Antique Jewelry
You might have inherited a piece of jewelry and seen the look and design which causes you to want more pieces from that era. As you develop an interest in antique jewelry then you might want to learn something about buying especially at auctions.
Buying at auction can be complicated, but you need to decide if you are buying because you like a certain item or you are buying to make a profit. It can make a big difference to the way you will approach the sale. If you are buying an item that you have fallen in love with you might not be so concerned about all the details about it. Yet it would be important to check and read the relevant books just to make sure you are not paying too much money for it.
It is only if you are buying for profit that you will be more concerned about the era the jewelry is from. You will want to make sure that it is exactly what the seller is claiming. Or you might sell antique from one era only.
Again you will need to do some research even if you have fallen in love with an item. Is it really an antique item or is it period jewelry? You might think it doesn't matter, but it does matter because otherwise you will have no idea whether the details being given are accurate.
When you examine an antique piece of jewelry you need to check that every part of the piece is truly antique, that none has had any work done on it. If there is a diamond is it an antique diamond or has it been replaced with a modern diamond. If you haven't any idea then it might be worth paying a professional to look at the piece before you start to bid on it.
If you are buying a piece of antique jewelry because you have fallen in love with it, go to the auction and bid but do have a top price that you will not go over. Have fun; learn about antique jewelry and you never know one day you might start to buy antique jewelry for profit. But buy the piece you really want and wear it with pride knowing that it will have a history behind it, and who knows if you search hard enough you could even find out the history and be able to tell the romantic or sad story to all your friends.
