Costume Jewelry Guru

Rhinestone jewelry has been around for centuries, dating back to Egyptian times. Being worn by all the Pharaohs and Queens of that time. Such jewels were considered rare and precious in their day and only those with means could even afford them. The peasants would definitely NOT have them!

They are noted for their glamor and glitzy sheen to them, and since they come in an array of different colors, one can never get bored wearing any of millions of different combinations, be they in the form of bracelets, rings, necklaces and the like.

The one thing with rhinestone costume jewelry is that one has to know how to pick out the good from the bad, there are costume pieces that are antiques and quite, quite rare and are worth millions of dollars…it seems that the older the piece, the more it is worth….sometimes.

Sarah Coventry comes to mind when one thinks of ‘fine’ costume jewelry, there are also many others as well. You have to keep in mind that you need to know how to spot a good one from a bad or ‘bauble’ one…the baubles are much too shiny and too ‘bright’ or ‘fakey’ looking to be considered of any high quality or grade.

If one is looking for exceptional rhinestone costume jewelry then one would need to go to a fine department store not a, shall we say, dollar-type kind of store.

What also need to be regarded is the clasps by which the rhinestones hang from, what attaches them to each other, is it platinum, gold-plated, sterling silver, silver-plated, 10k gold or 14 carat gold, the type of gold/silver that is used on the rhinestone jewelry is an excellent indicator of the quality of the rhinestones and what their eventual value will be. If you are fortunate to find a piece in 18k gold rhinestone costume jewelry, you have found a rare find indeed!

And, yes, price is most assuredly a factor, “you get what you pay for” applies here, if you pay a ‘cheap’ price, you have a cheap bauble, the more costly versions are the most valuable down the line.

Be selective in your pieces, acquire many and varied kinds of different types of rhinestones, different sizes, colors, shapes, cuts, the more you collect that are varied and different, the more value that 
may be gotten out of them.

Above all, wear them and enjoy them, that is why you bought them in the first place, right?