As Gen Z and Millennial consumers increasingly eschew machine-made, mass-produced pieces in favor of rare and distinctive finds, the vintage and estate category is emerging as a bright spot in the glittering world of fine jewelry. Experts in the field predict the category will experience significant growth in the coming years.
The numbers tell part of the story. In 2023, market research company Kentley Insights pegged estate and antique jewelry retail sales at $4.4 billion worldwide. The global vintage-ring market — the largest segment within the category — stands at $3.29 billion for 2024, according to consulting firm Global Research Intellect, which projects that rising disposable income and a growing demand for luxury items will propel that total to $5.23 billion by 2031. North America currently leads vintage and estate sales, though analysts forecast a high growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to a greater acceptance of antique and pre-owned jewelry.
Overall, there has been a palpable shift in the perception of estate jewelry on a mainstream level as consumers gain greater access to education on rarity, craftsmanship and inventory. The industry is responding in kind — dedicating more real estate to vintage and estate jewelry on trade show floors, hosting pop-up shops, and forming marketplaces for collectors and enthusiasts.
“I’ve been in the business 35 years, and a lot of people once regarded antique and vintage jewelry as grandma’s jewelry,” says Marianne Fisher, owner of New York-based dealer Paul Fisher. She’s also a founding member of the Jewelers Circle, a business-to-business (B2B) community that began when six well-known vintage and estate jewelers came together to navigate the market during the pandemic. Offering some of the world’s rarest jewelry finds, the alliance has since grown to include dozens of companies and hundreds of experts, and it opened its wares and educational resources to the public 18 months ago. That business-to-consumer model now counts more than 500 subscribers.
“Vintage and estate jewelry is slowly being recognized and has so much further to go,” says Fisher. “Young thirtysomethings are tired of the big brands. They’re recognizing [that machine-made] jewelry is not artistry anymore, it’s branding.”
Konstantinos Leoussis, founder of the NYC Jewelry and Vintage Show (NYCJAVS), has been seeing “this really big shift economically. More and more men are wearing vintage jewelry, and more and more women are buying it for themselves.” He held his first pop-up event in New York in October, with plans for monthly editions through January 2025.
“The market is hot and has been for a few years now,” agrees Amie Park, owner of Rogue Vintage Jewels and a recent exhibitor at NYCJAVS. “People are recognizing that you can get a lot more bang for your buck with quality materials and handmade craftsmanship versus automated, mass-produced pieces. It’s remarkable to find pieces made before electricity was invented.”
Gold standards
Demand-wise, the overriding trend in the estate world is yellow gold. Even in the face of record gold prices — $2,669 per ounce as of press time — consumers are clamoring for chunky statement jewelry in the yellow metal: chains, collars, charms, cuffs, bangles, gem-set cocktail rings, and hoop, drop or oversize-button earrings.
“Everyone wants gold jewelry right now,” Fisher confirms. “I find it shocking because it’s so expensive. It’s contradictory. But it’s fashion-driven. It speaks to the casual nature of what people are wearing.”
There are material reasons for the shift as well, according to Andrea Friedenson, owner of La Plus Charmante in Wellesley, Massachusetts. “This is a very fancy, heavy gold chain,” she says, pointing to an ornate Victorian piece. “It was made at a time when labor was cheap but materials were expensive, so you want to get every scrap of decorative value that you can out of it. Later, in the 1960s through ’80s, you see gold becoming less expensive relative to labor, so you start to see heavy gold pieces with less-decorative qualities. Now we’re seeing expensive materials and expensive labor, so new pieces are lightweight, machine-made, and they don’t exude quality. So people come to vintage for quality, and the prices are often a lot better.”
Entering the ring
Estate fine jewelers are also making inroads in the engagement-ring market, which may be the segment benefiting most from consumers’ aversion to mass-produced, cookie-cutter products.
“As the diamond market has changed and fluctuated, we’re seeing estate jewelry do really well” in this category, reports Hana Goble, cofounder of Wyndstone Antique & Vintage Jewelry in Los Angeles. “We’re seeing a lot of my young customers moving to vintage engagement rings because these diamonds were mined years ago. They like that it’s eco-conscious, but they’re also drawn to unique, one-of-a-kind pieces that express their individuality.”
Vintage and antique engagement rings are also one of the best-selling categories for Paul Lubetsky, founder and CEO of Windsor Jewelers in New York. He specifically cites ones with old mine and old European-cut diamonds.
“Customers are seeking out these cuts with much less faceting,” he says. “They’re special and captivating.”
Rethinking the classics
Across the board, signed brand-name pieces remain sought-after because of their prestige and resale value, say retailers. Buccellati, Cartier, Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, Harry Winston and Tiffany & Co. continue to top collectors’ lists, followed by lesser-known but no less coveted marks like JAR, Mellerio, René Boivin, and Verdura.
