Thrift Store Score

There are few things more thrilling in life than finding a good deal. Over the years I’ve been a thrift and consignment store shopper, on the look-out for deals. I’ve found a few good things. A few years ago, I found a cute bracelet that I really liked. It was only $5,  so I bought it. Weeks later, the markings inside the bracelet revealed that it was sterling silver. It also included a jeweler’s marking. I looked that up, and found out that normally those bracelets go for about $120. I got it for $5. Win.

Since then, I’ve learned to keep a good eye out for good jewelry. I’ve been making jewelry and ravenously buying jewelry all of my life. My dad used to take me with him when he shopped for my mom, because I could spot a flawed gemstone immediately. One Christmas I actually stopped him from buying an emerald set, because one of the emeralds was cracked. The jeweler was less than thrilled.

Over the weekend, I was visiting family and friends in Maryland. As I usually do, I went to a consignment shop. While there, I took a glance at the jewelry counter and tried on various cheap, pearl rings with chipped paint. They were costume jewelry, so I decided against them. But then I saw a beautiful ring in the corner of the cabinet. It looked to be silver, with a diamond and two sapphires embedded in it. It was only $26, and fit me perfectly, so I decided to purchase it.

This morning I discovered some strange markings inside of it, and a small sapphire, which I hadn’t noticed before, embedded in the band.

How odd. Who puts a gem INSIDE the ring?

My ring, ya'll

Anyway, it took me awhile, but I tracked it down, and found out that it was a Zales engagement ring (clearly, that relationship didn’t go very well), and sells for $119.

SCORE. Let me remind you that I got it for $26.

I am by no means an expert at this, but I have a few hints on how to find a treasure among plastic fakes:

Look inside the jewelry for markings. Most commonly, you will find the 925 marking stamped inside the piece. That means it’s sterling silver, and, you can’t go wrong with silver. It’s a good metal that’ll last. It just tarnishes, so you have to clean it from time to time.

Also, look for markings like 10k, or 14k, basically any marking that includes a “k.” That tells you that the metal is gold, and the number tells you how many karats. Look for any other markings, and do a quick Google search if you can. Often if a piece is good, it’ll have a jeweler’s stamp inside of it.

Look for small, dull stones. Seriously, real jewelry often isn’t terribly flashy. The flashy, sparkly stuff is usually fake, used for bigger, cocktail-type pieces. Real gemstones (unless you’re talking about big, LARGE diamonds) are often darker in color (like real sapphires and rubies), and small, because good gems are expensive—so the smaller the piece, the more affordable it is. When I find a ring or earrings with small, dark stones, I know it’s usually a real sapphire (or ruby, or whatever).

Dead giveaways that something is fake:

•         Any sort of chipping or peeling of the metal.
•          Cloudy stones. Old fake diamonds, especially, used to cloud if you introduced them to water too often. Real stones might often be dark, but they’re seldom cloudy.
•         The metal reveals a copper-colored underside. That means whatever it was coated with (even if it was coated with silver) has rubbed off. That orange stuff on the underside is often what turns people’s fingers green.