Fine Jewelry Authentication 101: A Beginner's Guide for Resellers - Episode #75

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Jewelry Resellers Podcast, your go-to source for all things shiny, sparkly,

[00:00:06] and of course profitable.

[00:00:08] I'm your host Desiree and I'll be your guide on this dazzling journey through the world

[00:00:12] of reselling jewelry.

[00:00:14] We'll be diving deep into the art and science of reselling, uncovering valuable tips, insider

[00:00:21] secrets, and sharing stories from successful jewelry resellers.

[00:00:26] We'll explore market trends, industry news, and even discuss how to find those hidden gems

[00:00:32] just waiting to be discovered in thrift stores, estate sales, and beyond.

[00:00:37] So if you're dreaming of turning your hobby into a hustle or if you're a season pro looking

[00:00:42] to stay at the top of your jewelry reselling game, join me each week for insights, stories,

[00:00:49] and more on the Jewelry Resellers Podcast.

[00:00:53] Hey there friends, welcome back to another episode of the Jewelry Resellers Podcast.

[00:00:59] I'm your host Desiree and of course I am your Jewelry Reselling Bestie.

[00:01:04] Today we're going to talk about how to authenticate higher end luxury pieces of jewelry.

[00:01:11] Now as we discuss this today keep in mind that I am fully aware that most of us are

[00:01:17] not trying to become authentication experts or professional jewelry appraisers,

[00:01:26] but I do get the question quite frequently where people will ask me how can I figure out

[00:01:35] what is real, what is authentic.

[00:01:37] And so we're going to kind of do a deep dive on that today.

[00:01:41] So that way you have a good idea of what to look for,

[00:01:45] maybe some things that you may want to learn about as it relates to figuring out if your jewelry pieces,

[00:01:52] especially your higher end pieces are authentic.

[00:01:56] And so we are going to cover as much as I can share as it relates to this topic

[00:02:03] because I have been doing research on this for the past week and let me tell you it's very overwhelming.

[00:02:11] But as jewelry resellers we don't have to take on this major responsibility as it relates to our business,

[00:02:20] but we do want to be more than I guess what someone would consider like average knowledge

[00:02:28] as it relates to this.

[00:02:30] Okay so I'm going to share with you everything I've learned and I am going to provide some other resources

[00:02:37] in case you want to research this further on your own, but don't worry I'm going to make it as simple as

[00:02:43] possible and I'm going to give you some tips that I think will help you be less intimidated by higher

[00:02:50] end pieces because I know I've talked to a lot of jewelry resellers who say they're just nervous.

[00:02:56] You know when they get a piece maybe in a bulk lot or maybe in a jewelry jar or something like

[00:03:01] that they get nervous you know listing pieces because they're worried about is it authentic

[00:03:06] or they just are nervous because if it turns out it looks like everything is as it's supposed to be.

[00:03:14] A lot of resellers get nervous because you know these are higher priced items and so we worry

[00:03:19] about all the things that come along with that.

[00:03:21] All right so before we get started on today's topic I always like to remind you to head on

[00:03:27] over to the website which is jewelry resellerspodcast.com.

[00:03:32] Now this website it's been kind of you know going through its own changes but I do have a lot of

[00:03:39] valuable information for you there. You can join our newsletter and get a copy of the 20 best

[00:03:45] selling vintage jewelry brands that I think all resellers should know.

[00:03:49] You can also listen to all of the past episodes of the podcast and I also have some blog posts

[00:03:57] there. I have some resource links and I also have some links for further education as it

[00:04:04] relates to learning about vintage jewelry and how to sell vintage jewelry online.

[00:04:10] So like I said if you want to check any of that out just head on over to the website

[00:04:13] and again that is jewelry resellerspodcast.com.

