I haven't been buying much jewelry lately but I've been doing lots of studying and lurking around eBay to see what's hot and what's not, what's selling, what isn't, and what's fetching high dollars. I probably don't need to tell you, if you also follow my SHERMAN BLOG that Sherman cuff bracelets have been selling for incredibly high prices. Take the one shown on the right: it just finished this afternoon and sold for a whopping $1600 USD! That seller must be celebrating. He just sold one last week for almost a thousand on top of that. Yikes!
Now compare that to what the lovely, very unusual and very wide rhinestone bracelet on the left fetched: it sold for just over $70USD. That cuff bracelet is a very attractive mix of baguette, square and round cut stones, and there's enough of them to light up a room since this bracelet is 2" wide! I don't know anything about the construction, but it is vintage glitz. It's also something else: it's unsigned. What an incredible difference a signature makes to the final price. But for those who can't afford the Shermans, but want the pizzaz and bling, a purchase like this just makes good sense.
So what else has my lurking yielded? Well I discovered that while Sherman cuff bracelets are the high-ticket items, other Shermans, for the most part, are not. I'm talking here about necklaces, brooches, earrings and sets. They still get a good dollar but nothing much more than what they were getting this time last year. When it comes to necklace/earring sets, Schiaparelli has Sherman beat. For instance, the set shown below sold for $228 USD. That may not be much but
when you realize that one of the earrings has been chipped off at the bottom, it's surprising the set still got that kind of a dollar. I guess that's because Schiaparelli is just that much harder to acquire. Another reason Schiaparelli still sells so well, at least on ebay, is it's dear to the hearts of American collectors of vintage costume jewelry, while Sherman is primarily sought after by Canadians. And while there seems to be a lot of Sherman around, especially on ebay these days, the Schiaparelli, just like Alice Caviness, Schreiner, Robert are in short supply, and hence command higher dollars. I couldn't believe the Schiaparelli brooch shown below fetched about the same dollar as that Schiaparelli demi above. But it did.
Of course, it's in that most coveted color for Schiaparelli i.e. pink, just like that magnificent necklace and earring set I covered in my blog here a few posts back and that you can see HERE.What else have I found is selling high in designer signed jewelry? Well just look at this HAGLER:
What an outstanding set! What did it sell for? The buyer was asking $485 or best offer. She received and accepted $390 USD. Hagler is so highly collectible that this buyer made a very smart move investing in this set.
And speaking of cuff bracelets, on the right is a real beauty by Hollycraft that sold for $381 USD.
Honestly, if you want to, and can afford, the price of Sherman cuff bracelets, then more power to you but something like that Hollycraft is worth buying too and costs so much less.
So, bottom line, what's in a name? Obviously a lot. Just like everything else, from clothing to shoes, to jewelry to art, if the name is a recognized one, it's worth collecting, if you can afford it. If, on the other hand, you just like pretty glittery jewelry, there's a lot of it around, and in this tough economy, it's nice to know it's so utterly affordable in comparison. For many of us, it is indeed all about dollars and sense.
You'll find both signed and unsigned jewelry in OUR SHOP AT RUBY LANE and our BONANZLE Booth. Drop by and poke around. Thanks for reading.
