By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — I’ve been interested in jewelry since I was in high school. I’ll be 60 in September, so that’s a lot of years. I wore jewelry and collected it. I liked the jewelry of our era, the late ’60s. I must’ve had every piece of art jewelry made by every craftsperson in the area. Along the way, I also collected antique and period jewelry. My interest in fashion jewelry came about because I was going to antique shows and became intrigued by all the pieces with rhinestones. I started to purchase...

Carole Tanenbaum on Costume Jewelry's 'Wow' Factor

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — My husband and I have many collections. We were in London at one point in the ’80s, and I saw a fabulous collection of vintage costume jewelry. Each item was like a little object of art. I bought about two dozen pieces, including some wonderful early Chanels that are virtually impossible to find today, and several pieces by Dior and Hobe. That really got me started. Because I had begun at the high-end, but didn’t know it, I developed an eye for pieces that had great integrity. As a...

Christie Romero on Differences Between Fine and Costume Jewelry Over the Decades

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — I started out with general antiques and collectibles... I was a dealer for a while and bought and sold all kinds of things. Gradually jewelry became my focus. In the mid-1980s I started getting serious, and in 1988 I started teaching small classes, workshops, and seminars, primarily on costume jewelry but also some fine jewelry. Vintage costume jewelry was just beginning to take off as a collectible. Up until that time, most people thought it was junk. They didn’t understand what it was...