SHERMAN JEWELRY: TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY?

I never cease to be amazed both by what buyers will pay for Sherman jewelry, and conversely, what sellers think they should get for Sherman jewelry. Sometimes the two are miles apart!

Take that magnificent cuff bracelet shown here. This one was listed as a "BUY IT NOW or Make and Offer"on Ebay for $3500. To my shock, it sold less than 2 days to that buyer who's buying up all the rare Shermans on ebay for an offer of $2700. Now granted, if you have no holds on your budget, I guess you can spend that much on one piece of Sherman and yes, Sherman cuff bracelets are the be all and end all for savvy investors in Sherman. But gee, $2700?! I'd baulk at paying that for a 22k gold 2 carat diamond necklace! Come to think of it, I could probably buy that fine jewelry for less!

Getting prices like this for Sherman, on ebay yet, is unquestionably pushing the prices of Sherman higher and higher. Honestly, Sherman should be spelled $herman these days! I can't help but wonder if what's happening here could possibly go the way Oil and other things went last year i.e. it caused a balloon and suddenly it burst. Personally, I'd be rather cautious of possibly paying too much. "What goes up, must come down" as the song says.

But now, to return to my opening statements i.e. what buyers will pay and what sellers ask can be miles apart. Take this example: shown on the left is one very lovely Sherman set that failed to sell on ebay last week. It's gorgeous. What happened?

I thought it was exquisite: beautiful, unique design; a 3-piece parure yet and the bidding got to $271 USD and stopped dead. The seller had a reserve on it, which does often stop buyers. But I think buyers only stop if they can't see paying more for the piece than the most they feel it's worth. It's just like selling a house: you might think it's worth far more than the market does. So it sits there forever with the vendor sticking to his price and no-one buying. This sure can happen with Sherman too. I've watched one on ebay that I've mentioned elsewhere in this blog. It's been listed 3 times now and hasn't sold yet. It's lovely; the colours are desirable; the design is different and the condition superb. Why hasn't anyone bought it yet? Obviously what the seller thinks it's worth and what the buyer is prepared to pay are miles apart.

So, of course, as both a buyer and a seller, I'm always battling the dilemma of "to buy or not to buy". If I come across a piece that I know is a steal, I don't hesitate. But when the dollar is way up there, I have to weigh up that decision pretty carefully. If I spend $250 buying a piece of Sherman, will someone else pay me more ... or heaven forbid ... less when it's time to sell it? I often waffle back and forth, looking at piece, reading the description over and over if it's online, and being so hesitant to make the decision that I've walked away more often than I've bought. Actually when I think of it, that's a bit for a rule for me: if I take 48 hours to decide and still can't decide, I walk away.

I'm the same with buying a dress: if there's something that just isn't making me feel "I've got to have this", I walk away. Most of the time, I'm glad I made that decision. But it's different with a dress or anything you can buy in a retail outlet where you can try it on, touch it, turn it and see if it feels right all the way. Buying online can be very difficult. All you have is photos and a description and the hope that the seller is being honest and accurate. And unfortunately, not many sellers are honest and accurate about what they're selling.

Well time to wrap this up but not without quoting what one of my regular Sherman buyers once wrote to me. She said the reasons she buys so much Sherman from me are:

1) fabulously good photos showing all sides of the item 2) my willingness to disclose the exact condition of the item even if it's not the best ie. wear to the plate backing, damaged or cloudy stones, accurate details re lengths etc 3) my prices are in line with the desirability of the piece ie. rare or common color? signed or not signed? excellent or mediocre condition; single piece, demi or parure?

All of those factors are important when buying Sherman or any designer vintage jewelry, especially if you're buying online. She who hesitates too long might lose out but conversely, jumping in when you're not sure isn't wise either. The adage is true: asking questions is a sign of intelligence. So ask questions, clarify details, and make sure the item is within your budget before you invest in your next piece of Sherman.

We are always adding "new" affordable Shermans to our shelves in OUR SHOP AT RUBY LANE, and our site at SHERMAN JEWELLERY SHOWCASE. So bookmark those sites and check them often. Coming to our shop soon ... the gorgeous set shown below in citrine and topaz!

SOME FABULOUS SHERMAN SETS HAVE SURFACED LATELY ON EBAY ... BUT OH THE PRICES!

I haven't been neglecting my blog folks but I have been away for a much needed vacation. But I still put watches on Sherman auctions going on eBay and returned to find some amazing pieces had sold ... and at incredible prices. Boy, ebay used to be the best place to get Shermans for less, but not any more! Must admit, I find it strange that folks will enter the auction process and in many cases, end up paying more than they might have had they just bought directly from a Sherman vendor. But hey, it's their money they're spending. And now looking at what these pieces fetched on eBay, well put it this way: it's hard to believe we're nearly in a depression: someone has money!!

Take that gorgeous faux alexandrite set shown in the first picture. Actually I'm suprised it only went for $410 US. It's rare to find a 3-piece set like this, with necklace, bracelet and earrings. You can read more about that one by clicking on the photo ie. at least for as long as ebay will have it listed. Had I been around, I might have bid on this one, but then again, it's too similar to the gorgeous KRAMER parure I have listed in MY SHOP AT RUBY LANE and shown below:

And if I'm 100% honest, I prefer my Kramer. Besides it's a 4 piece set & a book piece. And the color changes from lavender purple to blue/green in this set are fantastic. Click the photo to see more of this one. But I digress...

The very beautiful Sherman set shown on the left sold for a whopping $690 USD! Of course there are a couple of reasons for that: its design is riveting and unique and its colors are again, one of the most popular ones: fuschia and pink. Now what would I have sold that for in my shop? Probably quite a bit less but again, being at auction, though there were only 3 bidders, they kept bumping each other up.

