SHERMAN JEWELRY IS FETCHING HIGHER & HIGHER PRICES. ARE OURS TOO LOW??

Have you been watching any auctions for Sherman jewelry on ebay lately? I have. In fact, I desperately wanted the gorgeous bracelet shown below but it just went too high for me:

It has all the elements collectors are looking for: great color (lavender); wide (1 1/8" wide) and from the vendor's description, it's in "excellent condition". The winning bid was $357.52 USD.

The seller also had the matching stunning earrings shown on the left in a second auction finishing shortly after the first. The same bidder won both auctions and that, quite honestly, was a smart move as they obviously belong together. I think there was even a brooch in yet another auction but I don't know the outcome of that one and couldn't find it later. The earrings went for $75 USD.

So add it up and this bidder has paid $432.52 for what is now a "set". Is that a good price? I'd say the winner got a good deal for Sherman jewelry in this color and condition. But as you can see, it didn't come cheap.

Buying sets of Sherman jewelry is always a wise investment: they're simply worth more to collectors. These days, when I'm scrounging for Sherman, I'm always on the lookout for sets ie.. a buyer who wears her Sherman prefers a necklace to have matching earrings, or a brooch that comes with earrings. Sometimes people are new to buying Sherman, do as I did initially: they buy up a necklace here, a brooch there, earrings here, a bracelet there and end up with lots of nice individual pieces that have no mates. If you do that, then try to keep an eye out for matching pieces. Surprisingly, you can find them if you wait long enough. And it's actually fun and quite fulfilling when you do find a match.

But for the most part, while it's more expensive to buy sets, or better yet, 2-3 piece parures, it's always the better investment. This past week I've enjoyed sales on several pieces of Sherman from OUR SHOP AT RUBY LANE but most of those have been sets. Smart shoppers those! My pink grande parure from a couple of posts back is gone. So is my fabulous faux alexandrite Brooch/earring and bracelet set. The lovely emerald green and clear navette necklace/earring set has a sale pending too, along with a highy desirable fuschia baguette bracelet.

What is this saying about Sherman? It's still very much in demand. What's it saying about our prices for Sherman? That our prices are still very reasonable. What's should it be saying to you? Get over to our RUBY LANE SHOP now while we still have some good sets left at affordable prices, because quite frankly, with the dollars folks are paying on ebay, which is usually the cheapest place to buy Sherman, our prices are starting to look way too low! So get over to our shop now and grab yourself a bargain while you can. How about this gorgeous necklace/earring demi:

It's yours for only $295! What a bargain!

SHERMAN JEWELLERY IS RUNNING HOT RIGHT NOW!

I've come to the conclusion that vintage jewelry designers go through the same highs and lows, ins and outs, or whatever you want to call the tendency for one designer to be the flavour of the month only to be supplanted by another one, literally, a month or two later.

Not that Sherman is ever "out" but right now, it's running hot. Sometime before Christmas I developed a passion for "Juliana" jewelry by DeLizza & Elster. I couldn't have become interested at a worst time I think. I watched auction after auction on ebay for Juliana fetch huge dollars, more than I could comfortably invest. So I concluded that as much as I loved Juliana, I could never afford it. At that time, Sherman was doing well too, but Juliana was going for much higher dollars.

Well now, no-one seems to be buying Juliana ... but Sherman? Ay yay yay! It's flying high on ebay. Did you see that gorgeous grande parure that just finished today? What a beautiful set!

I don't know if the seller got what she wanted for that one but whoever bought it really scored. It went for $312.99. I would have loved to bid on it, but I've spent so much on stock in the past few months that I had to watch and wish only. What intrigued me about this set was how different it was for a Sherman. Is there no end to variations on Sherman? Seems not. Just when I think I've seen them all, one like this comes along. I had no idea that Sherman also did pearls or faux pearls. And given what I see Michelle Obama wearing in jewelry, I predict that pearls and beads are going to be big in 2009, at least for American women. It seems that they really follow what the first lady wears. So the lucky winner of that gorgeous Sherman set scored in more ways than one, don't you agree?

