I recently found an old Tiffany bracelet for sale in a consignment
shop. It’s stamped Elssa Peretti, Tiffany & Co. 1975. It is really
beautiful and I was thinking of buying it. Does anyone know how to
find out what it would be worth? It’s priced at $240, and there’s a
15% discount on top of that. The new bracelets- the “Bone Cuff” are
about $495 new… I’m thinking this might be worth much more than
the asking price… anyone have any ideas how to find out?
Thanks,
Amery
Hi Amery,
You might try posting this on Ebay’s “Jewelry & Gemstone” board.
Look under the Community - Discussion Boards area to the far right
of the page.
Just be aware that there have been some heated Tiffany/fake Tiffany
discussions going on there, so you may get some residual flack. It
would help to have a picture to post — especially of the mark —
the folks over there will be more than willing to try to help you
out.
Good luck,
Tracy
Tracy’s Treasures
Sure, see if you can buy it with a 15 day money back guarantee and
then put it on eBay with a reserve above your cost. The bidders will
let you know what it is really worth. The concept of value really
comes down to “how much can you get for it?”.
Lee Cornelius
Vegas Jewelers
Ebay management does just enough to say that they try… …take a
look the Murano Glass items… some use the term,… ‘like’, which
is obviously a knock off…and an obvious ‘Buyer be ware!’
…However, there are others that claim to be Murano Glass, price
the item for $1.00 (one dollar) and make their money on shipping
cost, plus required insurance… however, be it known that FedEx (
Think it was FedEx or UPS… don’t recall which) provides insurance
for any item of $100.00 or less if broken… TO THE SHIPPER!.. For
any broken item, the PURCHASER receives the selling price of ‘One
Dollar’ while the shipper receives what FedEx feels is a fair market
value for the time!.. Are items shipped broken???..don’t know!!!
Ebay will refund your money if the 'item received is not the same
quality as the pic in the auction!!! This situation was reported to
both FedEx as well as Ebay… as an obvious scam!!!
Jim
Dear Amery,
Sotheby’s, the London based auction house has recently published a
catalogue on the house of Tiffany, based on a recent or upcoming
auction of signed work. If you are interested in the collectors value
on a signed Elssa Peretti from the 1970s that is where I would check.
Check Sotheby’s web site for the catalogue. Their catalogues are
often $50 plus but beautifully photographed and printed. She was one
of their most renown designers when design at Tiffany & Co. still had
some meaning.
If on the other hand you are only buying the bracelet to quickly
turn a buck on E-bay like some of these other posts suggest, then you
already have the new price of $495. I doubt that anyone purchasing
jewelry on E-bay would know or care if it was signed or not.
Nanz Aalund
Associate Editor / Art Jewelry magazine
21027 Crossroads Circle / Waukesha WI 53187-1612
262.796.8776 ext.228
Nanz,
Thanks for the info, it was very helpful and I will check it out.
My initial intent was not to resell the bracelet. I’ve been a fan of
Elsa Peretti’s since I was a little girl so I spotted this design
from across the store as a “Peretti” and had to have it! I was just
curious as to its value just for kicks. Also, it’s a design I’ve
never seen, which means I probably won’t see it around. It makes it
even more special to me. I was just using the price of her most
recent cuff as a comparison. More so to justify spending the money!
“Well, it’s cheaper than the new one, so it’s a bargin.”
It’s stamped: Peretti Tiffany & Co. (copyright symbol) 1975 Spain…
The Spain kinda threw me, didn’t know that they had any production
out of spain until I did some research on the web.
If it’s dated 1975, can I call it “Vintage Tiffany”?
Amery
Dear Amery,
Good for you! Collect those signed works. Elsa Peretti was one of my
heroes when I was a 15 year old girl in an all male jewelry workshop.
I would think that a 1975 silver piece of hers would be rather rare.
In the early 1980s the price of silver went up to $80 / oz. And a lot
of wonderful silver work got sold off and melted down because of
short sightedness.
The term “vintage” is a slippery word to use. There are no federal
regulations regarding its use in the jewelry field. The bracelet can
legally only be called “estate.” Most fine clothiers who deal in
vintage clothing retain the use of the word vintage for items over 50
years old. Since so many less scrupulous individuals are using
"vintage" to dupe unsuspecting consumers, I would stay away from using
the term at least for another 20 years. ;~)
Nanz Aalund
Associate Editor / Art Jewelry magazine
21027 Crossroads Circle / Waukesha WI 53187-1612
262.796.8776 ext.228