Return-Path: Received: from HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU by K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa06007; 13 Mar 94 14:03:25 EST Date: Sun, 13 Mar 94 14:02:49 EST From: William.Welch@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU To: bovik@cs.cmu.edu Subject: Antique Engagement Rings Dear Bovik, If there was an "engagement ring" category, you might put these notes there, as my notes are pretty specific. Though the responses to my post belong in the more general (and also nonexistent) "estate/antique" jewelry category. Here's the original post I made: |> I'm looking for jewelry from the 1920's or thereabouts -- |> both costume and nicer stuff. If you've a favorite shop |> (or general advice on this kind of hunt), please let me know. |> |> -- Will "I'm not Better AskBovik" Welch I've been shopping for an engagement ring of this era, and here are some random bits, none of it backed by "real" research: All your settings from this era will be platinum or white gold -- yellow gold's monopoly in the engagement ring market is a recent thing (they started appearing in the 40's?). I've come around to favoring the white metals with diamonds because there's such a wide range of effects which would look cheesy in gold. You'll need to get the generic solitaire-diamond-in-a-tiffany-mount look out of your head before these grow on you, though. I've had no luck at run-of-the-mill jewelry shops which also carry "estate" jewelry. Of the dedicated antique jewelry shops, I've most enjoyed "Antiques of Shadyside" on Walnut and "Joy's Antique Jewelry" in the Clark bldg. "Joy's" has a *much* larger selection of suitable engagement rings (including a bewildering array of stoneless mounts if the ready-to-go stuff isn't to your liking). The guy at "Antiques" is alot of fun to deal with (he complains loudly and colorfully about various ways to get ripped off while buying jewelry), and will suggest custom work you might not otherwise have considered. I've shopped for other things here as well. For the kinds of rings I'm looking at (in the .4-.5 carat dwt. range), both shops have comparable, reasonable prices (this was not true of Kozloff and Meaders, who favor larger carat weights). Both shops tend to place VS-2 I-J stones in their mounts, though you can upgrade the color at a price. If I were buying a modern solitaire I'd want an E-F color because the mount makes it noticeable (and I'd go to the Engagement Store in the Clark bldg, whose prices (incl mounting) were on order of $100-200 less than the several other shops I visited for VS-F stones. They'll also take time to walk you through the "4-C's" diamond lecture). But I've been pleasantly surprised to see that in the older white metal settings, where high contrast is not the object, knocking down a few color grades agreeably softens the look of the piece. It also agreeably softens the price, since you're paying $100-200 more for the mount than with a simple modern solitaire mount. The one bit I can't give you is how "hagglable" these places are, since each has a ring I like and I haven't tried to close. If the estate auction I recently attended is any indication, their markup is on the order of 100%-200%, increasing for larger stones. If that encourages you to aggressively chisel them on the price, great. It's more likely a useless, inaccurate piece of info. Here are the responses to my post. :::::::::::::: estate/1 :::::::::::::: Return-Path: Received: from HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU by A.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa26604; 9 Mar 94 13:44:45 EST Received: from TRURL.TASKS.CS.CMU.EDU by HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa26640; 9 Mar 94 13:44:09 EST To: William Welch Subject: Re: Estate/Antique Jewelry? Date: Wed, 9 Mar 94 13:43:37 EST From: zumel@TRURL.TASKS.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: zumel@TRURL.TASKS.CS.CMU.EDU In article you write: |> I'm looking for jewelry from the 1920's or thereabouts -- |> both costume and nicer stuff. If you've a favorite shop |> (or general advice on this kind of hunt), please let me know. |> |> -- Will "I'm not Better AskBovik" Welch My general advice is: marry the child of an antique jewelry dealer :-)... Barring that, there is a shop on Forbes Ave. in Squill, btwn Murray and Shady, on the same side of the street as the Coffee Tree and Siamese Kitchen (I think it's next to that candy shop....); I forget its name, but the window says it specializes in "estate jewelry and chinoserie", whatever that means. Cool stuff in the windows sometimes, and I am told they have a nice collection of estate jewelry (and Southwestern/Mexican as well) inside. I've also heard that the quality is uneven, probably contigent on what rich old biddy croaked that month, and how tasteful she was about adorning herself. Antique shops and vintage clothing shops are good places to look. I seem to remember walking thru -- either "Hey Betty" on Shady, or that shop underneath Sip -- don't remember which, and noticing that they had some very nice Art Deco sterling-onyx-and-marcasite type jewelry scattered in amongst the junk. This is my personal favorite style of glittery evening jewelry, if only I had someplace to wear it... :::::::::::::: estate/2 :::::::::::::: Return-Path: Received: from HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU by A.