I think the same bidders were out to get each other on this other lovely fuschia set shown below:

This one went for $511 USD.
Note the
similarities: high demand color and unusual design. There's no doubt about it: these are Shermans for collectors ... and those who can afford them! Wish I were amongst them LOL!

Now this last one (shown below) blew me away .. not only because of the price it got but I have to admit, it's a real WOW! I'm crazy for the color... amethyst, lavender ... and those glass crystal beads are magnificent. So is what it cost the winning bidder: $811 USD!! Holy Smoke! But it's a smoking hot Sherman if ever there was one. There were 5 bidders on this one.

By the way, it might interest you to know that one person won all of these pieces! Do the maths and see what she spent on Sherman in one week. This buyer has bought from me in the past but she's never spent like she did here. Has she suddenly won the lottery? One thing's certain: she sure has amassed a fantastic and valuable collection of Sherman jewelry!

WOULD YOU PAY THIS MUCH FOR THIS SHERMAN?

There's a Sherman choker currently listed on eBay with a "buy it now" price I find a little hard to believe. You can take a look at it HERE. The reason I'm having trouble with the seller's asking price of $275 CAD or best offer is that I am selling the exact same Sherman choker shown on the right from my SHOP AT RUBY LANE for only $95 including Free Insured Shipping! So which one of us is missing something here? Am I, in my usual way, asking too little for a Sherman or is that eBay seller asking too much?

You know I'm finding it harder and harder to price Shermans these days. When it comes to the Siam red Shermans, you know the price is going to be sky-high, whether you're trying to win it on ebay or just trying to buy one. And I sometimes think that each such auction just pumps the prices of Shermans up and up so that sooner or later, like the stock market, there'll be a bubble and when it bursts, watch out for the fallout!

Everyday new people are writing to me asking about Shermans. They're in love with the designer, want to collect but like anything one collects, you still have to be careful to not overpay. Maybe it won't matter today if all you're doing is collecting, but if for some reason, tomorrow you have to sell a piece, it sure can hurt if you overpaid in the first place. I had that experience just recently when I listed the lovely book piece necklace shown below on Ebay and foolishly started

the bidding at $9.95. Never did I dream that the most anyone would bid for this beauty was $37. To my horror, I watched myself lose over $60 on this one because I had obviously overpaid it when I bought it. It was my first Sherman purchase and I was thrilled to later find it listed in Valerie Hammond's "All that Glitters" book. Valerie put a price on it of $195 - $225. I congratulated myself for buying it for only $110. Later, I listed it on my site at SHERMAN JEWELLERY SHOWCASE and also in MY SHOP AT RUBY LANE. Months went by and no-one bought it. I kept dropping the price till it was listed at what I'd paid and still no takers. So I sent it to eBay. The rest is history.

I'll never understand why a lovely necklace like that garnered so few bids. I'll never understand why a Sherman authority valued it for twice what I paid and 5 times what my winning bidder paid. But there's a moral in all this: when you're buying Sherman or any collectible designer vintage jewelry, shop around. Get savvy before you start buying up. Watch ebay auctions. Visit websites selling Shermans. Compare prices. Only then will you know whether you would or should pay this or that for a particular Sherman.

WHAT IS SHERMAN WORTH? HOW MUCH SHOULD I PAY?

That's a loaded question! A quick answer would probably be what you hear when you're buying a home or any major investment: it's worth what a buyer is willing to pay! And when it comes to jewellery by Sherman, some buyers are willing to pay a lot!

Take the examples in the photos in this blog. They are of Sherman jewelry sold since June 1, 2008 on eBay, which after all is where we're supposed to be able to find bargains. So if these are bargains, then be prepared to pay a lot for a piece of Sherman jewelry.

That stunning fuschia cuff bracelet recently sold on Ebay for $4500! Yes, you read right. Now we currently have a T.Michaels designer gold & diamond jewelry set on our site at VINTAGE JEWELRY SHOWCASE

for which we're asking only $1425 and given the high cost of gold right now, it's a steal. But so far, it remains unsold. And yet that Sherman cuff bracelet sold for $4500! Ouch. In fact, that's not the highest dollar I've seen on eBay recently for cuff bracelets. There was another in excess of $5300!

Sure makes my gorgeous green/blue bracelet shown on the lower right seem way underpriced at $350 including insured shipping, doesn't it! And I keep thinking my prices are too high? Yeah right! If you'd like to see more photos of this beauty, just click on the photo.











Here's another comparison: the large smoke gray cuff bracelet shown on the left sold for ... are you ready? $2747! And I'm talking US dollars by the way.

Moving away from bracelets and into necklaces, what about this beautiful blue necklace below that sold for just below $175. No matching earrings, just the necklace:

Now not all Sherman necklaces get a dollar as high as that but this one's unique: it's large marquise stones, surrounded by clear crystals and its lovely design set it apart from other Sherman necklaces out there.

That probably also explains why some time ago, one of my sets shown on the right sold on Ebay for $320. It was just fabulous and the bidding was intense. But the set was so unique with its huge stones and superb condition. And after all, it was a set! You can click on that photo to see other items sold from my site at SHERMAN JEWELRY SHOWCASE but it's far from the complete list. Surf around the site to find more recently sold items.

What I do find intriguing, given the high interest in Sherman jewelry is how few visitors to my sites will not buy directly from the site where the price is so reasonable, but they'll bid on it on eBay. I guess they're still hoping to snag the Sherman for less on eBay. Well l'll say this much: I usually get more for my Shermans when they're being auctioned off on eBay. Why do I tell you this? Simply because if you're looking for a bargain on Sherman Jewellery, eBay might NOT just be the best place to find it! If those prices above are any indication, it's something to think about, isn't it.