Latest Jewellery from AntiquesAvenue
By · CommentsJust a quick overview of some of the lastest vintage jewellery added to AntiquesAvenue
Cameo Jewellery
Ive been filling up the cameo jewellery department with lovely vintage rings, bracelets, brooches and pendants. These range from Victorian through to the 1970s. Are costume jewellery, gold and silver and in a wide price range – infact something for everyone.
Victorian malachite cameo
Vintage Rings
Im trying to add better quality vintage and antique rings these days especially those rings with lovely gemstones and good shapes. Amongst the rings cocktail rings and engagement rings are particularly popular. If you want a really extra special ring how abotu this art deco one made by Mikimoto?
Mikimoto ring
Silver enamel jewellery
Finding silver and enamel vintage jewellery in good condition is getting harder and harder but I have recently manages to obtain a few nice pieces including bracelets and brooches. How about this art nouveau pansy brooch ?
Silver enamel brooch
How not to behave with the antiques trade.
By · CommentsThose of you who’ve read this blog over the years will know Ive offered lots of tips on how to become and antiques dealer. One of the important things to do is to get to know the people in the trade and network with other dealers which is something which takes time and effort just like making any other type of contact. Generally, unless they are trying to do a deal with you or you know them well, antiques dealers are grumpy and secretive. Its the way of the trade, knowledge is everything and you dont want to be giving it away to easily. Todays blog is about the things newcomers do which annoy the trade. Ive complied this due to real incidents which Ive witnessed or have happened to me recently.
At Auction
Dont ask a dealer (unless you know them well)
- how much will something fetch, my knowledge was hard earned and Im not giving it away for free to a stranger. Would you?
- Ask them not to bid on a lot because you want it
- take a lot off someone whilst they are viewing it ( yes this happened to me)
- ask to borrow my catalogue as a refusal usually offends. I will have made notes in it and added prices and certainy dont want anyone else seeing it.
Dont talk to your friends during the auction . A couple of old ladies sitting in front of me chatted through the whole auction yesterday. Dont you know others are trying to follow the auction and hopefully buy something.
At an antiques fair
Dont say to the the stall holder:
- its cheaper on eBay
- Ive got a better one than that at home
- Ive got three of those at home
- Rubbish the item or its condition.
All stall holders at fairs expect to be made offers on their stock and 10% off in normal for the asking. Any more than that and you are doing well. Please dont make silly low offers , it only winds the dealer up and gets you no where unusually.
Its polite to ask first before picking up something form the stall and certainly dont let your kids touch anything.
If your trying to get a free valuation for an item
Dont ask me, I will always recommend you take the item to your nearest auction house as they do offer free valuations.
Dont offer to sell me something just to try and get a free valuation or price out of me. I know that trick and come across it several times a week.
If your trying to sell me something
Dont assume I or any other dealer will give you 90% of what you think the value is. The best you should hope for is 50%. Selling takes time and effort. Personally I have to clean and photograph every piece of vintage jewellery I sell. I the upload it to the website, take payment pack and post the item. I cant do this for £10 over the cost of the goods I would be loosing money at that rate. We all have selling expenses and many of us have to pay VAT out of the price we get for an item. We then have income tax to pay on the profit and yes a little profit left over for ourselves at the end is important
Dont expect me to come way across the country to look at some thing you have for sale, Its too time consuming and costly. Actually I dont go into strangers homes to buy antiques at all. Would you?
So yes, I know it sounds like Im turning into a grumpy old Anne but does a few manners and a bit of politeness really hurt ?
Free vintage brooch giveaway
By · CommentsIm giving away a free vintage brooch this week. One lucky person is going to be able to choose a vintage brooch from www.antiquesavenue.co.uk to the value of £25 and I will send it free of charge wherever in the world you happen to be.
butterfly brooches
Its quite easy to enter – heres how:
Pop over to www.antiquesavenue.co.uk and press the facebook LIKE button. Then log into facebook and tell me that youve entered the competition. You can do this by writing on Antiques Avenue facebook wall. If you not a facebook friend of antiquesavenue all ready then i’ll be happy to add you – just send me a friend request. I will select one winner from all the entrants.
There is a great selection of vintage brooches to choose from for £25 including some silver ones. Most of the brooches you will find in the costume jewellery section.
This give away closes at midnight on Saturday 21 January ( UK time). I will let you know the lucky winner on Facebook soon after that.
Gold charms from the 1960s and 1970s
By · CommentsThe 1960s and 1970s are often considered to be when the best English gold charms were produced. These charms have great quality and there is a huge variety of shapes and sizes to be found.
The vintage charms vary in size from about 1 centimeters to three centimeters. Any more and the piece of jewellery is more like a pendant than a charm. English charms from this time are normally made of nine carat gold although you may find some of eighteen carat. Look for the hallmark on the charm to determine the carat gold. Most English gold charms dating from this time should be hallmarked but the hallmarks can be very tiny and often hidden in out of the way places. You can read the hallmarks with a 10x loup magnifier.
