The Essential Book List for Vintage Jewelry Resellers! - Episode #67

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Jewelry Resellers Podcast, your go-to source for all things shiny, sparkly, and of course, profitable. I'm your host Desiree, and I'll be your guide on this dazzling journey through the world of reselling jewelry.

[00:00:15] We'll be diving deep into the art and science of reselling, uncovering valuable tips, insider secrets, and sharing stories from successful jewelry resellers. We'll explore market trends, industry news, and even discuss how to find those hidden gems 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 seasoned pro looking to stay at the top of your jewelry reselling game, join me each week for insights, stories, and more on the Jewelry Resellers Podcast.

[00:00:53] Hello and welcome to another episode of the Jewelry Resellers Podcast. My name is Desiree, and I am your jewelry reselling bestie. And today's episode is going to be about jewelry books, specifically books about vintage jewelry.

[00:01:11] Now I had a question a few weeks ago on Instagram, and someone had asked me if I could recommend some good books for someone just learning or just getting started with vintage jewelry.

[00:01:25] And you know that the whole point of me doing this podcast is to be a resource for you so that way you can hopefully turn this into the business that you envision

[00:01:37] for yourself, or maybe for some of you this is just a hobby and you just want to take it to that next level. So like I said, today we're going to be talking about books that I believe really

[00:01:50] will help you have a good foundational knowledge as it relates to vintage jewelry. And it will also be a list of books that you can reference, you know, depending on how long you plan on doing this, because you never know when

[00:02:07] you're going to come across something that you have no idea what it is or what era it's from or who the designer is or anything like that. Now I know we well, I should say me.

[00:02:23] I really rely on obviously the Internet and YouTube and Google to research a lot of my jewelry pieces. But I also am building my own personal collection of jewelry books. And so I've done some research and I've clicked around and I really want to share

[00:02:45] with you some books that I think would be not only good for learning, but like I said, for reference as well. OK, so before we get started with that, I always like to remind you to join our

[00:02:58] newsletter family because when you do, I will send you a list of the 20 bestselling vintage jewelry brands that I believe all resellers should know. And this is a list that I have created from my own personal experience and doing my own research as well.

[00:03:15] So if you'd like to get a copy of that list, it will be an instant download. All you got to do is head on over to the website and that's jewelry resellers podcast dot com. Again, that is jewelry resellers podcast dot com.

[00:03:30] All right, let's go ahead and get started. Now, I am going to share my screen because I thought since these are books and that is a very visual medium, it would be a little bit more interesting

[00:03:43] to take a look at some of these books, because that way, if you're out and about, you might come across some of these books either at a yard sale like I have done or maybe even at a thrift store or sometimes local libraries will have book sales.

[00:03:58] And that's where I have bought a lot of my own jewelry books. So let me go ahead and share my screen. Oh, that's what I wanted to say. So if you are listening to the audio version of this podcast, if you would

[00:04:12] like to hop on over to watch the video version of this podcast, you can follow along with me as I show you these books. Like I said, because I want you to kind of get a visual because you never know when you're out somewhere.

[00:04:28] I've even seen people get rid of jewelry books on Facebook marketplace, like they just have tons of books and they don't want to bother selling them, you know, and they don't want to throw them away. And a lot of times people will just give away books.

[00:04:42] Right. So we always want to be prepared and we always want to, you know, have a good idea of what it is exactly that we're looking for. Now, sometimes jewelry books are hard to find, but you can still find a lot of them

[00:04:59] on Amazon, of course, eBay or from local bookstores probably in your area. OK, so let's go ahead and start with the first one on my list. And that is this book called Understanding Jewelry. And this is by David Bennett.

[00:05:17] Now, this book came up time and time again when I was doing my research because I guess it's a really popular, well-known book. I have not read this book and now I am adding this book on my list of must haves.

[00:05:32] So you can see here it is on Amazon for about fifty nine dollars. And it does have almost pretty much all five star reviews. So again, if you are looking to learn about jewelry, this would probably be the

[00:05:47] one book I recommend, especially if you are not really in the market to buy a lot of books, but you'd like to have a few just in your personal collection. So the description of this book is understanding jewelry is a comprehensive

[00:06:01] guide to 19th and 20th century jewelry from the methods used to identify and date pieces to the factors that can affect their value. So you can see that, again, this is probably going to be a very good

[00:06:15] starting place for you if you are trying to build your own personal jewelry library. OK, so let's go ahead and move on to book number two. And again, I've done my own research for these, so you may or may not necessarily agree with everything I found.

