Shopping for vintage jewelry requires a good eye and a sharp mind. Shiraz Jewels offer antique items, vintage items, and a diverse selection of vintage and antique reproduction jewelry to meet your budget. Before you shop, learn how to spot each type of jewelry.

• Antique jewelry: Antique jewelry can mean different things to many different people. For example, you might automatically think of your grandma's diamond ring, while someone else might think of an amber-colored bakelite bangle. Antique jewelry is typically described as jewelry 100 years old or older.
• Vintage jewelry: Vintage jewelry is often defined as older pieces made after the Retro Modern period of the 1940s and through the 1980s.
• Vintage reproductions: Vintage reproductions are newly manufactured, vintage-style, or vintage-inspired jewelry pieces. Vintage reproductions have the look of vintage or antique pieces, without the higher price tags older pieces often demand.

Know the big names in vintage designer costume jewelry
Often made with plastics, base metals, gold plating, imitation pearls, and glass gems, vintage designer costume jewelry has a unique look and doesn't appear mass-produced. From big rhinestone brooches of the '50s, to mod chandelier-linke earrings of the '60s, to slinky gold chains of the '70s, and the big-time baubles of the '80s, vintage costume jewelry pieces have taken to the runways. If you're in the market for vintage designer costume jewelry, keep brands like Weiss, Haskell, Eisenberg, Coro, Trifari, Boucher, Carnegies, Sarah Coventry, Juliana, Kramer, Bogoff, and Lisner in mind.

Look at condition
The condition of a particular vintage or antique item affects the jewelry piece's overall price. Older jewelry, more elaborate pieces, and jewelry in excellent condition tend to fetch a higher price than other items. If the seller has authentication papers or an original box, price tag, or jewelry pouch with the designer's logo, the jewelry's price can instantly double.

If purchasing a true vintage or antique item, carefully evaluate the photos in item listings. Look for chips and cracks in the stone or enamel and other flaws, such as corrosion, verdigris discoloration, bumps, holes, and cracks in the surface of gold and silver pieces. Unlike scratches, these flaws cannot be repaired.

compiled in part from Ebay