Question:
I get many of my beads at antique shops, thrift
shops and garage sales. Some of the beads I bought were obviously junk but
some are very good quality. My question is, what is considered vintage and
where do the web sites that offer "vintage beads" get the beads, especially
beads on a strand? It seems like there are lots of sites out there that are
selling vintage strands from the 20's and 30's, where do these strands come
from? How can you tell if something is vintage?
Answer:
-strands from the 20's and 30's, where do these strands come from?
I can't speak of all the vintage beads out there, but I can partially answer
your question because I've been buying vintage jewelry supplies for a long
time. Maybe someone else here can fill in the (rather large) gaps in my
knowledge.....
Some sellers buy up stock from jewelry stores or factories that have gone out
of business. Some of these defunct businesses have tons of back stock,
sometimes going back to the 20s and 30s. One seller I enjoy buying from was a
jewelry designer, and he sells the bits and pieces from his long-closed
company. One bead store where I used to shop had stuff from Europe -- a glass
bead company that had been closed since WWII had been excavated (it had been
bombed, but much of its storage space was carved into the limestone cliffs the
town was known for, and these spaces were intact). These beads hadn't seen the
light of day for decades. (I'm still not quite sure I believe this
story.....but they were some GORGEOUS beads...)
That's all I know. You could always ask the sellers where they stumbled across
their old hanks of beads -- many are more than willing to tell their tales.
Vintage often seems to mean anything older than ten years. And you can't
always tell if the item in question reallly is vintage.....The new In Style
magazine has an article about vintage jewelry, and many of the statements
therein can be made about vintage beads as well. It's interesting -- you might
check it out.
-me too! In fact I canceled my subscription to Vogue and kept In Style, as it
seemed more relevant (altho I do miss the Vogue food articles!) I just wish I
could get the prices quoted in the mag for the jewelry!