[00:04:18] All right so let's go ahead and focus on today's topic because I think like I said when I first

[00:04:26] started my jewelry reselling business I actually started with higher end fine jewelry pieces

[00:04:35] because that was what I had in my personal collection. I don't know if I've shared that

[00:04:39] I think I've shared that on the podcast that when I started I started selling my own personal

[00:04:43] jewelry pieces and a lot of it was higher end stuff and so I knew it was authentic thank goodness

[00:04:53] but that's kind of how I started so I've always felt comfortable selling higher end pieces but that

[00:04:59] doesn't mean I you know it's been easy for me or that I always find these types of pieces

[00:05:04] but you will come across them and sometimes you will come across them at a thrift store,

[00:05:09] at a yard sale, at an estate sale or maybe you have a collection like I did and you just realize

[00:05:17] it's time to part with it. All right so let's talk about how do you authenticate high value

[00:05:23] fine jewelry and of course I have my notes in front of me so I don't get off track because

[00:05:28] that happens quite a bit. All right so let's start with the authenticity when it comes

[00:05:33] to authenticating high value fine jewelry pieces it does take specialized specialized knowledge

[00:05:42] all right and you want to be well versed not only in learning how to appraise the nuances of gemstones

[00:05:51] and metals but you also want to understand some of the historical aspect of the jewelry pieces

[00:05:58] and sometimes learning about the design and the materials as well all right so again I don't want

[00:06:05] you to feel overwhelmed or intimidated like you have to be an expert or you have to have a degree

[00:06:10] in art history and design but again we just need to be a little bit more knowledgeable than

[00:06:17] the average person and that is enough to give us an edge you know when we're outsourcing

[00:06:22] or when we are deciding whether or not we want to look at a piece you know further if we want to

[00:06:29] you know maybe maybe spend the money to have it professionally appraised okay so

[00:06:36] one of the things that you want to understand is looking for what I've said before

[00:06:45] as it relates to jewelry is really examining the piece up close and looking for signatures

[00:06:53] and hallmarks and stamps that's always going to be the first indicator about your particular

[00:07:00] piece of jewelry now remember not all fine or high-end jewelry is marked but that's always

[00:07:08] going to be the first thing that we want to examine when we are studying a piece when we

[00:07:12] are considering a piece or when we come across something we want to look and see are there in

[00:07:18] any indicators that this piece could be something special right so hallmarks are the official stamps

[00:07:25] that identify the metal type purity and sometimes the region of a piece they help determine whether

[00:07:32] the piece is actually antique or vintage and whether it was crafted in an area that coincides

[00:07:40] with the designer in question all right so for example a Cartier piece stamped with an eagle head

[00:07:47] hallmark indicates that the item was made in France so this is something that I just learned

[00:07:53] all right so you want to look at the quality of the stamp or the marking or the signature as

[00:07:59] well because remember those can be faked too I'm sure we have all seen that especially on Tiffany

[00:08:04] pieces you know there's a lot of those fakes out there and so we want to really study and look closely

[00:08:11] at the actual signature or the hallmark or the stamp itself all right so you want to look at the

[00:08:18] quality of the engraving and whether or not it is consistent with other examples that are known

[00:08:23] to be authentic and again you can just do a search online sometimes there are websites

[00:08:29] that will help you authenticate you know certain pieces I know there's quite a few

[00:08:35] YouTube videos that also will teach you what to look for and how to determine whether or not the

[00:08:41] piece you have is valid all right so you want to look for the correct font the correct placement

[00:08:48] and also the correct selection of various details okay so always we're going to start with looking

[00:08:55] at signatures hallmarks stamps and markings okay now the other thing we want to consider is

[00:09:03] iconic designers now remember we're focused on higher end high value jewelry pieces and if you're

[00:09:10] familiar with certain designers then you will recognize their pieces simply at first glance

[00:09:16] okay so creations by celebrated jewelry designers such as David Webb although I think it's

[00:09:23] a polo I hope I'm or sepul I hope I'm pronouncing that right you know these are desired and highly

[00:09:30] valued not only because of the designer but also because of the fine craftsmanship on display within

[00:09:37] their pieces all right so you can actually kind of look at the details of the design like the

[00:09:43] depth of the enamel the technique used to create or to assemble the particular piece

[00:09:51] all right and so these are things again that are going to come to you over time as you build up

[00:09:58] your knowledge like I said you'll be able to recognize these pieces right away you also want

[00:10:03] to be familiar with the design period all right now this is something that I think all of us

[00:10:08] are learning and continuing to learn as we get more comfortable you know studying jewelry

[00:10:14] as we get more solid in our business and the information that we are using in order to

[00:10:20] determine the types you know of pieces that we're looking to sell and so

[00:10:27] if a fine jewelry piece belongs to an influential or an iconic period in design history such as

[00:10:35] Victorian art deco mid-century modern a higher valuation is usually warranted in these types

