Since we started selling vintage costume jewelry online, Swank brand jewelry is always among our top selling items. Swank was started in 1897 in Attleboro, MA as the Attleboro Manufacturing Co., and specialized in making and selling women’s jewelry. Not long after the start of production of women’s jewelry,  however, a massive fire destroyed the factory as well as an entire city block of Attleboro. Some jewelry as well as some machinery was saved and the company moved its manufacturing to a nearby building, which remained the center of the company’s business for the next 100 years.

The company didn’t expand into men’s jewelry, like cufflinks and other accessories until 1908, when they formed a new division called Baer and Wilde specifically to produce men’s jewelry. The division had middling success but didn’t start to take off until they released the Kum-A-Part line of products for cuffs.

When the United States joined WWI, the company contributed by making metal dog tags for soldiers, as well as other emblems for the military. Around this time, the men’s jewelry line had really taken off, so the women’s jewelry lines were discontinued.

The company then focused all of their attention on producing men’s accessories like tie clips, pins, collar buttons and dress sets. The name Swank was used in one of the company advertisements as early as 1927, but the company did not form Swank Products, Inc. until 1936. In 1941, the company shortened the name again and they became what we now know as Swank, Inc.

The company sprang into action to contribute to WWII efforts as well, making parts for guns as well as award items like purple hearts and bronze stars. After the war’s end, Swank expanded into other areas, including fragrances, wallets, belts and other accessories for men.

In the 1950’s and 60’s, Swank, Inc. began acquiring other brands in order to continue expanding. The company acquired Prince Gardner Company, Crestline Manufacturing Company and Alco Leather Manufacturing Corporation.

In the 1970’s, the company invested in a large expansion, renovation and modernization of their manufacturing facilities.

In the 1980’s, the company re-introduced their women’s line under the name Anne Klein.

Nowadays, you may be surprised at the number of recognizable brand names owned by Swank, Inc., they include Guess?, Liz Claiborne, Geoffrey Beene, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Nautica and Chaps.

eBay is a great place to get bargains on antiques and collectibles, but it’s also easy to get scammed or pay too much.

Here are some tools to help you dig for the best deals on eBay:

AuctionSniper – It’s difficult to get a good price if you don’t use a sniping tool, since everybody else seems to be using one. AuctionSniper is my favorite! Very easy to use and effective and free!

GetItNext – This is a fantastic search tool if you are looking for something specific and are sick of irrelevant results from eBay’s lackluster search tool.

RSSAuction – If you’re in the market for a very specific item, try this tool that will alert you to the latest items available according to your preferences. Very handy! You can also add it to your RSS reader or portal, like My Yahoo or iGoogle.

ShoeBoxed – This is a handy one, where you are provided with a free email address to use for eBay shopping and most other online shopping purchases. When you make a purchase, the receipt is emailed to your account and the site automatically organizes your receipts. Very handy if you plan to do Christmas shopping online, make those returns easy!

GoofBay – This tool helps you find misspelled auctions and auctions with poor grammar. Could be a real bargain finder.

The antiques business changes constantly. What was hot a couple years ago, may not be so hot now. So what’s hot or, at least, selling well in 2008?

Sterling Silver

A quick view of eBay will tell you that sterling silver items are selling fairly well right now. The economy almost certainly has something to do with this and the fact that silver is way up compared to last year. In 2007, silver was just $13 an ounce. In June 2008, it’s now well over $17 an ounce, inching closer and closer to $18 an ounce. It’s sad to think that some lovely silver items, like heirloom silverware, trinkets, jewelry and other vintage and antique items with some history may be melted down instead of enjoyed for their antique value. Silver may go even higher as the economy continues to weaken, so look out for low priced heavy silver items at garage sales and flea markets.

Decorative Items

Interior decorators are using antiques more and more these days, driving prices higher and higher. Art deco furniture, lamps, chairs, desks and accessories are an old stalwart, always doing well. Empire, Victorian, Mission, gothic and French furniture and decorative items are also doing well. Keep an eye out for these types of furniture at estate sales especially. Mirrors, chandeliers and clocks are the most popular accessories.

Dolls and Toys

Antique and vintage dolls and toys are always popular, but seem more so right now, with new collectors coming into the market all the time. Included in this area are vintage video games and consoles. Especially popular are the rarer video game consoles and video game cartridges from the early 80’s. Keep an eye out for these at garage sales.

