Faux Jewelry, Real Value : Some Collectibles Are Worth Their Weight in . . . Well, You Get the Picture
A Madame Gripoix necklace made and sold in the 1960s for less than $100 recently brought $1,955 at a New York auction. Why so much for a piece of costume jewelry?
For one thing, the name Gripoix, a designer who worked with couture houses to accessorize their pricey clothes, carries weight with collectors. And so does workmanship. Costume jewelry made from the 1920s to the 1960s was often created in the same way as fine jewelry, experts say.
In the 1920s, designers stopped making fakes to look like jewelry from Tiffany, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels and started creating original pieces from non-precious stones. The material shortages during the Depression and World War II initially gave them impetus. But later, costume-jewelry designers broke away and made pieces that were bolder, livelier and brighter than their more expensive cousins. (Coco Chanel is credited with coining the term “costume jewelry”; she and other apparel designers preferred creating faux bijoux to complement the look of specific outfits.)
In addition to the designs made for top fashion houses such as Chanel, Hattie Carnegie and Schiaparelli, upscale costume pieces were made by Miriam Haskell, Eisenberg and Trifari in the ’30 and ‘40s. Mass-market lines, such as Coro, Napier and Weiss, proliferated in the ‘50s.
With fabulous fakes selling for hundreds and thousands of dollars now, is it too late to start a collection? No. Antique shops, flea markets and auctions offer myriad pieces at reasonable prices.
“A piece is worth what you get for it,” said Nina Khodorovsky, owner of Antiques 4 U in Newport Beach. “I have collectors who will buy any jewelry by Miriam Haskell over the phone without even seeing it.”
What should one look for in a piece of vintage costume jewelry?
The most important element is a good, strong design. It should be detailed, extravagant and glamorous.
Make sure the stones are prong-set, not glued, and that each stone is in place, with no obvious repairs. Each pearl in a necklace should be individually knotted in place. Keep in mind that movable parts on a brooch or necklace add to the value. Turn the piece over to check for joints and open-back settings, because they also indicate craftsmanship. Signed works often go for more, but not always.
Another way of getting started is to rummage through shoe boxes in relatives’ houses and to check antique stores and garage sales for a rare, well-designed piece. You may have a story to tell like the one of a dealer who sold a Madame Gripoix faux pearl and glass diamond necklace at 6 a.m. for $80. In the next hour, another dealer bought it for $450. By the end of the day, it was going for $1,500.
