really, truly legendary designers. I'm showing you here from my own example. This is a piece from my personal collection. This is, for example, a necklace from WSL from Yves Saint Laurent, and it's photographed here from the 1970s and the 1980s. This is a highly collectable piece. These are actually the earrings that are being shown. I have the necklace in my collection.

But they're so many other pieces throughout the years. So, that is kind of the joy of being able to really appreciate the fact that you've got something that is truly, truly unique to you. So, when we flip through these books and we see them, we see great examples like the necklace from QJL, which is a gorgeous piece that's got the emerald and the art deco influence. We see the fun bracelets that we have that are actually from Swarovski. We've got great pieces that are from Joan Rivers. Then just flipping through the books that we see throughout the years. There are so many awesome examples of pieces going from the 1920s all the way through the 1980s. It really is neat to know that all of these are out of production and cannot easily be sourced again.

Another important topic that I want to cover with you is to how to start a vintage jewelry library going along with having your vintage jewelry collection, is that you're going to discover a lot about the styles and tastes that you love. Now, if you're a girl like me, you want something from every decade, every designer, every collection because you fall in love with the designers that made them and what was going on and the fashion history at the time and the new metals that they might have been using. Maybe it's related to the fact that they only made 500 of that entire collection. So, there's a lot of fun that goes along with the obsession of collecting jewelry.

But if you are truly beginning to go and develop your personal taste as well as beginning to see that maybe you have a signature style, looking through the books actually gives you an opportunity to discover your own style. It might introduce you to pieces like we have here from the 1920s, but they look so fabulous and so amazing that even though this is a German designer that has a got a unique personal style to it, it looks absolutely amazing with bracelets from [Signer 00:04:46] or maybe even your fine jewelry like a diamond tennis bracelet.

So, I love being able to show people how it's really awesome to be able to mix your vintage and your even historical finds with your modern jewelry and your fine jewelry as well. So, I also would applaud you to take the time to research and to enjoy the books because you'll develop a greater sense of your own style. You're going to be connecting to those styles that you love. That's also really important because it will aid you in your ability to be able to find those pieces easier. So, if you were speaking to someone like us at Vintage Meet Modern where we're here for you to try to help you find that perfect piece to finish your look for a party that you're going to or whether or not you've decided that you've become a collector of Juliana and you love rhinestones, that gives you an opportunity, even with just a tiny bit of research, to be able to say, "This is what I like, and this is the designer that I love. Could you be able to show me a few other pieces that go along with this?"

I'm always trying to encourage my clients to take the time to seek out the unique. You truly were meant and born to stand out, not to fit it. I know that another important part that we have of doing this entire video series together is that you are here because you appreciate the beauty and the connection and the memories to all of these pieces. So, I'd love for you to be able to remember that it's really important that you can start a collection, and that going one step past it is enjoying the passion of learning about it. What you get from it will give you an opportunity to develop your personal style. It will give the ability to be able to spot those pieces that you love so that you can be able to add them to your collection.

You'll also be able to accurately and authentically be able to date them and know that what you're truly getting is a piece of vintage jewelry. As well as, you'll be able to have a deeper appreciation as to the value and the worth of these pieces. Because something that I always love to remind my clients of is that as long as you take care of these pieces, the value of them just goes up, up, up, up, which is really great because not only do you get to pass on the memories to yourself, if you take care of them, that's what the fun part is. Some of these pieces that we have here are 70, 80, 100 years old, and they can also very easily be able to bring smiles and great style to other people for another 100 years to come.

So, I hope that you have enjoyed getting to think about all the different ways as to not only how to start the collection, but how to invest in some books so that you can have the collection of your dream. In my next video series, I'm gonna be talking to you all about the perfect 10, those 10 books that are going to start your collection off, and they're going to help you start on the joy of the jewelry journey.