Hands sorting through tangled bead necklaces, chains and a wooden box of rings laid out on a blue flea market cloth

Your first two weeks

Eight steps, and the first three cost nothing

How to read the back of a piece

Signature

A maker's name stamped on the back, the clasp or a small hanging tag. A copyright symbol next to a name on American costume jewelry generally means it was made after 1955.

Purity stamp

925 or STERLING means solid silver. 10K, 14K and 18K mean solid gold. GF, 1/20 12K and RGP mean gold-filled or rolled gold plate, a thick layer over base metal.

Clasp and findings

A plain C-shaped catch with no lock on a brooch points to before the 1920s, a rolling safety catch to the 1920s onward. Screw-back earrings came before clip-backs, which took over in the 1930s and 1940s.

Stone setting

Prong-set stones usually signal better quality than glued ones. Foil-backed rhinestones that have gone gray or dark have been wet, and that cannot be reversed.

Construction

Turn the piece over. Smooth, plated backs with soldered joints suggest care. Rough casting seams and thin, light metal suggest a cheaper line or a later copy.

Weight

Older costume pieces tend to feel heavier than they look. A piece that looks like silver but sticks to a magnet is plated steel.

Close-up of a cluster brooch of red and pink rhinestones on a black background, each stone held in a metal prong setting — Prong-set rhinestones on a cluster brooch

Directions you can take it

Signed costume jewelryPlated and rhinestone pieces from named mid-century makers. The cheapest lane to learn in and the best documented, and it needs nothing beyond the base kit.

Start here

Pick one signed maker you keep seeing in thrift cases, read its entry in a marks archive, and learn which of its marks belong to which years before you buy a second piece.

Researching Costume Jewelry marks archive

Sterling silver and goldScandinavian modernist silver, Mexican silver, Native American silver and Victorian gold-filled pieces. Prices follow the metal as well as the maker, so you weigh and test before you buy.

Start here

Check every clasp, ring shank and pin stem in a mixed lot for a purity stamp (925, sterling, 10K, 14K), then weigh the stamped pieces so you know what the metal alone is worth before you pay.

Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks

Bakelite and early plasticsCarved bangles, figural pins and celluloid from the 1920s to the 1940s. Fakes are common, so testing matters more than in any other lane.

Start here

Handle confirmed pieces at an antique mall first. Learn the weight and the dull clunk two bangles make together, then test your own finds on a hidden spot before paying a premium.

Repair and restorationBuying damaged pieces cheaply and replacing stones, re-gluing and straightening findings. A craft of its own, and the way many collectors afford better makers.

Start here

Buy one cheap unsigned brooch with a missing stone, measure the empty setting in millimeters, and replace the stone. It is the safest way to practice before touching a piece you care about.

Open a direction to see its first step. Sterling And Gold, Bakelite And Early Plastics, and Repair And Restoration can each add their own lines to the kit. Signed costume jewelry needs nothing beyond the base kit.

Silver hallmarks, country by country

Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks and Makers' Marks In-depth reference for reading silver hallmarks by country

Two sellers in winter coats sitting behind an outdoor market table covered with necklaces, brooches and an open red jewelry case

Where to look

Five places, cheapest first

Estate sales

The best prices and the best odds of untouched family jewelry boxes. Go on the first morning for selection or the last day for half-price.

Thrift stores

Check the locked glass case at the register and ask whether jewelry is sold in sealed mixed bags, which often hide a signed piece.

Antique malls and shows

Higher prices, but pieces are usually identified, and dealers will let you handle them and answer questions.

Online auctions and marketplaces

The widest selection. Buy only from listings with a clear photo of the back and the mark, and read the return policy first.

Mixed lots

Bags of unsorted jewelry sold by the pound. Good practice for sorting, but expect mostly broken modern pieces.

What trips beginners up

Expect mostly ordinary finds.

Most trips turn up nothing special. The collectors with great pieces looked at thousands of ordinary ones first.

Unsigned does not mean worthless.

Many high-quality makers left pieces unsigned or used paper tags that fell off. Judge construction first, the name second.

Reproductions exist for every famous name.

Compare the font and placement of a mark against archive photos before paying a signed-piece price.

Never soak costume jewelry.

