People always ask me how I got interested in collecting jewelry. I guess my love affair with jewelry began when I was about 4 years old. A portrait of me taken then shows me wearing a two-strand white bead wrap bracelet. Funny, I remember the outfit I wore that day but not the bracelet. I do remember other jewelry from my early childhood, though – a crystal heart on a silver chain, a red rhinestone strawberry brooch and a garnet (my birthstone) ring – all pieces given to me by my Aunt Esther, who was quite the jewelry fan herself. I also remember playing with her colorful plastic pop-it beads, creating necklaces and bracelets to complement whatever I was wearing that day.
While I was growing up, Aunt Esther always marked special occasions with gifts of precious jewelry, each one appropriate to the age I was celebrating – a gold charm bracelet for my 13th birthday, a “Sweet 16” charm for my 16th and a gold bangle for my high school graduation. Also on my 16th birthday, I received my first piece of jewelry from another time: It was an Art Deco sapphire and diamond ring that had belonged to my mother’s younger sister who died when I was 3. My grandmother had left it especially for me. Although I always loved the ring because it was something of my aunt’s, I didn’t appreciate its beauty until at least 10 years later when I started to take a real interest in the entire Art Deco period.
Sometime in my 30s, collecting jewelry became a hobby. It kind of sneaked up on me, however, because I considered my real hobby to be collecting first edition books that featured female detectives…professional only, please…Miss Marple need not apply. At some point I came to the realization that, although books were nice, you couldn’t wear one out to dinner or bask in the compliments you received from others when they saw how the sparkle of a rhinestone clip really made your outfit come alive. Then in 2003, I discovered eBay. What a treat! Every day I would find myself looking at amazing pieces of jewelry that represented other eras and other lands. I think that part of my looking fascinated me as much as the beauty of the pieces. The more I read about both specific pieces I was finding and the history of the period in which they were made, the more I was sure that jewelry and I made the perfect couple.
Now, thanks to the Internet, I am able to spend part of every day “window shopping” for jewelry. With the help of museum courses, the growing body of scholarly works on costume jewelry, and online resources, I have studied jewelry history and the work of particular designers, and researched design and utility patents.
Finally, it became time to turn my hobby into an occupation I could enjoy as well as profit from. Since retiring from a consulting business that told others the best ways to manage their resources, I have been able to focus on costume jewelry full-time and make them my resources. In launching this website, my goal is to share with visitors my passion for costume jewelry, highlighting the best pieces produced from 1920-1960 as well as information about the styles, makers and social context of the times. Enter and enjoy!
Warmest regards,
Barbara A. Schwartz
Proprietor
