Costume Jewelry Books and “Book Value”
If you've purchased any costume jewelry books, you'll notice that they have something called a book value. That is, the piece is labeled with the price the item should go for in a retail market.
Rhinestone Costume Jewelry Brooch, Unsigned (Click to Enlarge)
How accurate is the book value, though? Can you really use it to determine how much to pay for a particular piece shown in a book? Yes and no...and probably more often, "no". Let's see why.
How Old is the Book?
Check the publication date of the costume jewelry book. If it's more than a year old, the values are out of date. Costume jewelry prices were higher in the days before costume jewelry on ebay really took off. In general, the prices shown in the books represent how much it would cost to purchase the piece in an antiques store.
Trends Change
Like all fashions, costume jewelry also goes through trends. Today a particular designer is "hot", then tomorrow falls out of favor and another takes their place. But while a designer is hot, prices rise as people are scrambling to add the designer pieces to their own collection.
Sometimes a particular look gets hot; for example when beads came back in style a few years ago, beaded jewelry in general rose in price.
Then again, there are some books where the author seemed arbitrary on prices; setting higher values on pieces they liked, rather than the market value. Especially on unsigned pieces.
So What Good Are Costume Jewelry Books?
Well, aside from price, the books are invaluable for helping you to recognize the characteristics and style of differend designers. Although the values themselves might not mean much, the relative values give you a good idea of the market. For example in general, Eisenberg pieces cost more than Coro pieces.
So, definitely get costume jewelry books -- as many as your budget allows. The values might not be very accurate, but the rest of the information is priceless.
I'll leave you for today with some yummy eye candy from Eisenberg. You can find the and a tantalizing few below. Have fun!
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US $21.50
