Judy's Jewelry in Fort Myers buys Chanel costume jewelry and pays cash for the pieces we buy, so a Naples seller has a counter to bring them to. Chanel is one of the classic houses on our costume jewelry list, beside names like Miriam Haskell and Trifari. Each piece is examined on its own, and you hear which are collectible and which are decorative. Once you accept our offer on a piece, the cash is in your hand before you leave.

Glass Stones Are What Chanel Chose

Colored glass on a Chanel brooch is part of the design, because Gabrielle Chanel chose glass and gilt metal on purpose. She built her costume jewelry, faux pearls included, as fashion to wear with her clothes. Her designs drew on Byzantine and Renaissance jewelry, with large colored stones set in gilded frames. Glass pearls on a Chanel strand belong to the same choice, and the clasp and chain are judged with them as one necklace. The value of a vintage Chanel piece comes from the house and the design, while the materials stay modest by intention.

What Makes One Chanel Piece More Collectible Than Another

Poured glass is one of the strongest points a Chanel piece can have. The Paris workshop Maison Gripoix made Chanel designs in poured glass, called pâte de verre, where molten glass and enamel are poured into a gilded frame around each stone. The color fills the whole opening and stays deep and clear when the piece is held to the light. Gripoix work for Chanel ranks among the house's most sought costume pieces with collectors.

Condition comes next, and the gilt finish shows it first. Bright gilding on the edges, the back and the tip of the clasp, with no base metal showing through, keeps a piece near the top of its range. Stones that are bright, each one in place, add to that. Original clasps and fittings matter as well, since a replaced clasp or a swapped stone takes a piece away from how the house made it. A complete set, such as a necklace with its matching brooch or both earrings of a pair, is commonly valued above the same pieces sold singly. An original box or card belongs with the piece too, because it helps document where the piece came from.

Signed Pieces And Unsigned Pieces

A stamp on the back helps place a Chanel piece in a period, and signed pieces are the center of the collecting market. Karl Lagerfeld took over design at Chanel in 1983, and dealers describe 1980s pieces from his years as highly sought after. From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Chanel marked its costume jewelry with a collection number beside the interlocking CC. Starting in 1993, the stamp carries a season letter, such as A for autumn or P for spring, with a two-digit year. Some stamps from the 1970s show the copyright and trademark symbols with the CC and the words Made in France. On some pieces the marking sits on a small separate plate soldered onto the back, and a piece that has lost its plate is still Chanel work to examine.

An unsigned piece can still be Chanel. The costume jewelry of the 1920s and 1930s was left unmarked, and many pieces made from 1954 to 1971 carry no stamp or only a very basic one. Unsigned pieces with distinctive designs have their own buyers. On a piece with no stamp, the way each stone is set and the way the metal frame is built show whose work it is.

How The Offer Comes Together

We test and examine jewelry to determine its value, and then we make you an offer. The offer on a Chanel piece weighs these points together, from the period of the stamp to the state of the gilt. You hear which of your pieces are collectible and which are decorative, piece by piece.

What To Bring From Naples

Bring every Chanel piece you have, stamped or not, with both earrings of each pair and any necklace and brooch that were made together. Bring the original boxes or cards if you still have them. The rest of the jewelry box can come along too, since we also buy gold and estate pieces. Call Judy's Jewelry at (239) 481-9600 before your visit from Naples, and at our Fort Myers counter we will go through each piece with you and pay cash for the ones we buy.