What is the difference between costume jewelry and fine jewelry

His most popular design was the three strand faux pearl necklace worn by Barbara Bush. Assorted Broken Costume Jewelry. Many of These Pieces are Unfixable.

The problem with costume jewelry is that if it breaks, it can be next to impossible to repair. It may be completely unworkable to solder a post back onto a costume earring. This is due to the fact that the heat generated from the soldering flame causes the thin gold coating to evaporate or blacken. Or the plastic to simply melt. On the other hand, fine karat gold and platinum jewelry can be soldered any number of times.

This type of jewelry can be worked on again and again. It can be passed on for generations and last for over a hundred years. I saw some amazing pieces of jewelry from the Egyptian tombs that were thousands of years old.

They held their beauty and fascinating looks. Sometimes a piece is beloved, like the rhinestone multi-layer necklace my ballroom dancing client wears to competition. She had her necklace customized to go with that necklace. It broke before a competition and I was able to drill into the metal and do a "don't look close" repair. I'm not saying costume jewelry can't be fixed. I'm saying it can be expensive and inelegant when done. And plenty of pieces are not worth fixing.

Fortunately, Corvettes can be repaired. Not so, the plastic and gold tone Corvette earrings your boyfriend impulsively bought for you at the car show last month. He should have sprung for the 14kt gold ones instead! See my blog post on taking a favorite piece of costume jewelry and replicating it as fine jewelry.

I've done this a number of times. Sometime if you can't repair it, you just put your foot down and say, "I like that design. Calla Gold is a Personal Jeweler and Author who takes pride in working with clients one-on-one to integrate their personal sense of style and taste into custom designed jewelry and repaired jewelry pieces. Unlike typical Santa Barbara jewelry businesses, Calla Gold has no brick-and-mortar location. Calla Gold comes to you, bringing you the jewelry collection you want to see and collaborating with you to create unique custom jewelry.

Calla also works with at-a-distance clients. I remember once, I had a synthetic diamond that was a gift from a boyfriend but every time I wore it, I felt like a fraud I think it was 3 carats! I love the idea of turning a costume piece into the real thing; I never thought of that until now. Luckily, fashion jewelry tends to come at a much lower price than fine jewelry does, and a broken piece could easily be replaced entirely.

This kind of jewelry also often uses genuine precious gemstones like real diamonds, rubies, sapphires, etc. In addition to that, when broken, fine jewelry can be repaired. For tips about repairing fine jewelry, read this post about what to do in such an event. Fine jewelry may come at an elevated price point, but in truth, the value and longevity of these pieces are well worth the investment. Some designers do raise prices on fashion jewelry simply because of the association with the brand name, making it seem as though a low-quality piece is actually worth more.

But most brands only produce high-quality pieces made of precious metals and genuine gemstones. If you are interested in investing in fine jewelry but are deterred by the price tag, you should definitely look into buying pre-owned. Often, jewelry is repaired through soldering, which is melting metal to join two broken pieces together. The only problem is that inexpensive types of fashion jewelry are plated with a thin layer of gold or silver.

This thin layer can wear off and discolor the jewelry where the repair was made. Your piece of fashion jewelry may be a combination of unknown metals. This would make it difficult for a jeweler to restore the piece to its original condition.

For this reason, a jeweler may test a small area first to see how it reacts to the soldering flame before proceeding with the repair. This means that we can solder it as many times as we need to restore the function and appearance of your treasured piece of jewelry. As a premier jewelry store in Grand Rapids, MI , we would be more than happy to help you select the perfect piece of jewelry.

To contact our specialized jewelry team , call Paul Medawar Fine Jewelry at Search Map. Fashion Jewelry vs. Fine Jewelry. Types of Fashion Jewelry Our specialized team understands the unique nuances of each category of jewelry. Fashion jewelry can fall under the following categories: Costume jewelry uses less expensive or simulated stones, as well as plated metals.