[00:10:44] of pieces but again it's learning how to recognize these different eras as it relates to jewelry

[00:10:50] design all right so this is very important when we're trying to authenticate the signs and maybe

[00:10:57] some of the indicators from the period as opposed to reproductions or designs inspired by these

[00:11:05] past decades all right because we're seeing a lot of that flood the market right now

[00:11:09] where there's a lot of recreations inspired by reproductions you know and because these are you

[00:11:19] know highly sought after jewelry pieces and so it only makes sense that we are going to see a lot

[00:11:24] of reproductions but again you will be able to tell once you know what the original pieces look like

[00:11:30] and feel like you'll be able to pick up on a reproduction all right at least that's been

[00:11:36] my experience but again that does take time and the more you learn the more comfortable you will be

[00:11:43] figuring out you know which is a repo and which could potentially be authentic okay

[00:11:50] now the other thing we want to really really examine and study is the craftsmanship and the

[00:11:56] quality i've talked about this in previous podcast episodes usually you can look very closely

[00:12:04] and tell that something is well made now not always but i want to say at least 98% of the time you can

[00:12:12] i have learned this simply by handling higher end jewelry pieces when i have the opportunity to do

[00:12:20] so you know sometimes when you are at estate sales or auctions or at auction houses uh sometimes

[00:12:27] you can handle the pieces and you'll be able to tell right away that this is a well made piece

[00:12:32] and you can tell usually by the weight uh the smoothness of you know some of the details

[00:12:38] and looking at how how intricate some of the design is all right so again this takes time

[00:12:46] for you to acquire this knowledge but it doesn't take you know it's not like it takes a long time

[00:12:51] the more you handle the more you understand what really good quality high-end jewelry pieces

[00:12:57] look and feel like all right in determining craftsmanship and quality you want to make the

[00:13:04] distinction between fine materials and commercial grade materials gemstones should appear lively

[00:13:11] and bright diamonds white and items with numerous gemstones should have excellently matched colors

[00:13:20] all right this also applies to pearls which you know our friend matt harris has taught us before

[00:13:25] you want to make sure that they are well matched for color shape luster and surface all right so i've

[00:13:33] mentioned matt in numerous podcast episodes he is my favorite pearl expert and i will link that

[00:13:40] episode if you're watching this podcast on youtube i will link that episode in the description so

[00:13:46] you can check it out if you haven't already seen it okay so these are some things that we

[00:13:52] want to consider and things that we want to be aware of as it relates to figuring out how do we

[00:13:58] authenticate uh higher end jewelry pieces now i do have some more notes here and i do want to share

[00:14:05] some of these things with you okay so that way you can kind of have a a plan in place or even

[00:14:13] a system for figuring out you know if something is authentic if it's worth further research

[00:14:19] you know or um if you can determine right away whether or not this could be a reproduction a fake

[00:14:26] a knockoff or whatever all right so we talked about examining the hallmarks and the signatures

[00:14:31] that's always going to be our first key indicator about a particular piece but remember not all jewelry

[00:14:37] pieces will be marked that doesn't necessarily mean they're fake and it doesn't necessarily mean

[00:14:43] that they're not authentic all right uh we talked about assessing the quality of the craftsmanship

[00:14:50] how well made is the jewelry piece okay and so oh i wanted to make sure my microphone was still on

[00:14:57] and so we want to pay attention to those details all right because that's very important and you

[00:15:03] can tell when something is very sloppy or just kind of um mass produced because a lot of the

[00:15:10] details won't be as sharp or they won't be as fine as with the air with the authentic counterparts of

[00:15:18] those pieces all right now here is where i think all of us should get comfortable with these types of

[00:15:25] tests and that is testing the metals all right um i probably should do a episode about that about

[00:15:32] how to test or you know using those test kits now sometimes some of those scratch tests

[00:15:38] could damage a piece and i know that's why a lot of people tend to shy away from them

[00:15:44] but you can use a gold or silver testing kit to determine the metals purity you know for platinum

[00:15:51] palladium and other less common metals uh you might want to reach out to a professional to help

[00:15:57] you test those particular metals because i don't know of any at-home tests or there might be some

[00:16:04] i've just never used them now i've used the gold and silver testing kits i've used those

[00:16:09] but i haven't tested any other types of metals so again you want to you want to figure out if

[00:16:17] it's worth taking to a professional to have it tested you know if that's something that you are

