Recently a colleague of mine who buys, collects and sells Shermans like I do, was telling me about one of her customers who is hell-bent on investing in Sherman jewelry but is still rather new at it. She apparently knows what to look for in terms of color and condition, but because she loves to wear Sherman brooches and bracelets, she's been busy buying up just brooches or just bracelets.
Well while there's absolutely no reason a buyer shouldn't do that if that's what she likes to wear, if you are an investor in Sherman or plan to sell it down the way, you should ALWAYS be looking to acquire sets. A Sherman brooch with matching earrings will always be more valuable than just the brooch or earrings. If that brooch and earrings are also paired with a matching bracelet, as in the photo below from my site at SHERMAN JEWELRY SHOWCASE, or if you can find a set that includes a necklace with the brooch and earrings, or even better yet, a 4-piece set of brooch, earrings, bracelet and necklace, then you have found a super valuable Sherman parure and it's definitely worth buying because then it has become a true investment. Incidentally, this applies to all the famous vintage
designers: wherever you can, try to get sets by Schiaparelli, Shreiner, Weiss, Miriam Haskell, Kenneth J. Lane ... the list goes on.Why are sets so much more valuable? After all, you might not like wearing clip-on earrings but you love necklaces or bracelets. Part of the reason, as is common with vintage jewelry, the sets have become separated over the years. People have sold off a bracelet to one person and the matching brooch to someone else. Bottom line then is 2, 3 and 4-piece sets are much harder to obtain, and as you know, the rarer something is, the greater its value. That's why my colleague has now counselled her eager buyer to look for sets where she can. She doesn't have to wear all the pieces at the same time if she doesn't want to; she just needs to have as many sets as she can get!
But here's something you can do (and it's kind of fun) if you have only piece of Sherman ie. a brooch or necklace. You can become a hunter! Attend estate auctions in your aread. Online, scour eBay, Ruby Lane, Trocadero, eCrater or Cyber Attic. Or simply just type Sherman jewelry or Sherman Jewellery into Google or Yahoo and see what you can find. If you're really lucky you might find earrings that are a perfect match for that brooch or necklace you love.
Is it impossible? Not at all. I have found wonderful matches that way and have been able to turn a 1 or 2-piece set into a valuable 3-piece parure like my Sherman fushia set of necklace, earrings and brooch shown below. Because of the color, fuschia, each of the pieces alone is valuable, but as a set, it's value is many times greater.
