Since the beginning of civilization, jewelry has play an important part in society. It has been used to signify status, highlight beauty or to distract from homeliness.
Favorite pieces have been buried with the dead, and have been worn to mark the passing of the dead as in the case of mourning jewelry.
A wonderful piece of jewelry is probably the most often received gift item.
It’s no wonder then, that antique jewelry would become and endure as one of our favorite collectibles. The same could be said for antique jewelry as a a real estate agent might say about a piece of land,”they ain’t makin’ anymore of it”.
Not only are they not making any more of it, but much of it is being destroyed, melting it down makes it even scarcer than it already is. During the 1980s when the price of precious metals were high, thousands of people sold off antique gold and silver jewelry to be melted down for quick cash. The same thing is happening now.
Recently gold hit as high as $900 per oz and I believe I saw silver as high as $18.00 per oz.. Both have come down a bit, but remain relatively high.
There’s an old saying, gold loves bad news, meaning that when economic times are tough people turn to gold as an investment. What we have is another period now when a lot of people are selling off gold and silver jewelry for quick cash.
That makes two “gold rush” periods in recent history which have caused a lot of antique jewelry to be destroyed. This affects the value of all antique jewelry, gold, gold filled and plated etc., because when a collectibles market fluctuates, it does so in a permeating way.
Antique jewelry is a classic, and classics are very safe long term investments. The value of a physical thing can never go to zero as with a stock or a bond, thus investing in good quality gold and silver jewelry at the right price is about as safe as it gets.
Can you think of any collectible or antique that a friend or even you yourself might own that is worth less now than it was 10 years ago? Beanie Babies don’t count. I’m talking about good quality, time tested antiques. I’m guessing you’ve answered no, but the same cannot be said for many stocks and bonds.
Of course like any investment, you have to buy right, because “well bought is half sold”.
My favorite way of buying any antique as an investment is through the auction method. There are some basic rules to follow to make sure your getting investment quality grade collectibles at prices that will reap rewards in the future.
Here are those rules, they apply whether your buying at an online auction, or a live auction:
* Don’t bother with auction items that have “reserves”, you are wasting your time, you will not get an item at an investment price there. That’s not even an auction really, it’s a store item, you just don’t know the price yet. Don’t play games with these jokers, there are enough real auctions out there to patronize.
* Pay very close attention to the description, be careful for terms that are vague and imply that the seller is not really sure of what they have. Term such as “style”, & “revival” “such as” all imply the item in question is not an authentic period piece. Some sellers are just legitimately not sure of the item, some sellers are shady.
* If in doubt ask questions. I put my phone # in my eBay auction listings for higher end items, it’s on my web-site and everywhere else I do business. If your considering a high end auction item and the seller doesn’t have easy access, ask yourself why.
* Many antique items are engraved, this can deplete the value a bit in most cases. The value loss is not as much if the item is only engraved on the inside or back of the item. It’s also easier to sell an item that is only marked with a common single initial as your likely to find a buyer with a first name who can use it for themselves or as a gift.
* Set a price threshold which you won’t surpass when bidding. This is the best way to insure you don’t get caught up in “auction fever” and grossly overpay for the item. Nothing is a good investment if you overpay for it.
I can almost hear you saying, “yeah, good luck finding pieces like that which are really auctioned with low starts at no reserve”!
Well I can assure you, great quality auctions of antique jewelry do happen every day by reputable sellers online and offline. You just have to beat the bushes a bit. No worry though, to start off with I’d like to introduce an antiques estate from North Admas MA which I’ll be auctioning off on eBay starting this Monday evening!
The auction will consist of many lots of antique gold, silver and costume jewelry, porcelain and much more. Every lot will fall into the criteria of a real auction as listed above!
There is so much, that the entire estate should take about 2-3 months to get up on eBay. Some of the items will be sold by the piece, some will be sold in lots. All of it will be sold no matter what the price!
Most items will start at $9.95 or lower and every one is an investment quality collectible.
The estate, (technically, it’s a revocable trust as the benefactor is still alive) comes from an Audrey Dearing Sweeney who was president of the North Adams Massachusetts Historical Society. If you have any interest in a chance at getting quality antique items for far under the money, you will not want to miss these lots as they are being sold on eBay.
Besides the antique jewelry there are many other items from just about every category of antiques you can think of. I’ll be listing the contents as fast as I can get them up on eBay. The auctions will all start and end on Sundays until the estate is completely liquidated.
Everything featured in the pictures here, will be up for auction on eBay starting Sunday evening. All auction items are guaranteed to be as represented and start at $9.95 with NO RESERVES and free shipping for the holidays!
Can you think of a more beautiful gift than a piece of antique jewelry? Why not give one nice thing that will increase in value rather than lots of disposable gifts that will be forgotten about before the New Year rings in?
Your thoughtful selection will be revered for many years.
Thanks for reading.
You can click on any of the pictures or links below them to see these and many other items from this estate starting Sunday evening.
Source: http://www.examiner.com/
