A Bit of Bling

Still No Jewelry Jars For Me!

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Over a year ago I wrote a post on “Why I Don’t Buy Jewelry Jars.” Since that post I have been encouraged by others to try them. And I would love to, honestly. I follow several vloggers who buy them and they usually find a few good pieces amidst the dreck that make the purchase profitable. (Some even find gold.) But here’s my situation: My neighborhood Goodwill thrift store is very jewelry savvy. If they see .925 or sterling marked on a piece you can bet it’s going to be individually priced $10 and up. (I never see real gold pieces here. If they receive any I’m sure they are put online.) Only once in a blue moon do I ever buy jewelry here, like this sterling silver ring with small turquoise and coral bits.

Paid $15, sold $45.

And this store rarely puts out jewelry jars or bags, but when they do I have never seen anything in any of them that got my adrenalin pumping. Nothing. Ever. I have the same problem with other local thrift stores.

Well a few days ago my neighborhood Goodwill store had three jammed full jewelry bags for sale. And I was thinking maybe I should buy one, as an experiment, and see what’s really in it. That could make for an interesting blog post! Right? But gosh all of the bags were priced at $99.99! And the items I could see in the bags were all newer and not the quality I sell.

Well, I just couldn’t do it folks! At least not for $100. So I remain a jewelry jar virgin, but I will keep looking. Maybe some day I’ll find one worth buying. 😉

That said I do adore cherry picking the pieces I offer in my Etsy store–many are heirloom quality pieces that could be passed down to younger generations or given as gifts. As my local thrift stores tend to be jewelry busts, I cast a much wider search net that includes estate sales, personal sales, antique stores and online stores. I even have a few friends who give me stuff they no longer want.

Here’s a sample of some of my favorite offerings…

This classy faux pearl necklace is originally from a high-end jewelry store in Sacramento (Grebitus & Sons) and comes with a nice presentation box and spare pearls. (I bought this from a personal estate.)

This sweet sterling silver initial brooch is likely circa 1920s-30s. (Bought at an antique store.)

I bought this lovely Victorian Bohemian garnet pin for myself two years ago and have never worn it. Decided it was time to let it go! (This was an eBay find.)

This huge sterling silver brooch was a fun Shopgoodwill find.

This vintage Baltic butterscotch amber and silver pendant comes from Poland and was part of a nun’s estate. It was never worn and still retains a price tag.

How about you? Any luck with jewelry jars?

As always, happy hunting,

Karen

10 comments

  2. OMG, I have never seen Goodwill jewelry jars higher than $30. That’s amazing they priced it so high. I love YouTube videos from people who shop thrift stores but I think it has given thrift stores the big head on pricing. I have never bought a jewelry jar but I have purchased small individual pieces for my daughter and granddaughter. Most of my vintage jewelry was purchased either at estate sales or eBay or antique shops. Most of the jewelry jars I have seen on YouTube have had all costume jewelry, none of it that I would own or resell. I think you absolutely did the right thing and walked right on by. You have great instincts, so keep on doing what you are doing.

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  3. I’m one of the lucky ones and my regular haunt does jewellery bags. Just small ziploc sized but never more than $5 and often as low as $2.50. I only buy when I like something I can see inside but I have often found silver and once gold. Some of the other local places are creeping up in price, one that was normally $6 to $10 had some $20 to $30 ones last time and they looked terrible.

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  4. Pingback: I Got Two Jewelry Bags…Free! | Hunting for Vintage

  5. I used to buy “junk lots” on eBay– but that was 10 yrs ago when the shipping was still somewhat reasonable! I was also crafting at the time, upcyling the some of pieces and making them into jewelry. So with all that considered, it was a decent deal. I never found a valuable piece in a junk lot, but I did find a 14k pin and a small Trifari pin (circa 1940’s) in 2 different small jewelry lots at auction. I got a great price. That was very unusual though. As for the junk lots/jars, buying online is impossible now because of the hefty shipping costs. And they are truly junk when offered in bags at a Flea Mkt, in my experience. 🙂

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    1. Hi Retrodee! Thanks for sharing your story. Honestly I wish I could find jewelry jars/bags worth buying, but I don’t, ever. And now my local Goodwill is charging $129.99 for a bag of low-value, made-in-China bits. No thank you!

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      1. Thank you everyone for your words of experience and wisdom. I don’t know about everyone else but I just have to stop and think for a moment how grateful I am. that this is my life today. I love to see that I am not the only one who has such passion and knowledge for what we do. I recently started selling jewelry jars I had 6000 pieces of vintage and costume jewelry . Love each and every one. But I also love the friendships I have made doing what I 💕. I’m slightly different than how everyone else who sells jars. I have 2 different sizes. The first jar would be $50 and I let the person purchasing pick five items that they would like and I put those in the jars and then I finish it with what you see in the pictures so it’s going to be a surprise but you don’t know which ones are going to be and I always guarantee that so whatever you see in the pictures that I display you know that those something of those pictures is going to be in the door along with the five that you picked then the larger jar I sell for 75 and I let you pick eight pieces and then I fill the larger jar up and it seems to have made everybody happy.

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