Water creeps behind foil-backed rhinestones and turns them dark for good. Wipe with a dry or barely damp cloth instead.

Do not polish everything.

Rubbing thin gold plating wears it through, and stripping the dark patina from old silver can lower its value.

Condition beats rarity at the start.

A common piece with every stone bright is a better buy than a rare one with dead stones and green corrosion.

Buy one lane, not everything.

A focused group of ten related pieces teaches you more than fifty random ones.

Care and storage

Store pieces flat, dry and separated, never tangled in one dish. Rhinestones scratch plating and chains knot.
Keep collections out of bathrooms, basements and direct sun. Humidity ruins foil backs, and heat warps old plastics.
Put jewelry on last, after perfume, hairspray and lotion have dried. All three attack plating and pearl coatings.
Green crust on a piece (verdigris) spreads to anything it touches. Keep an affected piece in its own bag until it is cleaned.
Keep old plastics apart from metal pieces and give them air. Celluloid that is breaking down gives off fumes that corrode metal near it.

A gold stick pin shaped like a stag's head lying in its fitted leather case lined with purple velvet — A stick pin in its fitted case

A few cautions

Brooch pins and broken prongs are sharp. Close every catch before a piece goes in a bag or box.
Some older costume jewelry contains lead or cadmium in the metal or the paint. Wash your hands after sorting, and keep vintage pieces away from small children who might mouth them.
Nickel in base metal causes skin reactions for some people. If a piece leaves your skin red or itchy, display it instead of wearing it.
Acid test kits for gold and silver use strong acids. A jeweler or pawn shop will usually test a piece for free or a few dollars, which is the safer route for a beginner.
Ask about ivory, tortoiseshell and coral before buying. Sales of these materials are restricted in many states, and they are easy to mistake for plastic.

Where to learn more

Marks archives answer the first question (who made this, and when). Collector organizations, museum-grade encyclopedias and dealer-written guides answer the next ones: which lines a maker is known for, what a period looked like and what a fair price is. Local antique shows are worth a visit even if you buy nothing, because handling confirmed pieces trains your eye faster than photos do.

An antique color plate on a dark ground showing a pearl necklace, a round pearl brooch, two pendants, a bracelet clasp and two rings — A printed plate of Victorian designs

Collector groups and reference libraries

Why the kit looks like this

The kit is tools for seeing, recording and protecting, not jewelry. The pieces themselves come from estate sales and thrift stores, and a starting budget of 20 to 40 dollars for them is plenty. The loupe matters most, because nearly every decision in this hobby rests on a mark or a flaw too small to see without one. Storage comes second, since most damage to vintage jewelry happens in a drawer. Everything behind a direction only earns its place once you commit to that lane.

A shopper in a polka dot blouse leaning over a market stall of costume brooches, earrings and necklaces displayed on white busts — Looking over a dealer's stall

Fill the jewelry tray

Compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the cart. Clicking a card selects it there. The loupe, the storage trays, the guide book, the anti-tarnish strips and the zip bags start in the kit. The scale, the test magnet and the polishing cloth join when you switch on Sterling And Gold, the polish paste with Bakelite And Early Plastics, and the pliers, the cement and the replacement stones with Repair And Restoration.

10x jeweler's loupe

Essential · Core equipment

Maker's marks, purity stamps and worn prongs are too small to read with the naked eye. A 10x loupe is the standard magnification jewelers use and fits in a pocket for sales.

budget

10x Magnifier Jewelry Loupe 20.5mm Triplet Lens Optical Glass Pocket Gem Magnifying Tool for Jeweler, Stamp Philatelist, Coin Numismatic, Achromatic Black Hexagonal Design Kit Set

4.5(591)

$13.99

Vintage Jewelry Collecting

Your first two weeks

How to read the back of a piece

Directions you can take it

Where to look

What trips beginners up

Care and storage

A few cautions

Where to learn more

Why the kit looks like this

Fill the jewelry tray

10x jeweler's loupe

Compartment jewelry storage trays

Vintage jewelry identification guide book

Anti-tarnish strips

Small zip bags for jewelry

Digital pocket jewelry scale

Small neodymium test magnet

Silver polishing cloth

Metal polish paste for plastics testing

Jewelry pliers set

Jeweler's cement with precision tip

Assorted pointed-back replacement rhinestones