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa09084; 8 Mar 94 13:15:57 EST Received: from G.GP.CS.CMU.EDU by HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa23924; 8 Mar 94 13:15:28 EST Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 13:03-EST From: Christian.Lebiere@G.GP.CS.CMU.EDU To: William Welch Subject: Re: Estate/Antique Jewelry? Message-Id: <763149783/cl@G.GP.CS.CMU.EDU> In-Reply-To: William Welch's bboard message of 08-Mar-94 12:55 For costume jewelry, you might want to check the local used clothing stores (eons, etc.). For the nicer stuff, try Kozloff & Meaders on Ellsworth, a couple blocks down from eons. My wife and I got our wedding rings (multi-faceted gold victorians with engravings) there and they have a very nice jewelry selection. Not cheap though, and a little snotty too. If you have the time and inclination, the best places for bargains are auctions. Check the PG for announcements, in particular the Friday weekend supplement (Antiques section) and the Sunday classified (Auctions section 484). My favorite place is Royal York on Baum in East Liberty, which has auctions every two or three weeks. The auction is on Saturday, with the jewelry usually sold toward the end of the day, around 4pm. The preview is on Friday. There is one this weekend. Christian :::::::::::::: estate/3 :::::::::::::: Return-Path: Received: from HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU by A.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa09120; 8 Mar 94 13:17:32 EST Received: from dc.sei.cmu.edu by HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa23927; 8 Mar 94 13:17:10 EST Received: from localhost by dc.sei.cmu.edu (5.64/2.5) id AA00434; Tue, 8 Mar 94 13:17:07 -0500 Message-Id: <9403081817.AA00434@dc.sei.cmu.edu> To: William Welch Subject: Re: Estate/Antique Jewelry? Date: Tue, 08 Mar 94 13:17:07 EST From: Richard Green In article , you write: |> I'm looking for jewelry from the 1920's or thereabouts -- |> both costume and nicer stuff. If you've a favorite shop |> (or general advice on this kind of hunt), please let me know. |> |> -- Will "I'm not Better AskBovik" Welch |> Will, Try Joy's Antique Jewelry, 2nd Floor, Clark Building on Liberty Avenue downtown. Very fine jewelry from early 19th cent through Victorian and deco, etc. My wife and I are VERY satisfied customers. --Rick Green :::::::::::::: estate/4 :::::::::::::: Return-Path: Received: from HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU by A.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa16009; 8 Mar 94 19:01:50 EST Received: from DB1.SPEECH.CS.CMU.EDU by HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa25232; 8 Mar 94 19:01:29 EST To: claude+@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: Estate/Antique Jewelry? Newsgroups: cmu.cs.general In-Reply-To: Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 19:00:48 EST From: hsmoliar@DB1.SPEECH.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: hsmoliar@DB1.SPEECH.CS.CMU.EDU In article you write: >I'm looking for jewelry from the 1920's or thereabouts -- >both costume and nicer stuff. If you've a favorite shop >(or general advice on this kind of hunt), please let me know. > >-- Will "I'm not Better AskBovik" Welch > There is a place run by a friend of a friend on Beverly Rd out in Mt. Lebanon. It is in that one block where the stores are on the right side as you are going away from Pgh. If you want me to find out the name, I can. Harold Smoliar English horn, Pittsburgh Symphony Piano, Symphony Jazz Quartet hsmoliar@db1.speech.cs.cmu.edu :::::::::::::: estate/5 :::::::::::::: Return-Path: Received: from HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU by A.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa10500; 8 Mar 94 14:18:52 EST Received: from PO5.ANDREW.CMU.EDU by HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa24122; 8 Mar 94 14:18:11 EST Received: from localhost (postman@localhost) by po5.andrew.cmu.edu (8.6.4/8.6.4) id OAA20270 for claude+@HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU; Tue, 8 Mar 1994 14:18:09 -0500 Received: via switchmail; Tue, 8 Mar 1994 14:18:07 -0500 (EST) Received: from unix3.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Tue, 8 Mar 1994 14:16:15 -0500 (EST) Received: from unix3.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Tue, 8 Mar 1994 14:16:11 -0500 (EST) Received: from BatMail.robin.v2.14.CUILIB.3.45.SNAP.NOT.LINKED.unix3.andrew.cmu.edu.pmax.ul4 via MS.5.6.unix3.andrew.cmu.edu.pmax_ul4; Tue, 8 Mar 1994 14:16:04 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <0hTAvoy00WB4FJFUcn@andrew.cmu.edu> Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 14:16:04 -0500 (EST) From: "Mitzi E. Morris" To: William Welch Subject: Re: Estate/Antique Jewelry? In-Reply-To: References: I've just started going to estate auctions, and sometimes there is jewelry there. the local places are the Royal York Auction house and Dargate Galleries. both are having auctions this weekend. Dargate is on the corner of Highland & Center. viewing is tomorrow and Thurs. (? - 8 pm) Royal York is on Baum Blvd. just before it hits Penn Circle. previews are Fri 9-4 (or thereabouts). if you get into estate auctions you might want to follow the announcements in the paper - Sunday classifieds are good. good luck, Mitzi :::::::::::::: estate/6 :::::::::::::: Return-Path: Received: from HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU by A.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa10227; 8 Mar 94 14:06:35 EST Received: from IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU by HOSTESS.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa24047; 8 Mar 94 14:06:27 EST Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 14:03-EST From: Mary.Jo.Dowling@IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU To: William Welch Subject: Re: Estate/Antique Jewelry? Message-Id: <763153408/mjd@IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU> In-Reply-To: William Welch's bboard message of 08-Mar-94 12:55 ANtiques of Shadyside has some nice stuff, they also do good repair work of antique jewelry. They are right on Walnut street up by Prantel's Bakery. They best fines are of course at the summer antique shows around the area. They usually start in April of May. mj