Hunting in the New Era

I'm a jewelry hound, and a cheap one at that - I won't pay for anything I'll lose money on if I change my mind later (a hangover from digging out from under a mountain of debt). Trouble is, while the WOW finds still exist in the jewelry realm (and I've had a few lately) that segment is drying up - too many people know the price of gold, and too many believe the current stasis denotes a "new normal".

So, even though I've always glanced at other things, lately I've been widening my scope even more. Art is my current training ground, but (maybe because everyone is focused on jewelry) non-jewelry silver has given me the biggest surprises.

The occasional piece always slips through the cracks (examine everything!) but some lately have been stunning. A few weeks back, in fact, I found a snuff or pill box in a jewelry case that had just two marks - a star and a letter. Plate, right? I bought it ($2 is always worth a risk) and researched just a bit ... to find I had a Spanish silver (915) box from the early '30's.

Then there was yesterday. I'm visiting family, and went to a local shop. A pair of earring (925 with 14k wires) was a nice find but a quick sweep of the knick-knacks have me a tarnished nut dish that had incised numbers and what looked like "sterling".

And if you look very closely, you'll also see "Cartier".

Good Hunting to all!