Vintage Jewelry Online.com owner, Shelley Osborne, presents seminar on How to Buy and What to Look For When Buying Vintage Costume Jewelry during the NHAC Fall Festival

Vintagejewelryonline.com, owner Shelley Osborne gave an exciting show and tell seminar explaining the ins and outs of buying and preserving vintage costume jewelry at the areas upscale antique store, during New Hampshire Antique Coop's Annual Fall Festival Oct 20. Osborne, a long time collector and now owner of an online vintage jewelry boutique, specializing in upscale jewelry and accessories, was thrilled to be asked to give the seminar about buying vintage costume jewelry. Covering topics including "what makes one piece of jewelry more valuable than an other" to "does vintage jewelry require special care", Shelley presented an hour show and tell of purchasing strategies, a mini history of vintage costume jewelry through the eras and jewelry preservation.

Amherst, NH (PRWEB) November 14, 2007 -- Vintagejewelryonline.com, owner Shelley Osborne gave an exciting show and tell seminar explaining the ins and outs of buying and preserving vintage costume jewelry at the areas upscale antique store, during New Hampshire Antique Coop's Annual Fall Festival Oct 20. Osborne, a long time collector and now owner of an online vintage jewelry boutique, specializing in upscale jewelry and accessories, was thrilled to be asked to give the seminar about buying vintage costume jewelry. Covering topics including "what makes one piece of jewelry more valuable than an other" to "does vintage jewelry require special care", Shelley presented an hour show and tell of purchasing strategies, a mini history of vintage costume jewelry through the eras and jewelry preservation.

More and more people are buying vintage jewelry and there's so much of it around, it can be a daunting task for the beginning and even experienced collector to wade through the plethora of pieces to find just the right one. Condition is paramount", says Osborne. "And where it gets difficult is when you start making trade-offs between condition and other aspects of buying like, quality, artistic merit, design, rarity and even current trends". Shelley has one golden rule, though; "buy what you like" and you won't go wrong.

Figuring out what makes one piece more valuable than the other covers a large territory of information. Yet one constantly asked question is "does it have to be a signed piece to have value?" "The answer is absolutely not", explains Shelley. "Just because a bracelet is not signed by a famous name, doesn't mean it's not a highly desirable piece. If the design element is strong, the construction is solid, and the condition is good, many "unsigned beauties" keep pace with the better know designers such as early 1930's-40's Trifari, Hobe', Haskell and Boucher". Many in the audience didn't realize that all pieces in a set were not signed or that many manufacturers didn't consistently sign their items. Early Miriam Haskell, DEJA, Schiaparelli and DUJAY pieces are a few examples of this phenomenon. "Its the smart collector that is familiar with the designers characteristics that can really uncover some wonderful treasures because they know how to recognize the designers art and construction" explained Shelley.

There were many "ooohs and aahhs" when Osborne displayed large colored slides showing examples of costume jewelry by decade. World events, the life and times of people, new inventions all influenced art, fashion and jewelry. The audience was able to compare the massive, heavy jewelry of the Victorian era with the free-flowing and graceful lines of Art Nouveau and to the extreme geometric Deco jewelry. The bakelite and celluloid plastic family of jewels created a stir with the audience, with exclamations, of "you paid what for that?" when they saw the collection of 1940's bakelite bracelets.
    
No seminar on costume jewelry can ignore Trifari, Coro, Eisenberg, Boucher, Miriam Haskell, Schiaparelli, Dior, French 1950's-60's jewelry and even the 1970's couture fashion names and Osborne did a good job in a short period of time comparing and contrasting the styles between the eras.
    
Handouts were available on the preservation and care of costume jewelry covering everything from how to clean rhinestone jewelry, to getting rid of the "green meanies" to deciding how much patina to leave on a piece of sterling."
    
"Giving talks and seminars on costume jewelry is a critical service I provide", explains Shelley. "Knowledge is what it is all about. So if I can jump start a beginning collector or fine tune the knowledge of an experienced one, they will understand what to look for and what to stay away from, and that means smarter shopping".

For additional information about Vintage Jewelry Online.com, its products, its services or
availability of jewelry loans for articles, contact Shelley Osborne or visit www.vintagejewelryonline.com

Vintage Jewelry Online.com is the passion of long time collector and seller of vintage jewelry, Shelley Osborne. Headquartered in the heart of New England, she shops estate sales, flea markets and taps into her list of international pickers she has developed over 30 years of collecting.

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