However, not everyone is casting their lot with big players. “People want to shop differently and with less intimidation, and that’s why I’ve chosen to focus on unsigned vintage jewelry,” says Randi Molofsky, founder of For Future Reference (FFR). The New York- and Los Angeles-based consultancy, which specializes in jewelry from the 1940s to ’80s, debuted its vintage collection at New York’s Bergdorf Goodman in August and is now an available partner to other retailers eager to launch an estate business.
“There’s a lot of inventory out there, and it doesn’t have to be produced at today’s sky-high gold prices, offering a tremendous value and more room for margin,” Molofsky adds.
Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco are all popular eras among consumers. However, the less-fussy Retro period and any decade from the ’40s to the ’80s appear to be dominant these days. At Bardy’s Estate Jewelry in Boca Raton, Florida, president Joel Bigelman has seen interest in pieces from the ’40s to the ’90s.
“A lot of customers think that vintage jewelry means Art Deco or Victorian or Edwardian — pieces that are highly detailed, delicate or too expensive to be realistic,” comments Molofsky. “We’re slowly educating clients that ‘vintage’ doesn’t always mean ‘antique’ and that it can feel just as modern as today’s contemporary brands.”
Additionally, the market is red-hot for natural, untreated emeralds and sapphires, and to a lesser extent, rubies. Windsor Jewelers has enjoyed sales of rare Kashmir and Montana blue sapphires.
“Natural, untreated stones of over a carat are a smart thing to collect,” says Fisher. “There’s only a finite amount of them, because the production is just not there right now, and the price is rising.”
However, it’s not just about the stones’ intrinsic value. Semiprecious gems like garnets, aquamarines and opals are gaining traction alongside emeralds, sapphires and rubies. Customers see them as “more affordable than traditional colored stones, but also, they’re drawn to the colors subjectively,” explains Goble.
What moves the customer
While serious collectors may be purchasing for resale potential or for the prestige of owning a signed piece or rare gem, the casual estate consumer’s motives are far less complicated. Sustainability, for instance, is one of vintage and antique jewelry’s biggest selling points.
“There’s nothing more sustainable than estate jewelry,” says Lubetsky. “It lasts forever and recycles back into the market.”
This factor is less important to Bigelman’s clients. “We don’t run into customers looking for the green aspect,” he says. “My customer is more about taste, what they like and what they can wear in today’s world.”
Meanwhile, vintage and estate purveyors are finding new ways to sell in today’s shifting retail landscape. Jewelers Circle is moving to a hybrid model that lets customers browse its inventory online and then purchase through a salon-like concierge service. The group’s team engages with clients via Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, but also by phone, Zoom meetings and private appointments.
“Part of our role is to educate both collectors and new entrants to help them find the piece of their dreams,” says chief operating officer Julie Thompson-Leriche. “We’ve seen a shift back to interaction and experience.”
Jewelers Circle has also partnered with the International Antique Jewelers Association (IAJA) to ensure that every piece it sells is carefully vetted by a team of experts. “We’re excelling in showing people what’s special, unique and rare, and teaching them why, and guaranteeing [the quality and provenance of the pieces],” says Fisher.
FFR’s vintage business tailors estate offerings to specific retailers. “For many years, coveted ‘vintage jewelry’ was really anything by Cartier, Bulgari, Tiffany or Van Cleef,” explains Molofsky. “But now independents see an opportunity to drill down and reflect their store’s clientele specifically, and that’s what we’re doing with FFR Vintage. When we work with a new [client], we talk about what the needs are: the price points, the silhouettes, the gemstones. This gives us a leg up, because we are able to come into a retailer with inventory that makes sense, but we still do it all from our own point of view, which is statement jewels — gold- and gemstone-heavy — that speak to the brand we created.”
A good story
Of course, one cannot separate estate jewelry from the need for storytelling. Conveying a piece’s history, provenance, craftsmanship and design, as well as its gemstone cuts and the materials its creators used during the given period, can make for a powerful motivator to purchase.
At the recent New York City Jewelry & Watch Show, Lauren Levy, owner and founder of Lauren DeYoung Jewelry, showed this reporter an Edwardian pendant necklace with moonstone and diamonds, remarkable for its warm patina of sterling silver-topped 14-karat gold. It was a common treatment emblematic of the period, she explained.
“Customers really want to come see things in person,” she said. “They want to connect. They’re excited, and they want to learn.”
As categories like the engagement ring undergo a period of upheaval, businesses looking to stand out should consider adding vintage and antique jewelry to their assortments. With new retail models offering customers more ways to access these pieces both online and in person, and consulting firms helping jewelers curate their estate selections, the category’s surging popularity at stores and trade shows is making it a more natural and profitable move than ever.
Main image: A selection of antique jewelry from Windsor Jewelers. (Windsor Jewelers)