I'm currently watching a Juliana on ebay that I think is a knockout. It's this one here:


I think this is a magnificent piece of vintage jewelry. I purchased pieces from the lady selling this one before. She has fabulous jewelry. I'd love to buy this one but she does have a reserve on it, and most likely, once again, it will be beyond my budget. Or will it? I watched one of her auctions end on Sunday night and was shocked that the gorgeous Juliana set she sold went for her opening bid and only one seller bid on it. I didn't even try because I just figured it'd go too high. Well it didn't. Does that mean the run on Juliana is now over, that it's no longer the flavour of the month?

A colleague of mine is actually the one who prompted this post. It was she who commented that Sherman is hot, hot, hot right now, maybe because of the new book that came out just before Christmas. She feels it'll probably cool off by this time next year. What do you think? Is Sherman susceptible to taste fluctuations or will it always be hot, hot, hot? I'd love to hear your comments.

PINK SHERMAN GRANDE PARURE IS HIGHLY COLLECTIBLE & VERY BEAUTIFUL!

Okay ... it's happened to me again! Just when I think I won't find another Sherman better than the last one I bought, I do find one! Well, "better" is the wrong word when it comes to Sherman. Maybe I mean "prettier" or "more dazzling" or "more gorgeous"... Oh what the heck! How about I just tell you about my latest discovery.

It's a fabulous Grande Parure i.e. there's 3 parts to this set: necklace, earrings, and brooch. The necklace is unlike any I've owned: it's semi-rigid, meaning there's a built in "bow" or "curve" to that centerpiece, which is about 5" long. It's a most unusual design the way it splits in the middle. One avid Sherman collector I showed it to said it'd look even more lovely with a single large crystal nestled in that split, and I can't help but agree. But then, who are we to argue with Gustave Sherman. If this is the way he wanted it, so be it.

The set is a lovely mixture of pink/purple Aurora Borealis and incredibly clear pink Swarovski crystals in varying shapes and sizes: marquise and round cuts in the necklace and brooch, slender navettes in the earrings. Is this an original set ie. did all the pieces come together in the first place? Who knows! All I do know is the colors are a perfect match in all the pieces and all pieces are signed "Sherman".

This grande parure by Sherman is in remarkable condition both front and back, with very little wear to the shiny silver rhodium-plate backings. You can see many more photos and read the specific details in OUR SHOP AT RUBY LANE where we show the price in both US and Canadian dollars. The other thing you'll notice when looking at the photos is that the color of the pink isn't consistent from photo to photo. That's because we had a devil of a time getting accurate color on this one. In bright light or daylight, the pinks are so much paler, as shown here:

But as the light drops, you get colors closer to the one shown in the photo at the top i.e. a much deeper pink that borders on rose or even fuschia. For me, that's a bonus! Where else can you get two of the most in-demand Sherman colors in one set LOL!

This is definitely a Sherman collector's dream for several reasons:

1) It's a grande parure i.e. 3 - 4 piece set
2) It's in one of the most coveted and rarer Sherman colors: PINK
3) It's in superb condition

Want to add it to your Sherman collection? You know what to do. Scurry on over to OUR RUBY LANE SHOP now and make it yours!

Process pics. Mermaid's Garden

"Maybe it was a dream about summer? The bright, golden sun and rich clear-blue sky embraced me with their tender warmth," those were my muses on the creation of my lovely seed-bead necklace Mermaid’s Garden.


Probably for the first time I have tried to combine a blue color scheme with copper-lined seed beads. I felt that choosen materials will allow me to achieve at once the cool touch of the ocean with the warmth of a summer sun!


I have woven a base using netting stitch, and created a lot of leaves of two colors, my favorite components.


The finishing touches were created with freshwater pearls and aquamarine gemstone chips – perfect for a maritime theme.


Mermaid's Garden is 2008 First Place winner of the "Your Designs Rock!" Jewelry Design Contest held by Rings & Things magazine (Glass Category). Here is the full slide show of creating my necklace:

Mermaid's Garden

FINALLY! A SHERMAN SIAM RED BRACELET TO GO WITH MY SIAM RED SHERMAN EARRINGS!

