Antique Earing Buying Advice

[emeraldhunter]

I am looking for a Christmas present for my wife. I had great luck a few years ago when I stumbled upon an Art Nouveau emerald and diamond ring for our engagment. Do you have any advice for finding some antique, vintage, estate etc... earrings? I don't seem to have the magical ebay term or website to help in this search. My budget is about $600.
I am also interested in neat gemstone combinations that make good earrings. I am familiar with diamonds and emeralds, but I don't think look at enough jewelry to discover great ideas.
Thank you in advance!

 

[emeraldhunter]

Does anyone have advice with regards to dealing with Ruby Lane?

 

[minousbijoux]

Hmm, where to start?! I hear from others that RubyLane, being made of individual sellers, is hit or miss. As in any site that serves as a consolidator for sellers (I'm making up terms here as I don't know the correct terminology), it is hard to police the site and sometimes you get sketchy characters who claim things are better than they are. I also believe, though, that there are those here who've had good luck buying items.

In general, if I were you, I would 1) have the mods move your thread into another area of the forum. There is one devoted solely to antique/vintage jewelry and the frequent posters would absolutely be able to help. The other thing I would do would be to 2) do a search above for terms like "online antique jewelry vendors" or "vintage jewelry sites" things of that nature, as others before you have asked this same question. Places like Lang antiques seem to pop up regularly. Also, do check in regularly with both Loupetroop and DiamondBistro as folks are constantly selling pieces and often for excellent prices. HTH.

 

[emeraldhunter]

Thanks. I will repost it, and checkout your recommended leads.

 

[minousbijoux]

And please come back and share your treasures when you find the right pair, or pretty, pretty please.