This is Rosalinda,or Rosie,
my Catalina Macaw. She is
now 12 and I raised her from
an egg. She is a born jewelry
fanatic and her eyes light up
when she sees me handle
jewelry. She likes to help,
so I give her old costume beads
and tissue paper and it is her job
to turn them into little pieces!
She thinks she is helping, but
she is really just making a huge
mess! Strange how she likes to
play with vintage jewelry!
I wonder who she got that from?!
CLICK ON THE MACAW
TO SEE THE ENTIRE
ANTIQUE & VINTAGE
ANIMAL JEWELRY COLLECTION
This is a tame peacock at our
mountain home that sits on the
porch and looks in the window
at me most of the day, watching
me work on the computer! Is it any
wonder I love to collect bird jewerly?
CLICK ON THE PEACOCK
TO SEE THE ENTIRE
ANTIQUE & VINTAGE
TROPICAL JEWELRY COLLECTION
This is my darling Tinker Bell.
We found her lost or abandoned
way out in the woods, half starved
and living on snow,acorns,and moles.
Everyone always asks what kind of
dog she is and we were able to find
out the she is 1/2 Great Pyranese and
1/2 Yellow Lab. She is very well
behaved and has the personality of
a butterfly! She lives to bury her head in snow, and eat snow until her head freezes!
CLICK ON TINKER BELL
TO SEE THE ANTIQUE & VINTAGE
FIGURAL JEWELRY COLLECTION
Cleaning Antique and Vintage Jewelry
Cleaning Antique and Vintage Jewelry
Most people who wear and collect jewelry have a good working knowledge of how to clean care for jewelry. Here are a few more tips that you may not know.
This first thing I want to tell you about cleaning jewelry is that you must handle the jewelry like your are taking care of an old person. If you grab your grandma by the arm, you are going to bruise her. Dont put your jewelry on your kitchen counter top - put it on a towel !
Costume jewelry should never be immersed or rinsed in water. This includes jewelry with rhinestones and all other glued in stones or cabs. Old glue is very water soluble and while you might see one or two stones fall out after rinsing with water, the rest of the stones or glued cabs will follow. It is then time to remove all stones or cabs, remove all the old glue, and reglue with a strong glue that is not water soluble. If you don't, stones will fall out while wearing the piece and be lost for good.This type of restoration, removing old glue and applying new glue, can be very difficult to achieve perfectly and should be left to a professional. If you do attempt to reglue stones, apply the glue with a toothpick !
To clean costume jewelry : Never put it in a electrosonic jewelry cleaner !
The most acclaimed cleaner for costume jewelry is called Jewelry Joose www.jewerlyjoose.com. Personally, you can also use mild jewelry cleaners found in the jewelry section at stores like Walmart, Kmart, etc. Jewelry Joose is much more expensive and I have not seen results any different than regular jewelry cleaner. The most important aspect about cleaning jewelry is not to immerse it in the cleaner. Use a spray bottle with a fine mist setting or dab the cleaner on a clean cotton cloth and dab the jewelry! For rhodium finishes and other metal finishes, it is okay to rub gently - but on the stones, gently dab them !
The big key here is DRY ! Dab with a clean cotton cloth, get in the crannies with Q tips, and then use your hair dryer on a cool setting briefly. MOISTURE IS EVIL !
On some occasions, you may get a piece of jewelry that had an old sticker on it, or has some type of sticky substance. Using Goo be Gone or Goof Off very sparingly will work well. Then, dab the area with mild jewelry cleaner to remove residual residue with a moist clean cloth. Dabbing on white vinegar is the key to getting rid of serious grime or greening. You can also experiment with denture cleaning tablets on glass jewelry. It does wonders for green grime but soaking will dissolve glue and stones. It is something I use only on parts of jewelry items, or chained glass necklaces.
Cleaning Copper,Sterling,Gold,Rhodium and Brass should be determined by the amount of cleaning needed. Cleaning on these metals should be done modestly and a good portion of the orignal old patina should still be left in tact.
What you NEVER want to do is to take a piece of old metal jewelry that is completely tarnished to the point where is is dark brown or black and clean it. Once a piece of copper or sterling has reached this stage in the patina, it cannot be cleaned without ruining the piece completely. If you try, you will remove so many layers of metal the piece will NOT look like new - but like an old piece that someone polished past the point of no return. In the recessed areas, the old patina will still remain - resulting in a pitiful job !
Never clean copper, sterling or gold with Tarn-X of other abrasive chemicals that instantly remove layers and layers. Most all metal polishers for silver, copper and brass are not polishers at all - BUT STRIPERS. These will not only remove the natural patina completely but will do serious damage the metal itself, resulting in a dull finish that cannot be restored.
If you have metals that only needs a light cleaning, I highly recommend using a jewelers polishing cloth, available at Walmart in the jewelry section. But - be cautious and do not get overzealous! Just clean the highlights very lightly, just for a few seconds!
If you have sterling,gold,copper or brass that is very dirty, the best polishing agent is MAAS (also at Walmart in the household cleaning isle). This is smooth professional cream that is a true polisher and a little dab goes a long way with a soft cotton cloth. Rub until your cloth is black- then move to a clean spot on the cloth and work around the whole piece of jewelry this way. DO NOT OVER RUB !
Sometimes on old earrings and pins, you might have to do the nitty gritty parts under a magnifying glass and use a Q -Tip, or gently use a toothbrush or toothpick in the crannies.