If you've been following this blog, you know how much I've wanted to score a piece of Siam Red jewelry by Sherman. I've watched and lost auctions on ebay because the pieces just went too high for me. I've scoured the various sites that sell Sherman and either found none or again, the price was crazy. I'd all but given up on ever acquiring an affordable Siam red Sherman of any kind to go with the only siam red Sherman piece I had: the little earrings in the photo. And then, with some time on my hands just before Christmas, I came across an ad on KIJIJI. And there was this "retired jeweler" selling off his stock, some of which was several pieces of Sherman, including some lovely Sherman bracelets. I wanted to buy them all but hey, I couldn't afford that. But I found the one I wanted: the siam red bracelet in the photo above, and I didn't think twice! So finally, I have a Siam red Sherman Bracelet and earring set.

And the bracelet is a beauty: in great condition, it's 7 1/2" bracelet is 11/16" wide. Even better, it has Sherman's famous japan backing. 5 rows of clear swarovski siam red crystals alternate with siam red aurora borealis marquise stones. And best of all, it didn't cost me what I nearly bid for one on ebay that went for over $1000!

There is a downside, but after reading through my latest book on Sherman Jewellery, "The Masterpiece Collection" by my colleagues, Sandra Caldwell and Evelyn Yallen, I am thoroughly convinced that there are indeed Sherman pieces that left the factory unsigned ... and this bracelet is one of them. In negotiating with the retired jeweler for the bracelet, he informed me that it was one of several sold to him by the Sherman salesman who regularly supplied his shop on Danforth Ave., Toronto, back in the 50's. And looking at the design of the bracelet, its construction and the stones themselves, there's no doubt in my mind this is a bona fide Siam red Sherman bracelet. The earrings, by the way are signed, but as I said, I already had these. They just work well with the bracelet, though they are not japan-backed.

So now for the good news: I am offering this lovely siam red Sherman bracelet and earring set in OUR SHOP AT RUBY LANE for only $375 US (or the current Canadian equivalent). Please click that link or the photo above to slip over, read more and view more pictures. I doubt you'll find another Siam red Sherman bracelet at this price any time soon, and definitely not on eBay where bidders push those prices sky-high. Why pay more than you have to? Buy it from MY RUBY LANE SHOP today! It'll cost you more if I decide to list it on eBay. Guaranteed!

IT'S A NEW YEAR AND TIME FOR NEW ADDITIONS TO OUR SHERMAN JEWELLERY SHOWCASE

Well it's time for me to get out of holiday mode and back into the business of blogging about that lovely Sherman jewellery. Actually, while I haven't done a post for a while now, I have been working hard updating my websites which were in dreadful shape with lots of pieces sold and new additions not yet added. So I'm happy to say now that I'm all caught up and ready for your visits to those sites and your comments on this blog.

Perhaps the best place to start is with my Image Gallery at IMAGE EVENT where you can see several albums of vintage jewelry. But for those looking only at Sherman, my newest arrivals are listed HERE in that gallery. I also have separate albums just for

SHERMAN BROOCHES AND BROOCH SETS

SHERMAN NECKLACES & NECKLACE SETS

SHERMAN BRACELETS & BRACELET SETS

These albums also appear, or are linked to, via my Sherman only site at SHERMAN JEWELLERY SHOWCASE and all prices shown are in Canadian dollars. But I must confess the fluctuations in the currencies are making it very difficult to state exact prices. Of course, in our VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE at RUBY LANE, I also list my Shermans but those are all in US prices. Really all you have to do in either case, is consult any online CURRENCY CONVERTER and work out the current price in either US or CAD dollars. I use the one at the link provided in this blog.

So now that that's all out of the way, I'd like to share one of my newest additions to my Sherman necklace collection with you...and I think this one's a beauty. For starters, its condition is

outstanding! Secondly, what I really like about this necklace is Sherman's use of the super slender navettes: they're just so elegant! Thirdly, this one is a lovely combination of rich emerald green and glittering, clear swarovski crystals that sparkle like diamonds. It's just gorgeous! The matching clip on earrings are 7/8" X 5/8". And of course, you can see many more photos of this set by clicking the photo above or going directly to this set in OUR RUBY LANE SHOP. This very dramatic set is yours for $295 US or $350 CAD (or whatever the exchange rate is on the day you put in your order LOL!) Here's a close-up view of those fabulous Swarovski crystals:


Well that's it for this round but let me close by wishing all my readers a fabulous 2009! If this is your year to invest in Sherman Jewellery, I hope you'll start with me :))