Signed Beauties of Costume Jewelry

This is an excellent resource guide to have. There is so much vintage jewelry out there and details to know. Important for the collector.

Marcia Brown continues to put sparkle into her books. Each one is a wonderful reference guide. As a novice vintage jewelry collector and dealer, I often take her books to bed with me and study all the great pictures. If you like vintage jewelry, you will love looking through her books! Gail Gupton, Author: The 31-Day Diet of Spiritual Enlightenment and Seekers of Truth.

Before you sell Granny's costume jewelry at your garage sale for a couple of quarters, I'd suggest that you first check out this book. As is true in many collector books, the price guide is not in the back of this book. Instead, a price range is handily placed by each item's photograph, so no flipping to and from the back of the book is required. The jewelry is sorted by maker, accompanied by a bit of history and general recognition characteristics. In case you forget the designer as you move through the book, the name is in a blue bar at the top of the page. You may not see the exact piece of jewelry you are trying to locate, but you will learn how to recognize a designer's general style. The photography is do-it-yourself; Sparkles's husband, Kenneth A. Brown assisted in this department. Although a few of the photos are a bit out-of-focus, they are sufficiently clear to make out the main details. The book is divided into general categories, such as: "designing men, designing women, disciples of Haskell, Hollywood stars, manufacturers, metalcraft, and unattributed pieces." In order to determine the age of a piece, Sparkle tells us to look at the soldering, the catch, magazine advertisements and art or fashion trends of various periods. She gives us tips on care, restoration and storage of our costume jewelry. To my surprise, I learned that the value of a brooch that I bought at a thrift shop, just because I thought it looked pretty, is valued at about $90 (and I surely paid nowhere near that price). I'm certainly glad my brooch's consignor hadn't looked at this book. You might find that you've got a surprise treasure, too!

It shows many styles, many designers. It is the kind of book you use and reuse for information. Not all pieces in a parure/set are signed, leaving some pieces without the designer's mark. This was the case with some from my private collection. This book has been quite helpful in ascertaining a designer for such pieces. A great investment! Wonderful photos. A sufficient amount of information.

This is a great book for someone just getting started in collecting. The photos are great. It is also very helpful in describing what the marks are so that you can determine who made the piece. It is a very thorough book.