During and after cleaning, I always inspect my work under a lighted table top magnifier. It is by far the most important tool when it comes to cleaning and inspecting.Online, they can cost up to $ 200.
When your jewelry is clean and dry, it must be kept in the most moisture free environment you can provide. Earrings and pins should go in little ziploc baggies (found in the craft section at Walmart) and larger jewelry should be stored in cotton lined boxes. Light is also your enemy. Keep all jewelry out of strong light.
Now that I have finished, I realize this sounds like a promotional hype for Walmart and Im sorry for that - but I get everything I need in one trip there. I spend way too much time cleaning jewelry and I dont need to waste time shopping !
Free Luxury Jewelry
Gift Wrapping
World Wide Shipping
~ Jewelry Gift Certificates
~ Special Occasion Gift Cards at Checkout
~ Free Luxury Gift Wrapping ~ Superior Service
~ World Wide Shipping
PLACING ITEMS ON YOUR JEWELRY WISH LIST DOES NOT PREVENT OTHER CUSTOMERS FROM PURCHASING THOSE ITEMS.
ONLY WHEN AN ITEM IS PURCHASED IS IT MARKED OUT OF STOCK, AND THEN IT IS SOLD AND GONE FOR GOOD!
WE RESPOND TO & SHIP ALL ORDERS PROMPTLY
~LUXURY GIFT WRAPPING ON ALL ORDERS~
NO REQUEST NEEDED!
Please place your order online.
You cannot order any item that is sold.
No need to ask if items are available!
To place order by phone call:
828-297-6777 - 7 days - 9am-5pm EST
PLEASE DO NOT CALL AFTER HOURS !
ITEMS ON THIS SITE ARE ONE OF A KIND.
IF MARKED OUT OF STOCK, IT IS GONE FOR GOOD AND CANNOT BE RE-ORDERED!
USPS 1st CLASS - $4.75 per order
PRIORITY USPS - $8.50 per order
USPS OVERNITE - $23.50 -$ 27.50
INTERNATIONAL- $43.50 to $54.50 EXPRESS ONLY
CANADA - $8.50 1st Class or $14.95 Priority USPS
ALL RATES INCLUDE FULL INSURANCE
My name is Veronica McCullough and I have been collecting Antique Jewelry, Art Deco Jewelry, Vintage Jewelry and Vintage Costume Jewelry, Mid Century Modern Jewelry or Modernist Jewelry, and Designer Collectible Costume Jewelry for almost 40 years. I have a 1000 sf wing on my house dedicated solely to my jewelry collection and the website
Great Vintage Jewelry is a full time online business. I do not have a brick and motar store and sell exclusively from this website.
All Antique and Vintage jewelry is stored in air tight, light tight, and humidity free containers. All Collectible jewelry is impeccably clean and sanitized using the best professional cleaning techniques performed under a table top lighted magnifying glass.
All Antique and Vintage jewelry is microscopically inspected and insured to be free of oily residues, grime, dirt, verdigris, hair, lint, and fingerprints. If there is a patina to the metal, metal wear, or other imperfections to stones or settings, etc., it will be noted in the listing.
All Antique Jewelry, Art Deco Jewelry, and Vintage Jewelry should be considered to be pristine clean collector condition unless otherwise noted.
To read more about me, visit the About Me Page Here.
If you are interested in an item that is Out of Stock : Sorry, but it is sold and gone for good! All items are one of a kind to this site and items are not restocked. This is antique and vintage jewelry I have collected over the past 40 years; not something you can just run out and buy! Jewelry here is for collectors.
This is collectible antique and vintage jewelry that you match and outfit to, not the other way around! You can buy new outfits, but you cant run out and buy vintage jewelry or antique jewelry! This site is mainly for serious Antique Jewelry, Art Deco Jewelry, Vintage Jewelry, and Designer Costume Jewelry Collectors, but all jewelry enthusiasts are free to shop!
Amita, ART, Avon, BSK, Beau Jewels, Bell, Bergere, Hogan & Bolas, Bogoff, Boucher, L.Burch, Capri, Carnegie, Castlecliff, Caviness, Celebrity, Cini, Ciner, Liz Claiborne, Charel, Claudette, Copper Craft Guild, Coro, S.Coventry, M.Crimi, Cyrva, Danecraft, Delizza & Elster, Demario, Denicola, Dodds, Duane, Don Lin, Eisenberg, Emmons, Errico, Exquisite, Florenza, Foster Bailey, Forstner, Fred Gray, Givenchy, Gerrys, Gorham, Gucci, Haskell, Hedy, Hobe, Hope Chest, JJ, Jeanne, Judy Lee, Jomaz, KJL, Karu Arke, Anne Klein, Kramer , Les Bernard, Estee Lauder, Lind, Lisner, Little Nemo, Marvella, Matisse, Mazer, Monet, Mylu, MJ ENT, Napier, Ora, Original by Robert, Panetta, Park Lane, Pierre Bex, Rame, Reed & Barton, Rebajes, Reinad, Renoir, Reja, Richelieu, Roma, Sandor, Schreiner, Schiaperelli, Lewis Segal, Swarovski, Tancer,
Anne Taylor, Tortolani, Trifari, Van Dell, Vendome, Vogue, Warner, Weinberg, and Weiss
Copyright 2005 Great Vintage Jewelry
All rights reserved. No text or image content on this
web site may be copied or used in any way without
express written consent from the webmaster.
Strictly enforced by spy tracker.