Gold charms make nice gifts as you can buy them to suit the interests of the recipient and add an extra charm to the collection every birthday, Christmas, wedding , Valentines day or other cellebration.
AntiquesAvenue offers a great selection of vintage gold charms which you cannot easily find elsewhere. Here are some recently added charms:
gold bell charm
A high quality vintage gold charm (9ct) in the shape of a hand bell. This bell rings nicely and so will add sound to your charm bracelet. This bell is large enough to be hung from a chin round your neck and worn as a pendant. The bell is fully hallmarked as nine carat gold and the hallmarks date it to 1977.
The 1970s are often considered to have produced the very best English charms and this one certainly is excellent quality. The gold charm measures about 2.5 cms high
wedding bells charm
What a wonderful romantic gold charm. Here is a pair of gold bells with heart shapes pierced into them. They hang from a gold bow. The bells are articulated from the bow so that they move whilst being worn. This gold charm is hallmarked as nine carat. It measures about 2 cms long including the hanging loop
emergency money charm
This vintage gold charm dates from the 1970s. It is a £5 emergency money charms. These charms came in all sorts of money denominations , you will find that £5 is one of the most rare. The case is hallmarked as nine carat gold. This charm measures about 1.4 cms long. The blue colour of the £5 note will add a splash of colour to your charm bracelet
Antiquesavenue also has an exclusive selection of original gold charm bracelets from the 1960s and 1970s .
Silver lockets for precious mementos
By · CommentsSilver lockets are amongst the most popular pieces of vintage jewellery. Most lockets are worn on a chin round the neck although smaller ones can be brooches or charms.
The locket is made to hold a precious memento. The memento reminds us of something or someone. It can be a photograph, a lock of hair a pressed flower, a few grains of sand from a favourite beach. Other ideas for mementos suitable for a locket can be stamps, a tiny poem or letter even a miniature charm.
The most popular vintage lockets are silver as gold ones are so costly these days. These lockets are normally hung from a silver chain although a ribbon or cord is also suitable. Small lockets can measure about 1cm with larger ones up to 6 or 7 cms sometimes been seen.
Silver lockets from the Victorian era can be very decorative, ones from the 1970s are very decorative too. You can expect to pay from about £70 upwards for a Victorian silver locket and from about £30 from a 1970s one.
Here is a selection of vintage silver lockets recently added to AntiquesAvenue shop.
Scroll silver locket
A substantial vintage silver locket with scroll decoration on both sides. This silver locket is from circa 1970s. There is space for your photos inside each door. The locket measures about 4.5 cms long plus the hanging loop
A most attractive vintage silver locket possibly from circa 1910 to 1920. This locket is made of silver ( stamped sterling silver on the reverse). The locket has a central design on one side whilst the reverse just has the decorative edge. The locket measures about 3.3 cms long.
This locket opens and inside is space for two of your own photos. The original retaining rings are inside this locket
Purple enamel silver locket
This vintage silver locket is engine turned enamelled in purple on both sides. The locket dated from the earlier 1900s when silver jewellery enamelled like this was very popular. It measures about 2.9 cms diameter 1.25 inches.
The locket opens like a book and inside there is space in both sides for your own photos. The locket sill has its original retaining rings inside. This locket and the enamel is in excellent condition
Vintage jewellery news
By · CommentsThe latest vintage jewellery news from AntiquesAvenue.
As usual Ive been so busy over the Christmas season that I haven’t been able to bring you the latest vintage jewellery news from AntiquesAvenue recently. Firstly and most importantly, a very big Thank You all for helping to make this the most successful Christmas season ever in my 10 years of trading on-line. I know many of you come back year after year for your Christmas jewellery gifts for yourself and you loved ones and are also recommending the site to your friends. Id like to take this opportunity to wish customers old and new a very Happy New Year. I’ll be searching out lots of special and unique pieces of jewellery for you throughout 2012 and hopefully blogging here regularly with lots of information, hints and a preview of my latest jewellery finds. Ive made this updating blog regularly one of my New Years resolutions !
Vintage Cameo Jewellery
Some of the most popular jewellery from AntiquesAvenue is set with cameos. Today id just like to show you a couple of piece Ive added this week. If you’d like to see more please do look in the Cameos section.
Cameo Brooch
A very nicely carved came brooch featuring a classical Goddess. This cameo has been hand carved from shell. The cameo is set into a gold frame stamped as 9ct and there is an attached safety chain. This brooch will date from the early 1900s and it measures about 3.5 cms long
A nice quality hardstone cameo ring carved with the profile of a classical lady. The cameo is set into rose gold which has full Chester hallmarks for 1913. Hard stone cameos are much rarer than shell cameos and are quite collectible. The head of this cameo ring measures about 1.2 cms up finger. This ring is UK finger size O, just over USA size 7.25.
