5 Reasons to Buy Vintage Jewellery
Clothes are going retro, midcentury interiors are in style and vintage is a trend. It’s fashionable to shop vintage and buy vintage clothing, but why should you buy vintage jewellery? Here are our top five reasons.
1. It’s a statement of your personal style
It’s easy to buy a piece of modern jewellery from a chain but taking the time to seek out and find a unique piece of vintage jewellery says something about you. It says you have great fashion sense and that you value history, quality and sustainability.
2. Buying Vintage for Sustainability
Most consumers have have heard by now about the environmental impact of the fashion industry and especially that of fast fashion. The idea of reducing waste by reusing can be applied to shopping for jewellery as well.
By buying vintage you’re extending the lifespan of an item and eliminating the need for the energy and resources that would have gone into the manufacturing a new piece of jewellery. Metal mining is very land and resource intensive so anything that can be done to reduce that impact can only be good for the environment.
3. Quality of vintage jewellery
By virtue of its age vintage jewellery has demonstrated its quality. If it has lasted this many years then it’s reasonable to assume that it was made well and will last many more years.
Trifari and Monet pieces hold up particularly well due to their plating processes. Trifari used their own patented non-tarnishing alloy, Trifanium, and Monet triple plated their pieces in gold.
Many costume jewellery designers trained at the top fine jewellery houses and applied those fine jewellery techniques and craftsmanship to their costume jewellery designs.
4. History of an item
When choosing a piece of vintage jewellery you’re getting a bit of history with it. Like the vermeil pieces created during World War II while base metals were sanctioned for the war effort, the items often tell the story of their time.
There’s a thrill to owning a brooch that Christian Dior himself may have approved or a necklace that Coco commissioned.
5. Investment
A lot of collectable costume jewellery was handmade in small numbers, as time passes these pieces naturally become more rare and therefore more valuable.
It’s also true that high end designer jewellery holds its value. Haute couture fashion jewellery is especially sought after and can be very expensive. Dior pieces from the 50s and 60s can be very valuable as can Chanel from all eras.