Estate Jewelry: Where History Meets Style
If you’ve shopped at our store before (if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?), you’ve most likely heard at least one of us gush about how much we love estate jewelry. It’s a common passion we all share here! Simply put, estate jewelry belonged to someone else before it ended up in our possession. It’s pre-loved and sometimes one-of-a-kind! Our two estate cases are always full of little treasures and more often than not, our clients absolutely love exploring them.
At times, there’s a bit of morbid curiosity attached to people’s attraction to these pieces. It’s not uncommon for us to field questions on whether or not the jewelry on display was taken off someone after they died or if we think there’s bad juju that comes along with this kind of purchase. For starters, no, we’re not going around like bandits prying rings off people’s bodies. That’s just not our style. Secondly, we’ve never had an issue with any of our items being haunted or downright spooky. I, personally, would love to keep that track record going for as long as humanly possible. I’m not trying to be collateral damage in someone else’s family curse and I’m sure my coworkers would echo that sentiment.
Where We Source Estate Jewelry
So where exactly do we source our estate jewelry from? We buy most of our estate jewelry from our customers, and when hunting for a specific style, we can tap into some of our highly reputable estate vendors around the country. It’s always exciting to see what they have in their inventory. Time and time again, we have come across some truly remarkable and jaw dropping pieces that they have in their collection. It feels like Christmas when we get to check it all out! We’re lucky to have the relationships we do with these incredible vendors. In fact, we’re such good buddies with one of them that we do two events yearly with them! One of them is our summer buying event. You might be reading this and nodding along because you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’ve brought in some of your personal jewelry items in the past for them to assess, we thank you for joining in the fun!
The next event is almost the exact opposite – and it is right around the corner! Join us on October 5-7 as we will be bringing in over 250 unique and one-of-a-kind estate items for 3 days only! There are so many fun and unique items, and it is always one of our most fun events of the year! We hope to continue hosting both events for a long time, so keep them in mind for when you’re doing your next spring cleaning, or when you’re looking for a special piece of jewelry to add to your collection!
Why People Part With Their Estate Jewelry
So I can already hear you asking “You buy jewelry from your clients! How do people part with such beautiful items?” Sometimes, people want to upgrade the pieces or turn them into something that’s more their style. This can entail removing the gemstones and resetting them in a different mounting or using the original mounting and setting new gems in it. Some people will take a piece and turn it into something that can be worn in a new way, while maintaining the item’s overall integrity. For example, a lot of people will have our jeweler convert pins into pendants, necklaces into bracelets, or dangle earrings into studs with jackets. We are known for custom jewelry after all!
However, a lot of people inherit jewelry that they know they’ll never wear and never transform. If they are jewelry lovers, they can trade it in for store credit to be used towards something they’re in love with. However, sometimes the surviving family members aren’t jewelry lovers (outlandish, I know) and just want to get it off their hands and be done with it. Whatever the reasoning is, we always love having new estate pieces come through our door!
What Happens to Estate Jewelry After We Purchase It
So, what happens next? When we purchase from our customers, sometimes it just gets melted down, but often we give it to our ultimate secret weapon – Janice. Jan is our onsite jeweler who not only specializes in repairs and custom jewelry but has a certain knack for breathing new life into an older, worn-out beauty. In some cases, she will completely transform it into a new heirloom item, ready for a new home and new memories. Between her and our owner Matt, their ability to reimagine a piece from “Meh” to “MINE!” is truly remarkable. Of course, there are instances where an item is already in great shape, so she will simply spruce it up and add it to the cases. After all, just because a piece isn’t brand spanking new, doesn’t mean it isn’t stylish or desirable just the way it is. Sometimes it just takes a little TLC to restore jewelry to its original glory. With that being said, did you know we offer consignment options for select items? If your item(s) have a good chance of selling, we will clean them up for you, and sell them on your behalf! This is always the best return, but you may have to wait until someone is ready to bring home your items as their own!
Join us for Our Upcoming Estate Sale
Estate items are always unique, and since each one has its own specific history, there is no way to re-order an item, especially if you are getting it at a bargain price! At the end of the day, this saying remains true: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so don’t lament over how someone is able to part over something so gorgeous. Just purchase that baby and run before someone changes their mind or someone else snags it!
We look forward to seeing all you treasure hunters out there for our upcoming Estate event from October 5th to 7th, 2023! Its going to be a blast!
If you have any questions about our estate sale, please contact us.