The shank of this ring is a little off round but is still very wearable, the ring has been priced accordingly.
Cameo ring
Silver Jewellery
Vintage silver jewellery is more popular now than ever. I am finding that 1970s silver is really sought after and am pleased to be able to bring you a few fresh pieces ever week. This weeks new additions include this lovely 1970s silver bangle and a silver charm bracelet from about the same time.
silver bangle1970s charm bracelet
This years hot jewellery gifts
I am in an almost unique position to be able to tell you what jewellery gifts were hot this year. Here are this years top sellers
1. Vintage silver lockets , These were selling out almost as fast as I couple add them to the site. I will try and get a few more but I do know that one years hot gift may not be next years.
2. Bracelets. Gold bracelets and silver bagles. Bracelets are quite popular gifts as it is quite easy to get the size right
3. Cameos. All my pretty lady cameo brooches sold out early this year. I think these were last years no 1 favourite so perhaps slipping a little in popularity
4. Gold rings. Mainly men buying these for their lady loves and yes many were last minute purchases.
5. Earrings. Gemstone set earrings making a comeback? More popular this year than they have been recently
6. Brooches . A perennial favourite and the easiest jewellery to buy as a gift as one size usually fits all.
10 Vintage Jewellery gifts under £35
By · CommentsLooking for a Vintage Jewellery Christmas gift for £35 or under? . Here is AntiquesAvenue’s top 10 suggestions . Remember these prices all include postage costs and can be delivered to you in plenty of time for Christmas day.
1. Silver enamel peacock brooch £35
- peacock brooch
2 lucite brooches
3. Silver Dunce charm £26
silver dunce charm
Just one of loads of vintage charms for you to choose from on the antiquesavenue website . What a cute articulated silver charm. This is in the shape of a Dunces cat with a face on the front and the letter D on the reverse. There are a pair of legs which are articulated and so move when you wear the charm.
This charm is made of silver and measures about 2 cms ( maximum) including the O ring and legs
4. Vintage silver ring
Most rings are made of gold and this tends to push the price a little out of budget range. Vintage silver rings however can often cost less and still be most attractive. How about this ring at just £26?
amethyst ring
5. Silver Identity bracelet for the man in your life £33
identity bracelet
A chunky silver identity bracelet. This bracelet measures about 21 cms long and so is probably most suited to a mans wrist. The bracelet measures about 0.9 cms wide and weighs about 41 grams
6. Animal print bangle by Joan Rivers £28
Here is an enamel bangle bracelet with an animal print design coming from the Joan Rivers Classics Collection. This bangle stretches to allow it to fit on your wrist. The colours are enamel on gold tone metal and there are panels of diamante to give a very striking piece of costume jewellery. Before expansion this bangle measures about 6 cms diameter ( internal measurement) and about 1.5 cms deep. This Joan Rivers bangle comes in its original box .
The box is a little damaged and the bangle is in really excellent condition.
7. Gold earrings £35
Theres not much you can buy in the way of real gold jewellery for£35 these days but here is a pair of earrings which would be great for any gardener.
gold earrings
This pair of earrings are in the shape of leaves. They are made from fully hallmarked 9 carat gold. Each leaf earring measures about 1.5 cms long. You will need to add your own butterfly backs to these.`
7. Freshwater pearl necklace £25
pearl necklace
A very pretty necklace made of fresh water pearls and real gemstone chips. The gemstones include amethysts, aquamarines, peridots and citrines. This necklaces would be excellent to wear to a wedding or possibly for a bridesmaid? It measures about 40 cms long
8. Vintage glass necklace
There are loads of vintage glass necklaces from you to choose from for £35 and under. These are much nicer to wear than modern plastic bead necklaces and they have a better weight, colour and feel. The glass also has a better shine than plastic.
9. Micromosaic jewellery
Again there is a great selection for £35 and under. Micromosaic Jewellery, made from tiny glass pieces set into colourful patterns. This jewellery was mainly made in Italy and brought back as tourist souvenirs. Micromosaic jewellery is mainly costume jewellery although occasionally you may find pieces in silver and gold.
10 Love Jewellery for that special Lady
AntiquesAvenue offers a whole seleciton of romantic jewellery. Pieces in the shape of hearts are particularly popular.
Christmas 2011 AntiquesAvenue posting dates
By · CommentsIts that time of year again when we are all busy buying wonderful pressies to give at Christmas. Just to let you know that you can order from AntiquesAvenue up until 12.00 mid day on Friday 23rd to receive your Christmas gifts in time to give on Christmas day.
Here are the latest order times calculated so that I can reach the Royal Mails last posting dates for Christmas
December 4 th – Australia & New Zealand
Decemebr 7th – USA & Canada
December 11 Most of Europe
Friday 23rd December mid day UK . Please ensure that you will be at home on Saturday 24th to receive your parcel.
in the mean time I am here to help and will try and get back soon with some of my special gift recommendations