Okay, shoot me down if you like but I'm getting ticked off with what's happening with Sherman. Has everyone gone mad? In my last blog, I was incredulous seeing that gorgeous purple/pink cuff bracelet go for $2700 when the seller was asking $3500. I suppose the buyer figured they got a good deal. $2700! Let me think what I could buy with $2700? A used car? A vacation? A cruise? Groceries for our family of 4 for the next 9 weeks? I don't know about you but for me, that's a horrific amount of money for, well, what is essentially, second-hand jewelry that isn't even real gemstones! Oh I can hear the collectors and sellers groaning. I'm sorry but hey, this is my blog and I can think and say what I like. I just see it getting harder and harder to buy Sherman that I can afford and that those who buy from me can afford. So what's that got to do with the cuff bracelet shown above? Oh, that's another one that sold on eBay recently. This one went to auction ie.. not a "buy it now". Bidding started at 99 cents. There were 10 bidders. The winner paid won it for a mere $2485 USD. Ay yay yay!
Well if you're still in the market for a cuff bracelet and figures like that don't send you into a spin, here's one going on eBay now. Click the photo to go directly to the auction. It ends on May 4th. What's interesting with this one is the seller originally listed it with a BIN of over $3000. I guess he was excited after seeing what those others went for. But he's taken his asking price down now. You can BUY IT NOW if you like for only $1999.00 USD. Great price if you consider what the others went for. But wait! He wants offers. He's had two but he hasn't accepted them. So what does he want? It's very pretty and comes with matching earrings that aren't signed but look a good match. It's not the most in demand color, but it is the desired width i.e1 1/2". So what's the problem? Well, according to his description, there's a stone missing. The safety chain is also missing. Maybe that's why the offers aren't what he'd like. Collectors don't like missing parts in their Shermans. It's not easy to replace vintage stones i.e to find the right color and shape to fit the space. And yes, you can get another safety chain. More money out to pay for repairs.
All of which brings me back to the headline for this blog: what is happening here? I almost feel like there's some kind of craze going on with Shermans, and it's creating greed: greed in the sellers asking super high prices and buyers fearful of missing out, are paying more and more. As a result, prices are being inflated. I see many lovely pieces on eBay being offered as Buy It Now's and also not selling because the seller's price is just too high. Or the reserve is too high.
I, for one, am feeling this is getting out of control. I, for two, am baulking at paying prices like this for Sherman or any designer vintage jewelry. Oh sure, there are those who can and always will be able to afford this kind of extravagance. But I'm not one of them. If this Sherman blog disappears in the future, you'll know why: I simply got tired of paying too much for my Shermans and then not being able to re-coup that investment when it came time to sell it. Until then though, those who are looking for affordable Sherman jewellery, know where to find me. I've got some lovely new pieces in OUR RUBY LANE SHOP now and also in my SHERMAN JEWELLERY SHOWCASE. We're running a Mother's Day Sale in the Ruby Lane shop and some of the Shermans are marked down to almost what I paid. Slip over and take a look...and pick up a real bargain! In the meantime, I'll save that $2000 or $3000 for my next holiday!