[00:06:39] But again, if you don't know where to start, I think these books will be an excellent choice. OK, so this one is the Warman's Jewelry Identification and Price Guide by Kathy Flood and Kristi Romero. You can see here on thrift books, it's about forty five dollars

[00:06:59] and they don't have any ratings on here, but I'm sure you can probably find this on Amazon as well. Now, the other thing that I thought was really interesting was some of these other books that they recommend here. Of course, that's not what we're looking at.

[00:07:12] But, you know, once you kind of dive into this rabbit hole, you'll see that all of a sudden there's books just everywhere. So try not to get too overwhelmed when you're kind of searching for some of these books. Now, the description of this one reads, The timeless appeal

[00:07:28] of jewelry offering both significant historical information and lavish images of gorgeous jewelry. The newest edition of Warman's Jewelry informs and entertains providing the best of both worlds while covering costume and fine jewelry from the 18th to the 21st centuries.

[00:07:49] All right, so again, the name of this one is Warman's Jewelry Identification and Price Guide. All right, let's move on to book number three on my list. And that one is, let's see, I hope I am on the right. Oh, here we go.

[00:08:15] OK, so this one is called Antique Trader Jewelry Price Guide by Kyle Husflowen. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. You can see this one is not too pricey, just coming in at under ten dollars. This price guide provides comprehensive coverage, detailed descriptions and reliable pricing for jewelry collectors.

[00:08:36] So I know a lot of people not only do we buy and sell, but we also collect jewelry. And this would be an excellent resource for you to keep in your collection. All right, again, the price is right.

[00:08:49] And it looks like it is a book that does have a lot of information. And the other thing I'm kind of thinking about this because it is a pricing guide, I'm not too sure if the prices would still be comparable to the asking prices of similar jewelry today.

[00:09:06] Again, you probably would want to research that, you know, on someplace like eBay just to make sure that you're not over pricing or under pricing your piece. All right. So this one again is called Antique Trader Jewelry Price Guide. All right. Let's move on to the next one.

[00:09:29] And did I do this one? I don't think I did. OK, this is a state jewelry, 1760 to 1960. Wow. So this covers the span of 200 years. This book is by Diana Sanders Sinemon, also very high rated.

[00:09:49] This book is coming in at just under forty dollars, about thirty seven ish. The revised and expanded second edition of this beautiful, popular and easy to follow book is a thorough reference to antique and period jewelry created over a 200 year period in Canada, Europe,

[00:10:09] the United Kingdom and the United States. Again, this is probably one I'm going to add on to my list. As a matter of fact, I may throw it into my cart, you know, here on Amazon. This is one that I definitely would love to flip through.

[00:10:25] And it's definitely one that I would love to have in my own personal collection. All right. So again, that is called a state jewelry, 1760 to 1960. All right. So now those are some of the books that I found. Now, that's not all I've got for you.

[00:10:49] I do have another list of books that I would like to share. And this is from. I'm going to call her my friend Jennifer, because her and I met on Instagram and she has a website called 24 Wishes Vintage, and she is a jewelry seller and a collector,

[00:11:10] and she loves vintage jewelry just like we all do. And she has actually curated a list on her website, and I'm going to share that with you today. Now, I will have a link to Jennifer's website and specifically this list of books for vintage jewelry lovers.

[00:11:29] And she's done a lot of research for us as it relates to this in this list that she has compiled. All right. So let me go ahead and share that with you all so you can take a look at it.

[00:11:44] All right. So this is 10 Books for Lovers of Vintage Costume Jewelry. All right. And hopefully you all will follow Jennifer on Instagram. I will also have a link to her Instagram in the description of this video, as well as the show notes.

[00:12:01] If you're listening to the audio version of this podcast. But you can see here that she kind of breaks it down. She has the foundational books that kind of give a more broad overview and probably more basic knowledge as it relates to costume jewelry. Vintage costume jewelry.

[00:12:21] And then she also has, if we scroll down these beautiful eye candy books, which I think is really good. So I'm going to go and share all of these books with you. We're going to go through this list together.

