Costume jewelry, made from less expensive materials, can still hold value and increase in worth over time. Vintage pieces can be valuable if created by a well-known designer or if they come back into fashion. Bakelite jewelry is particularly collectible. However, not all vintage jewelry is valuable, and trends can change quickly.
Not all jewelry is made of precious metals and stones. In the jewelry industry, there is a term called “real look” which is used to define jewelry that appears to be made of precious metals and stones, but is actually made from much more common and less expensive materials. This type of jewelry is referred to as costume jewelry, and while it’s far less expensive than fine jewelry, it’s certainly not without value. Also, costume jewelry often increases in value when it’s a few decades old.
Vintage costume jewelry can be valuable for a few reasons. First of all, whether a piece was created by a well-known designer or collectible, it has intrinsic value. The value of the piece will then increase depending on how rare it is. To find out how rare a piece of jewelry is, the owner should research the designer who produced it. He should try to find out if the piece has only been in stores for one season or if it has been made and sold for some time. The owner can also find out how valuable a piece is by looking for similar items on auction sites and sites devoted to vintage clothing and accessories.
Even if a vintage piece of jewelry wasn’t produced by a famous designer, it may have some value. If, for example, a piece comes back into fashion, then it will be in great demand. Many fashion-oriented people who pay close attention to trends prefer to wear vintage clothes and accessories that are back in fashion rather than new productions of an old style. For example, flare pants were incredibly popular in the 60s and 70s, but made a comeback in the 90s. At the time, fashionistas flocked to vintage stores in search of vintage flared pants.
The same happened with costume jewelry made from Bakelite, the first official synthetic plastic, which was a popular material used to make costume jewelry in the first half of the 20th century. Because of its unique appearance and historical appeal, jewelry made from this material has become quite collectible and hence, has also become valuable.
This is not to say that all vintage jewelry is valuable. If a piece is unfashionable, commonplace, or produced by a designer with no name recognition, it may be worth very little. People who own jewelry that falls into this category, however, may want to keep it. Trends can change very quickly, so even an apparently out-of-fashion item may suddenly be in demand.
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