Rocks of Ages

Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s and other mass retailers usually carry new merchandise, not things once worn by someone else. But when it comes to jewelry, they’re making a rare exception.

Demand for older, previously owned jewelry is so great, large department stores now vie with mom-and-pop jewelers for Grandmother’s garnet necklace or Great-Aunt Bertha’s diamond Art Deco brooch.

“In the last five years, especially in Southern California, estate jewelry has become like designer jewelry--that look has become fashion,” says Steve Magner, vice president/divisional merchandise manager for Neiman Marcus in Dallas. “It’s a huge part of our precious jewelry business. There’s the charm of the design, and you’re getting something you won’t see on anybody else.”

Pieces at least 50 years old have become the most coveted, leaving dealers and sellers scrambling for the limited supply.

One person’s sole job is to “buy estates” for all of the Neiman Marcus stores, Magner says. The hunt can take buyers around the world, but some of the best pieces come from customers who trade in their own pieces.

Occasionally the search yields a piece of history.

“Several years ago I found Napoleon’s 18-karat gold spectacles,” Magner says. He bought them from a London dealer of antiquities; the glasses later sold through a Neiman Marcus catalog for $90,000.

“We certainly didn’t have another pair.”

The store also sold a brooch made for Ginger Rogers that featured a pair of 18-karat gold ballerina slippers.

*

Once considered out of date, antique and estate pieces have become highly desirable because of their style, craftsmanship and mystique.

Connoisseurs treasure old jewelry for the unique designs, so different from today’s mass-produced copycat pieces. Among the pieces carried at Neiman Marcus in Fashion Island Newport Beach: a diamond-encrusted Art Deco pendant ($39,500) that’s bigger than a silver dollar and a modern 35-carat cabachon emerald ring ($37,000) that looks like a spectacular green gum ball.

Demand for estate jewelry took off in 1990, in part because it was exempt from a 10% luxury tax on jewelry that exceeded $10,000, Magner says. The tax was later rescinded, but it touched off a frenzy for fine estate pieces.

“It’s getting more and more difficult to obtain interesting older pieces,” says Al Friedman, owner of Marianne’s Estate Jewelry in Irvine, who buys from dealers and individuals.

Nevertheless, unusual pieces can be found.

“I just sold a 14-karat gold, seven-piece dresser set that belonged to Gloria Swanson,” he says.

As older pieces grow scarcer, prices go up. Greg Beran, manager of Beran’s Estate & Fine Jewelry in Tustin, estimates that platinum pieces have doubled in price in the past five years, in part due to competition from department stores and other retailers who recently began carrying estate jewelry. Still, jewelers say most estate pieces cost less than new jewelry because the buyer isn’t paying for advertising or promotion.

“It’s a much better buy than the new stuff,” says Bonnie Ackerman, an antiques dealer in Orange.

Ackerman likes the mourning jewelry of the Civil War era, when women would wear pins and rings with human hair under glass in memory of loved ones.

“It was a way for them to remember the departed,” she says. At her store, A&P; Collectables, Ackerman has a case of antique and estate jewelry that includes a brooch with a braid of hair ($125), Italian cameos hand-carved from shells and wedding rings from the ‘20s and ‘30s.

To qualify as an antique, jewelry must be at least 100 years old; estate jewelry is any previously owned piece.

“A lot of people associate estate jewelry with Grandmother’s jewelry. They don’t realize that if you bought a Rolex and sold it three months later, it’s [also] an estate piece,” Beran says.

Beran’s mother, Mary Lou, began selling antique and estate jewelry out of a beauty salon more than 30 years ago. Over the years, Greg Beran has bought and sold many celebrity-owned pieces, including Sammy Davis Jr. cuff links, a Julie Andrews diamond bracelet and an Elsa Lancaster tiara.

Those who own old jewelry seldom know the history of their pieces, but wondering about the past is part of the lure.

“It’s romantic to think about who owned a piece,” says Paul Mattingly, manager of the fine jewelry department at Saks Fifth Avenue in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, which carries estate and antique pieces. “You can get contemporary pieces anywhere, but estate jewelry has a uniqueness.”

To Wanda Gould, even the finest piece of new jewelry can’t compare with her prized possession, a century-old strand of pearls that her husband bought her 20 years ago from an antique store.

“I lost my husband a year ago, and the pearls mean even more to me now,” says Gould, a lifetime resident of Orange who owns a local photo shop. “I wish the pearls could talk and tell me where they’ve been. I can just imagine. I think they could have been on the Titanic.”

Gould’s treasured pearls are individually knotted on their strand so they drape beautifully.

Few jewelry artisans remain with the knowledge to make a finely crafted piece. Even if they did, the labor is too intensive, Beran says.

“They don’t want to spend 20 hours polishing a piece by hand. Today they try to cast [the metal], but they end up with a loss of detail.”

Older pieces often have intricate designs, such as finely detailed filigree. Styles range from the geometric motifs of the Art Deco period (1920-1940) to the lacy bows and garlands of the Edwardian era (1880-1915).

“Even mediocre pieces from the early 1900s are still [generally] much better than the quality today,” Beran says.

Because materials were less expensive then, the content of the precious metals and stones is often greater than in some thinner settings today. Gems have an old-fashioned look because the cuts are different. Diamonds have fewer facets than modern, brilliant-cut stones, but that doesn’t mean they lack fire.

Plus, it’s not the size of the gems that’s driving the estate jewelry market, Magner says.

“Connoisseurs are looking for design--the intricacy and craftsmanship” of a piece, he says. “They’re looking for the art of the jewelry.”

Ackerman wears only jewelry from the Victorian era to the 1930s, including an 1880s gold band with five garnets and a 1920s sterling pendant set with marcasite and onyx.

“I don’t even mind if it has a monogram,” she says. “To me it’s the romance of a previously owned piece and wondering who wore it.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Period Pieces

Styles of estate and antique jewelry:

* Edwardian, 1880-1915: Bow and garland motifs are typical; pieces often feature diamonds in delicate, lacy platinum settings.

* Victorian, 1837-1901: Often elaborate and ornate, even massive pieces are nevertheless lightweight because of hollow construction.

* Art Nouveau, 1885-1915: Pieces have flowing lines and motifs inspired by botanical or insect specimens. Dragonflies, butterflies and flowing-haired nudes are common motifs.

* Art Deco, 1920-40: Geometric motifs and intricate diamond inlays are characteristic. Many pieces feature baguette diamonds, new in the 1920s.