Vintage costume jewelry has become a highly collectible niche in the antiques and collectibles world. Here are some of the most collectible names in vintage costume jewelry and some background on them.

Weiss

Created in 1942 by a former Coro company employee named Albert Weiss, Weiss has become one of the most popular and collectible names in vintage costume jewelry collecting. Weiss is synonymous with gorgeous and elegant rhinestone pieces including brooches, necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Sadly, the Weiss company went out of business in 1971, therefore their pieces are very collectible and the most beautiful pieces including figurals like birds and animals routinely sell for high prices on auction sites and in both online and offline stores. Watch out for reproductions of Weiss jewelry, many less knowledgeable sellers on eBay will sell a reproduction as a true Weiss. Real Weiss jewelry is of exceptional quality, you can often tell a fake from a real piece by viewing the details of the piece with a loupe. Also, some Weiss fakes have a textured backing, where real Weiss is very smooth. The stamp may also be offset or a bit difficult to read. Real Weiss generally has a strong stamp with clear lettering.

Eisenberg

The Eisenberg company began in 1914 as an apparel company. Then sometime in the 1930’s, they created and began to market jewelry pieces. Like Weiss, Eisenberg is known for high quality craftsmanship and for using high quality materials, including sparkling Austrian crystals. Their earliest pieces were marked as “Eisenberg Original” and later on they marked their pieces simply “Eisenberg” or “Eisenberg Ice”. The Eisenberg company still makes jewelry today but obviously the older pieces are the most collectible. For a time in the 1940’s, Eisenberg used sterling silver in their pieces and any pieces in sterling silver are very collectible. Their pieces in sterling silver will be marked as such.

Hobe

Pronounced ho-bee, Hobe has been a name synonymous with fine quality costume jewelry since the 1920’s. The Hobe family actually started making jewelry in France in the late 19th century, then William Hobe founded the official company when he came to the US from France in the late 1920’s. Hobe jewelry is characterized by it’s excellent quality of craftsmanship, usage of gold and silver plated settings and quality stones. During Hollywood’s golden age, Hobe jewelry was a favorite of Hollywood stars and their finest pieces could be seen adorning starlets wardrobe’s in many classic movies. Hobe pieces were all marked, with the name Hobe typically stamped in a stylized Art Deco style script with an elongated H or B or in block letters. The original, family run Hobe company stopped producing jewelry in the early 1990’s, however a Hobe company exists that still produces jewelry marked as Hobe up to today.

Coro

The name Coro actually comes from an abbreviation of the original founders last names, which were Cohn and Rosenberger. The company was founded in New York around the turn of the century and later incorporated with the name Coro. The Coro company was one of the most, if not the most, prolific producer of costume jewelry in the 20th century. At one point during the 1920’s, the company was said to have employed more than 2000 workers in producing their lines of costume jewelry. The Coro company prided itself on producing costume jewelry for a wide range of customers, and as a result you could find Coro pieces available in both a local five and dime store and also find finer Coro pieces in high end department stores. Coro’s finest pieces could certainly compare in craftsmanship, design and quality to well known, highly collectible names like Weiss and Eisenberg. Due to their massive production, Coro used well over 100 styles of marks, stamps and variations of marks on their jewelry, sometimes changing their marks every year. Coro also produced jewelry under other brand names such as Vendome, which is highly collectible, CoroCraft, Cellini, Francois among many others. Highly collectible Coro pieces include their famous “jelly belly” pieces, sterling silver pieces including those marked MEXICO and their “Coro Duette” line.

Other Collectible Names

While these names are some of the most collectible names in costume jewelry, they certainly aren’t the only collectible names. More collectible names include Art, Lisner, Napier, Trifari, Boucher, Miriam Haskell, Carnegie, Florenza, Kramer, Sarah Coventry, Schreiner, Van Dell, Whiting & Davis, Bogoff, as well as others.

Popular with antique dealers, collectors and bargain hunters from all over the US, this year’s World’s Longest Yard Sale will happen on August 2nd through the 5th. The sale comprises goodies from thousands of individual sellers, homeowners and dealers that live or work along Highway 127. The sale runs a full 630 miles and runs through 5 states running from Kentucky to Alabama. Check out the map here.

For those that miss the sale, HGTV runs an hour long special on the sale every year called “Endless Yard Sale” which follows some bargain hunters and collectors on their hunt for items.

Click here for more information on the sale.