Collecting Costume Jewelry 101

My name is Julia C. Carroll. I’m the author of four books on collecting costume jewelry. Welcome to my Collecting Costume Jewelry 101 webpage and BLOG for beginning and intermediate collectors!

Thank you to everyone who purchased and enjoyed my books. The four titles below are unfortunately out-of-print and only available in the secondary market.

However, there is good news!

For fun, I wrote Collecting Costume Jewelry 404 The Basics of Recognizing Great Design. It is available to read for FREE by clicking on the Collecting Costume Jewelry 404 cover. Of course, the information is copy protected, so permission is required to copy the text or photos.

The Information link on the red ribbon leads to additional reference materials and articles.

My weekly jewelry blog follows. Scroll down to read previous entries or click the BLOG INDEX link below for an alphabetical list of past blogs.

BLOG INDEX

  • DeLizza & Elster Juliana

    DeLizza & Elster (Juliana) Jewelry information has been added to Collecting Costume Jewelry 404 Chapter 2 Part II. This was a challenging section to write and I hope you enjoy it. My favorite piece of DeLizza & Elster jewelry to wear is a lovely green flower. It is light weight and appropriate all year round.…

  • Alice Caviness Jewelry

    Good morning, I’m continuing to add brands to Chapter 2 Part II of Collecting Costume Jewelry 404. Alice Caviness jewelry information and photo have been added. High-end Caviness jewelry is both beautiful and well-made. It features many of the six design elements presented in Chapter One; however, the colors are especially interesting, so the descriptions…

  • Juliana Jewelry Good News

    Ann Pitman’s book Juliana Jewelry Reference DeLizza & Elster Identification & Value Guide is a rare, expensive, out-of-print book. It is also a MUST HAVE book for serious collectors. Hint: See the good news about this book below. DeLizza & Elster jewelry is unsigned. The jewelry shown in Ann’s book has been thoroughly vetted, so…

  • ART Jewelry

    ART Jewelry has been added to Chapter Two: Part II of Collecting Costume Jewelry 404. Part I features brands that started prior to WWII. Part II features brands that started after WWII. More brands will be added to Part II in the next few weeks. A brief history of each brand is given…very brief. The…

  • Pididdly Links, Pididdly Links II Catalogs and Jewelry

    Tonight, I want to spend some time on Pididdly Links jewelry. Artist Elise Pittleman and her husband Steve started Pididdly Links in approximately 1969 due to the success Elise was having selling her handmade jewelry. The company remained in business until 1996 when it was sold to two of their employees. At this time, it…

  • Jewelry Advertisements

    It has been a busy week! I finished scanning into my web site most of the vintage jewelry advertising I collected over the years. Many of the ads are in my books; however, to see a specific ad required paging through the books. Coro ads, Trifari ads etc. were in all three books. They are…

  • New Catalogs Added

    Three more jewelry catalogs have been added to the Information tab under Catalog. The first is a 1986 Napier catalog with an original price sheet. A few of the pages are in color but most pages are black and white. The next two catalogs are from Whiting & Davis, one from 1971 and one from…

  • Fossil Group Inc.

    Today I want to share some research on jewelry by Fossil. The few pieces I own are beautiful and interesting. The Fossil Group, Inc., founded by Tom Kartsotis in 1984, is based in Richardson, Texas. Mostly known for watches and leather accessories, in 2007 Fossil launched a jewelry line sold in department stores. Fossil is…

  • Jewelry Catalogs

    Today I added three more jewelry catalogs to the site. They are listed under Information/Catalogs. The first catalog is Gerlou dating the early 1940s and featuring some interesting early Trifari pieces with pricing! A sample page is shown below. It is a small catalog but fascinating to read. I wish I could buy that Trifari…

  • Julie Vos Jewelry

    Today I added Julie Vos Jewelry to Chapter 4 of Collecting Costume Jewelry 404. This jewelry is beautifully made and distinctive. I believe it is a contemporary brand that has the qualities necessary to be a prized collectible in the future. Customers today love this jewelry so much they want to buy it all, so…