[00:12:35] And then she also has what she calls the wild cards. And we're going to talk about those two. All right. So let me go ahead and scroll back up to the beginning of her list, which she calls or refers to as the foundation.

[00:12:52] She says the foundation books provide a broad overview on many manufacturers, designers and time periods. All right. So these books, Costume Jewelry 101, 202, 303, so forth. Julia Carroll has authored three books that I utilize on a regular basis, Jennifer says, for their wide ranging content and photographs.

[00:13:16] The publishers of these books, collector books, went out of business in 2010. Thus, they are only available through the resale market. All right. So I guess she was not really to find able to find a whole lot of information as it relates to the author of these books.

[00:13:32] But these are some books that you want to keep an eye out for, especially if you have like local used book stores, you know, in your neighborhood or your town or whatever, because sometimes you'll find these and you'll get lucky.

[00:13:48] You know, because like I said, I have found some amazing jewelry books at my library for like a dollar each. So you never know where you're going to find these books. All right. So the first one she has here is Costume Jewelry 101,

[00:14:02] the basics of starting, building and upgrading by Julia C. Carroll. And this is the second edition. All right. And it looks like this one came out in 2008. Next, we have Costume Jewelry 202, the basics of dating jewelry, 1935 to 1980 by Julia C. Carroll. All right. And that was published in 2007.

[00:14:27] Finally, the third one in the series is Costume Jewelry 303, the flip side exploring costume jewelry from the back by Julia C. Carroll. Now, this is interesting to me, because a lot of people don't know this when they are researching jewelry.

[00:14:46] I have found a lot of information by photographing and Google imaging the backside of jewelry pieces. And a lot of people don't think about that. But if you're really trying to identify something and it does have a backside, you know, like a brooch or something like that,

[00:15:04] make sure you run the back of the brooch or the back of the piece through a Google image search as well. All right. So next up in this category, Jennifer recommends Costume Jewelry by Harise Simmons Miller, published by Avon Books in 1994. She says this book as it presents,

[00:15:30] oh, she likes this book because it presents a story by decades from the 1920s to the 1990s. There is a section on how jewelry is manufactured and a glossary of terms, which is also useful. All right.

[00:15:46] So I think these are definitely good books again for you to have if you're just starting to build up your jewelry book library or your jewelry book collection, because it looks like these four books that she's recommending do cover a wide

[00:16:01] range of different types of jewelry as well as time periods. All right. Next up, she has books that she, I guess classifies as the beautiful. And she says she calls these books beautiful for the thoughtfulness on how the jewelry is presented and photographed.

[00:16:22] I can spend hours paging through these books, just studying the pictures. And I agree. Cause look at this Costume Jewelry, absolutely stunning. All right. Warman's Costume Jewelry Identification and Price Guide by Pamela Y. Wiggins. Now I am very familiar with this book.

[00:16:42] I probably have checked it out at least three or four times from my own local library. I probably just need to buy my own copy at this point, but this is a beautiful book and there is so much information and you can

[00:16:56] flip through it 10 times and still learn something different each and every time. The book is very thorough. It has phenomenal photos. And I think that this one is definitely a must have in every jewelry collector or jewelry resellers personal library. All right. So this one was published in 2014.

[00:17:16] This book is organized by Era or Decade designer and manufacturers and dating and identifying. All right. It also includes a supplemental marks guide of the major manufacturers and designers with clear pictures. And I agree, the pictures are absolutely stunning.

[00:17:34] If you just like to look at beautiful jewelry, you need this book. All right. The next one on her list is called DK Collector's Guide's Costume Jewelry by Judith Miller and John Wainwright. Hope I said that right. This was published in 2003.

[00:17:53] A beautifully written book and amazing pictures photographed by Graham Ray. Judith walks the reader through designer profiles, A to Z of designers and makers and unsigned pieces. All right. So again, this is another book that I think would be great to have on hand even if

[00:18:10] only for reference. Another book that she recommends also by Judith Miller is Costume Jewelry published in 2012. This book explores jewelry evolution from ancient times through the 21st century. All right. And then she does have these beautiful photos here of the books. So again,

[00:18:30] learn to recognize these cause you never know. You might see them when you're out in the wild. And I know there are some people who have found jewelry books at their local thrift store. Like I said, you can find them anywhere. You just have to know, you know,

[00:18:46] what you're looking for and recognize it when you see it. All right, finally, the last part of Jennifer's list is The Wild Cards. And these are books that may not be as well known and don't have the best photographs yet.

