HUGE INVENTORIES OF VINTAGE

[thenandnowvintage]

hi all,

i am new to this group...i am a buyer, not a seller...i've been buying from ebay since the mid 1990s...recently, i have been buying some vintage costume jewelry, which i have always liked...i have noticed one peculiar thing...some sellers have huge inventories of vintage...i don't mean the newer costume that can be purchased in a retail store in a mall...i'm talking about the real expensive vintage pieces...and when i say huge...that's exactly what i mean...a never-ending supply of famous designers of the retro period...as a fairly new buyer of jewelry, i pose the question to experienced sellers...could this be a "red flag" of some sort?  thanks in advance for your thoughts on this subject...

[maryqueenofpots]

I have a lot of inventory, but I'm willing to hold out for the right price. 

I can see where too many listings of D & E would concern a person and I've checked and wondered myself.  I'll be anxious to hear what the others say.

[bojibelle]

One does have to watch out for fake/reproduction of some high end designer pieces.

Yes, there is a LOT of fabulous vintage jewelry in the marketplace, not just on eBay.  The generation of "Ladies who Lunch" and the 5 o'clock cocktail hour followed by the dinner party are the generation that is dying now so the jewels are for sale by family members or thru estate sales.

A little of my story with vintage jewelry,  my mother owned nothing fancy, glamorous or sparkly so I wanted some!  Buying became collecting, collecting lead to selling to buy more for me.  I've been doing this for over 30 years.  I have so much inventory I even hate to consider it.  A lot is just wearable, nothing special.  Last spring I sold large lots of that type of stuff, total around 3 to 4 thousand pieces and have at least that much more, plus the better stuff.  EBay selling prices are very weak  now due at least in part to the huge amounts of Chinese **bleep** that floods the jewelry categories. So I have been spending my eBay time selling other things on 2 other seller IDs.  Hopefully, in the fall I'll get inspired to list more jewelry.

[thenandnowvintage]

all i can say is "WOW"

[moonlightrose28401]

you buy.....then you trade up....etc

consider the popularity of pieces......and they sold well in their heyday.....and you had other companies coming up with their versions to have their pieces look like the well selling ones.....peeps couldnt always afford the higher prices but wanted the look of it

that the pieces are signed are great......but the truly gifted jewelry seller is the one who can list an unsigned piece and translate the beauty and the quality with their descriptions

there is quite a volume of vintage jewelry......buried in the jewelry boxes and that quite a bit of these pieces are in such great shape for how old they are

[flipping_treasures]

I have been collecting vintage costume jewelry for almost eighteen years.  I have well over 7000 pieces.  Of those 7000+ pieces I have about 300 written up for selling.  Of those pieces I have maybe 20 exact same pieces or as I call them repeat items.  So the first thing that I do when looking at a seller's items for sell is to look at how many repeat items they have and what items do they have multiples of. 

As far as D&E goes, there have been collectors of D&E for years, Ipersonally have probably 20 pieces that I have not listed and have sold about 75 other pieces.  When it comes to D&E, as a seller, but even more so as a buyer, you need toknow what you are looking at.  There are hundreds if not thousands of pieces out there misidentified.  That goes for not only D&E, but other desginers as well. 

[mforjan]

My humble opinion based on my collecting... Once you start collecting you recognize it everywhere! I can spot a Trifari gold tone and pearl pin from across the room, and I zone it on it in a flash 🙂

Everyone here will tell you I have an unusual amount of Victorian sash pins, but that's because I love them and seek them out. I have search terms I use on ebay that help me find them when a seller has no idea what they have, just looks like an old pin to them. We all have our specialities, or dare I say, obsessions 😉

But I understand your concern. When a seller has multiples of something vintage I look with a critical eye. Keep looking and ask questions when you are think it may be too good to be true 🙂

[cleio]

If they keep listing loads of lots with nothing but schiaparelli sets, haskell baroque pearls, boucher flowers, and eisenberg, then yes I would wonder.

Someone can have a large number of these pieces for a while, but I cant see it being a long term thing.  Not even high end dealers always have a set of mint haskell baroque pearl sets laying around, and they will be staying in the shops for awhile at least

The exception is earrings. I see a lot of lots with high end designer pieces in the titles and they are earrings.

Helps to allways follow your gut, always get expensive pieces checked out right away if you arent sure, and not spend more than you can risk

[thenandnowvintage]

thanks for all the replies...i can understand obsessions...i have a few of my own...lol...along the same line as "lots with many schiaparelli sets, haskell baroque pearls, boucher flowers, and eisenberg", just wondering how a person could have so many hagler, vrba plus those mentioned...i have always loved jewelry...my mother was from italy and believe me jewelry wasn't her thing...but i had an aunt who would bring me to her BR when we visited and show me her

jewelry...in looking back, nothing really special...she would buy me birthstone rings, pins and little things like that...still have the "baby" ring my grandfather gave to me!

i hope to sell one day... trying to learn...i would hate to buy an expensive piece and it not be the real thing...so, when i see one or two sellers with soooo many over the top pieces it makes me wonder...it's good to see the juliana site with "verified" pieces...that does help...in fact i wrote once about how in the heck could there be so many...every other listing was juliana, or so it seemed!   anyway, one can never ask too many questions when there is such an abundance of jewels out there...