Local

My neighborhood is either getting poorer or they're holding onto things in fear of the apocalypse - an event in which gold and diamonds will be as useful as tits on a bull. I'm just sayin'.

Mostly because salt and pepper is the way to build wealth for the dystopian future.

Seriously. Think about it.

Bits

All things I buy, I buy because they're lovely and/or useful. Sometimes they're useful, however, as a simple asset.

Take beads. They come in such as range of materials that the mere thought of them makes even this treasure hunting Bunny quail. But the same dread that we have as finders also gets the sellers. And, to be honest, the easiest bead to identify is the gold bead - a simple push with your thumbnail will crease it, and since many necklaces are clasp-less, they're easy to spot. (Don't try this if it isn't worth your while to buy the now-damaged piece, though - it takes about 65 of the smallest beads for a gram, I'm just sayin'.)

Once you have it, be careful! Herding a dozen tiny cats is easier than corralling those beads. Plus, unless you plan to reuse them, you want them flat so your scrap guy doesn't want to shoot you (because he needs to pour them out to weigh them, remember.)

Here's the trick: put your necklace into a lunch bag before you cut the string (to prevent runaway beads) then dismantle it inside the bag (the ones with no clasps have fewer knots). Once done, pull the much-bigger stone beads out (they'll sell separately) and grab a metal (not silver) thimble. Yes, a thimble - the indentations will keep the bead relatively stable. Then put it on a magazine or cutting board (not a table) and just push.

Happy hunting!

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!

Franken-stuff

A friend of mine told me once that when you have a timepiece that has the case of one company, the dial of another, and the works of yet one more, you have a "Franken-watch."  I've found several in my treasure questing - in fact, I recently found out that making a generic gold case that would fit several makers' watches was fairly common (as well as "dipping" rose gold, which wasn't as popular, into white gold to mimic platinum).  We as collectors disdain these, but if it works it works, yes?

A few months back, I found another Franken-thing.

Uninspiring from the back, I know:  brass plaque with something soldered to the front and back ... badly.  What do you expect with a $4 price tag, right?

Then the story unfolds.  Shiny edges.  Hm, the price on the sticker looked as if it might have once been forty-something but the "something" had been scratched out with the same ink.

Look at that attitude.  And that hair!  She's really lovely!

So I said I'd take it, telling the clerk, with a smile, that I can't go wrong for that price. 

"What price do you think it is?" she asked after frowning at the tag.

"Four," I said.  "Isn't that right?"

She looked at me, then at the tag, studying it from different directions, but I had been right there while I looked and she knew I didn't change the price.  "Sounds right," she said, and I paid and walked out.

It was only later I saw the "10K" mark on the ring base.  I'd already figured out the cameo was stone.  Edged in 14K gold.  That had been there, sitting in the costume jewelry, for who knows how long.

Remember ... look at everything.

Angels

'Tis the season.

I found another one.  Seriously, it's the third I've seen in a year or so, and this one was a quarter.

Look at everything even when you've seen a million of them.  (Especially when you've seen a million of them.)

Happy Holidays!

And happy hunting!