[00:19:03] You'll find a perspective on vintage costume jewelry that you won't find anywhere else. Now, Jennifer is very knowledgeable. So if she says that these books are worth looking into, I'm definitely going to trust her recommendation. The first one she lists is Collecting Rhinestone and Colored Jewelry by

[00:19:22] Marianne Dolan. And I think that is this one. Look at that. So beautiful. All right. So this one was published in 1998 and she says that the book is available for a good price on Amazon. And in the book,

[00:19:43] Marianne starts with the history of rhinestones and provides a section on the care and keeping of rhinestones, as you would expect. There are nearly 150 pages of manufacturer marks. Wow. Okay. So I need to get this one too. Next up, she has Costume Jewelry,

[00:20:02] A Practical Handbook and Value Guide by Fred Rezadeh. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, but this one was published in 1998. The objective of this book is to provide a comprehensive body of information on a broad range of jewelry,

[00:20:19] emphasizing the more common rather than the unique and rare types of jewelry, which most collectors and dealers are likely to encounter in the marketplace. All right. So now this book takes a totally different angle. In other words, the focus isn't on these extraordinarily unique pieces,

[00:20:40] but more of the common everyday pieces that we are more likely to come across. And I think that's really good because, you know, realistically that's probably what we're going to find just because there's more of it. All right. So definitely want to add that to my list again.

[00:20:57] That's called Costume Jewelry, A Practical Handbook and Value Guide. Now the last book she recommends is How to Be a Jewelry Detective. Now as jewelry resellers, I think we already kind of have this skill down because we have to become

[00:21:16] detectives not only when we're trying to identify a piece, but also when we're just trying to, you know, understand the history, the value, the design, all of those things. Right? So, this one is this book right here, How to Be a Jewelry Detective.

[00:21:35] I think that's fabulous. All right. This was published in 2000 and as the title suggests, the book outlines the clues a collector can use to identify the era and age and collectibility. She provides information of the tools of the trade and easy tests to perform

[00:21:55] to identify materials, metals, marks, and stones. Okay. So this one's only 166 pages yet has a lot of information and is worth checking out. Okay, so I definitely want these books in my collection, so I'm going to be researching those again.

[00:22:16] This list is on 24wishes.com and I will leave a link to this exact page, like I said, in the video description and in the show notes. That way, if you are interested in, you know,

[00:22:34] taking a look at that article or that page in the blog for yourself, you can see it. All right. So, um, that's probably all I have. This is going to be a short episode, but I think it was packed with a lot of information.

[00:22:50] So if you have any jewelry books that you recommend or you think are definitely a must have for jewelry resellers, and or jewelry collectors, please leave me a comment under this video or on the website. If you're listening to the audio version of this podcast,

[00:23:10] I would love to know what books you think are worth having and which ones maybe you don't recommend because you know, now in the internet age we may not necessarily need books as much as we did, but there's something about preserving these books and really just kind of

[00:23:29] having something tangible when we're trying to study and learn about different types of jewelry. And I just really love books anyway, so I'm always going to have some and I'm always going to have books and I'm going to refer to time and time again. And for me,

[00:23:45] I think that really helps me absorb the information and it really helps me to study and understand, you know, more about the different types of jewelry that are out there because I, there's still so much that I don't know,

[00:23:59] but I am a very visual person and I do like to see things and I do like to be able to read something over and over again or to go back and constantly look at photographs and study them, you know,

[00:24:12] in a way that you can't really do when you are looking at something on your computer screen online. Okay? So like I said, if you have any other books to recommend, or if you think there is something that, you know, maybe you even,

[00:24:28] like I said, you wouldn't recommend cause you don't think it's that great. Please let me know. And maybe I'll do a part two to this because I know there's probably thousands upon thousands of jewelry books out there and you know,

[00:24:42] we can never have too much information as it relates to what we do. Okay. So I want to thank you so much for spending this time with me. And if you have any ideas for future topics or the podcast, I would love to know.

[00:24:58] And if you have any feedback about anything that I've shared, please let me know that too. So I know maybe there's something else you want to see, or maybe there's something else that I can research and share with you. All right. Thank you so much.

[00:25:13] And I will check in with you again really soon.