[00:16:23] concerned about or maybe you're trying to sell the piece and you want to make sure that it is

[00:16:27] what you think it is all right you can do the acid test there's also x-ray fluorescence tests

[00:16:35] and there's also electronic testers you know some of us do have some of these machines at home

[00:16:40] or we have them you know as part of our tools of what we use to authenticate jewelry pieces

[00:16:46] so you know whatever you um like i said whatever you feel comfortable with and whatever you think

[00:16:52] is going to give you the information you need in order to sell that piece make sure that you

[00:16:59] you know you you do that or you pursue that because it's only going to make you more confident

[00:17:04] as a seller and it's also going to increase confidence and trust in your buyer if you can

[00:17:10] genuinely say hey yeah this is you know pure gold and i did the test or here's the certificate that

[00:17:18] i got when i took it to a jeweler or you know however however you decide to do that all right

[00:17:24] now the other thing we want to pay attention to is authenticating gemstones all right now again

[00:17:29] none of us are trying to be professional jewelry appraisers or authenticators

[00:17:35] but you can kind of tell the more you look at gemstones and the more you study gemstones

[00:17:40] you'll be able to recognize um some of the more i guess higher end more valuable gemstone pieces

[00:17:52] so you want to verify that gemstones are genuine by checking for inclusions which

[00:17:57] can indicate a natural stone synthetic stones are often flawless and have telltale signs like curved

[00:18:04] striations you want to make sure you're using a jeweler's loop or gemological microscope if you

[00:18:12] have one advanced tools like a refractometer or spectroscope can also be helpful again

[00:18:20] you don't have to spend the money and invest in these tools but i know depending on

[00:18:26] the type of business you're running these may be crucial pieces to have in your jewelry reselling

[00:18:33] repertoire because i remember when i talked about when i talked with matt about how he sells jewelry

[00:18:41] on consignment and he does these higher end jewelry pieces he has all of these tools because

[00:18:47] remember the pieces he's selling are thousands upon thousands of dollars and so it makes sense for him

[00:18:54] to invest in these tools but if that's not where you are in your business today don't feel pressured

[00:18:59] or obligated to buy this stuff okay now the other thing that i think is really interesting to pay

[00:19:07] attention to is the provenance of apce and you want to research that um if you can if

[00:19:13] it's possible all right provenance refers to the history of ownership or the origin of the jewelry

[00:19:20] piece documentation such as a certificate of authenticity original receipts or previous auction

[00:19:27] records can greatly help you in verifying authenticity remember sometimes jewelry pieces

[00:19:35] are considered valuable just because of the person who may have owned them prior to it

[00:19:42] becoming available for sale the other thing is sometimes depending on where a jewelry piece

[00:19:48] originated from that can increase the value quite a bit as well and so if you have the opportunity

[00:19:56] to research the background the history and all those details of apce it will only help you

[00:20:02] in authenticating it okay uh let's see next on my list is consulting an expert i touched on that

[00:20:11] a little bit before you know for high value pieces it is advisable to seek you know expertise

[00:20:17] of someone who is certified or trained in this type of thing a certified gemologist a jewelry

[00:20:25] appraiser sometimes you can go to your local jewelry store even some pawn shops some of the

[00:20:32] people that work in pawn shops i've noticed are certified in this because that's you know

[00:20:37] their business and they may be able to help you out as well so don't be afraid to reach out to a

[00:20:42] professional if you feel like it's going to be worth it for you to do so now this is something

[00:20:49] that's interested or interesting to me and this is the use of technology and this is becoming

[00:20:54] more and more apparent in the jewelry industry that i've learned about and it's leveraging

[00:21:00] modern techniques like blockchain for tracking the origin of diamonds or advanced imaging

[00:21:07] techniques to analyze the internal structure of gemstone so there is a whole tech tech side

[00:21:16] of doing this especially as it relates to diamonds and i don't know a whole lot about it like i said

[00:21:22] i've heard a little bit about it here and there especially at some of the jewelry shows that

[00:21:28] i've attended it it is something that is very very well i guess used depending on what type of

[00:21:37] jewelry you're selling but just know that technology is starting to kind of make this a little bit easier

[00:21:43] for the average person i guess like you and me but again you don't have to do this but if you

[00:21:50] are planning on selling diamonds or higher end gemstones this may be something that you want

[00:21:55] to learn more about okay and again that is blockchain for tracking the origin of certain

[00:22:02] diamonds gemstones and so forth all right now one of the things you want to be careful about when

[00:22:10] you are authenticating your jewelry is be careful of scams and i've done a podcast episode talking

[00:22:20] about the different types of scams and how to protect yourself how to protect your jewelry

[00:22:26] and you know when whenever there is money this is what i've learned whenever there is a lot of

[00:22:33] money involved there's always going to be some type of corrupt dishonest

[00:22:41] shady aspect to that because you know that's just the nature of how things are and so you

[00:22:47] want to be careful that you don't get scammed when you are trying to authenticate your jewelry

[00:22:53] and what i mean by scams is you know be very particular about who you choose to work with

[00:22:58] because if you have to leave your piece with someone for them to authenticate it we want to

[00:23:04] make sure that you're going to get that piece back or it's not going to be swapped out for

[00:23:07] something else when they're not going to take off with it or or who knows what all right so make

[00:23:13] sure that you are you are doing your research as it relates to this so you don't get caught up

[00:23:21] in any kind of crazy nonsense out there all right finally we do want to work with a professional

[00:23:30] appraiser all right again this is going to take some some investment on your part but

[00:23:37] if you're selling higher end pieces it may totally be worth it all right so

[00:23:44] now i've i've never worked with a jewelry appraiser because i've never had really high end pieces but

[00:23:52] i'd like to kind of move in that direction as it relates to my jewelry reselling business and so

[00:24:01] i think it would be a good idea to start researching appraisers that you can work with

[00:24:06] if that is your goal as well you know you may not have to contact them today but maybe

[00:24:12] make a running list of people you can contact either in your local area or maybe online

[00:24:19] if you have questions or you just want to get you know a feel for you know what you have

[00:24:26] or maybe who can help you decipher you know the the authenticity of the piece that you are

[00:24:33] thinking about selling or maybe you don't even want to sell it maybe you just have pieces in

[00:24:38] your own personal collection and you want to know the authenticity of those pieces as well

[00:24:44] all right so i'm not sure if um because i know matt was talking about how he

[00:24:56] how he kind of does this stuff because he's very knowledgeable about this and so he would probably

[00:25:03] be be somebody that i would start with if i was looking for somebody to kind of help me

[00:25:08] authenticate these higher end pieces but again you know i'm learning just like all of you and so

[00:25:15] you know i would probably start with what i know and then just kind of branch out from there

[00:25:20] so that's just something to keep in mind okay that's just something to think about maybe not

[00:25:25] now but down the road all right so following these steps you can better ensure the authenticity

[00:25:31] of your high value jewelry protecting your investment and maintaining the trust and credibility

[00:25:38] with your clients because that's really what this is all about this is about you know us really

[00:25:45] being able to service our client or our customer or our buyer in the best way possible and we want

[00:25:52] to make sure that our business is operating on integrity and that we are listing pieces or

[00:26:00] selling pieces that are what we say they are right and that only helps us too to be more confident

[00:26:07] as resellers okay so um that's going to be it for this episode and i would love to get your thoughts

[00:26:16] and your feedback about this topic you know what questions do you have as it relates to how to

[00:26:22] authenticate higher end jewelry pieces do you sell higher end jewelry pieces or should i say

[00:26:28] do you resell higher end jewelry pieces in your business and what do you do when you are trying to

[00:26:36] figure out whether or not the piece you have is authentic and real you know i would love to

[00:26:42] get any tips and if there's something i may have missed that i did not discuss in today's episode

[00:26:47] please reach out leave me a comment or or send me a message um and let me know because like i said

[00:26:54] i have no problem doing a follow-up or a part two to this episode if there is more information that

[00:27:00] i believe can help us all okay so uh again if you would like to connect with me um you can visit

[00:27:11] the jewelry resellers podcast dot com again that's jewelry resellers podcast dot com also i

[00:27:18] would be so so eternally grateful if you could leave me a review either on spotify or apple podcast

[00:27:27] if this podcast or this episode or any episode has helped you in any way because uh getting the

[00:27:35] reviews really helps the podcast get out to more people so i can help even more people

[00:27:41] grow or start successful jewelry reselling businesses all right friends thanks again so

[00:27:49] much for spending this time with me and i will check in with you again really soon