Modernist Denmark Molten Silver Cuff Bracelet -- Jacob Hull?

I obtained this bangle recently. It's a little different from things I've had in the past. The bangle is made from a heavy base metal with a silver plated finish on top. It has a modern design with a molten looking texture on the front.

The maker's mark is "DS Handmade Denmark". Another well-respected site shows a simliar piece of vintage jewelry with the same mark and attributes it to Jacob Hull. Hull was active in the 1960s-1970s and was know for using silver plating.

If anyone can help me with further info, I'd much appreciate it!

What Makes a Great Antique Booth?

When I walk through an antique mall, I tend to see the majority of the booths as not very interesting. I hate to see a bunch of garage sale level items, overpriced and dusty, sitting in an unlit and jumbled booth with no real theme. Once in a while, I'll run across a booth that's truly exciting. These booths tend to have a theme where the seller is marketing a family of items that go together. At the Ohio Valley Antique Mall in Fairfield, I saw several great booths recently.

There were a couple of vintage kitchen spaces with kitchen furniture, dishes, hand appliances and decorative items. I saw a colorful mid century furnishings and art booth.

Someone was selling a few vintage refrigerators which had me salivating. The stainless fridge is really a freezer that has been outfitted to hold a keg with a tap on the door. So fun!

The Ohio Valley Antique Mall in located on Route 4.

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Shopping for Antiques in Small Town Ohio

I had an errand to run recently that took me out into the country of southern Ohio. Prior to going, I Googled "antique stores" to see if I could find a few in nearby small towns. One town, Lynchburg OH, showed a single antique store listing online.

Well, I went out of my way and found Lynchburg. There was a single stoplight with a bank, a gas station, a hardware store and a few other buildings. Within a few seconds I found the location of Lynchburg Antique Mall but it appeared to be closed. Darn it! I was ready to spend some money. After walking up to the store front and peering through the glass, I saw someone arranging items inside. I knocked on the window, totally ignoring the sign on the door which announced that the store would be open for business for the season in a couple of weeks. The man inside the store opened the door to talk to me and let me in.

This guy was busy and could have turned me away. As soon as I told him what I was looking for, he rummaged around and found me several boxes of vintage costume jewelry for me to look through. I found some good items; we had a good conversation while I was looking and he gave me a fabulous deal.

I'll be back. The owner of the mall said that several antique stores are open in the area during the summer season. It will be fun to explore the area again in a few months.

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How To Clean Green Gunk Verdigris From Jewelry

As a collector and seller of vintage costume jewelry, it's always a disappointment to come across a beautiful piece of vintage costume jewelry covered in green gunk. You know what I'm talking about...it looks like green mold and is usually clinging to the metal parts of the piece. This green gunk is officially known as verdigris.

Verdigris is corrosion of the metal caused by exposure to moisture, makeup or other contaminants. It happens over time and I see it when a bunch of costume jewelry has been stored for years, sometimes in contact with moisture and with other pieces of jewelry. It is possible to transfer the growth of verdigris from one piece of jewelry to another if they are touching for long periods of time. Some verdigris is easily removed and some is beyond bothering with. I always try to remove it but realize that sometimes the treatment is nearly as bad as the verdigris itself.

Below are my recommended methods to remove verdigris:
1. TOOTHPICK -- Sometimes a toothpick is all it takes to scrape small amounts of verdigris from small spots on jewelry. I'd try this first.
2. DRY TOOTHBRUSH -- Take a dry toothbrush and brush it across the gunk, removing as much as you can.
3. METAL POLISH -- After brushing off as much as I can with a toothbrush, I might move on to try metal polish. There are metal polishes out on the market that are worth their weight in gold to me. Most can be purchased at any hardware store or big box store. I'm currently using a small tube of metal polish named Maas Metal Polish. These metal polishes are very slightly abrasive creams which will help you remove tarnish or dirt from metals. Squeeze a pea-sized drop of polish on to a clean, soft cloth and rub softly on the jewelry. After about 30 seconds of rubbing, check your jewelry out. Hopefully, some of the green is off the jewelry and on your cloth. Finish polishing your jewelry with a clean portion of the cloth. If metal polish has not worked satisfactorily, it's time to move on to "home chemical treatments".
WARNING: Some of the options below may work but I use them only as a last resort. Many times, even after the verdigris is removed, the metal underneath is no longer gold plated and may not match the finish on the rest of the piece of jewelry. Keep this in mind before you try the treatments below.
4. VINEGAR -- Pour some white vinegar into a bowl or cup and soak your jewelry for about 20 minutes. Pull the jewelry out, then brush it off with the toothbrush. Rinse well, then dry well with a soft clean cloth. Do NOT soak certain types of jewelry in vinegar, especially jewelry with soft gems like pearls, fake pearls, rhinestones with foil backings, glued in rhinestones. If the verdigris is only on certain parts of jewelry, you could still try the vinegar but maybe soak some onto a cotton ball or paper towel and leave the soaked cotton ball touching the verdigris only. This will protect your stones in the jewelry.
4. KETCHUP -- I've used ketchup in the past because it is acidic and stays in place. The warning about protecting soft gems and rhinestones applies to ketchup as well as vinegar. Lay the jewelry on a paper towel. Squirt the ketchup on the verdigris, wait about 30 minutes, rinse the jewelry well and dry thoroughly. If you can get over the smell and mess of the ketchup, it can sometimes work well.

Proper storage of vintage costume jewelry will prevent future damage. Try not to expose your jewelry to moisture and at least make sure that moisture or makeup is not present on the jewelry when putting it away. It's best not to pile a bunch of jewelry together and leave it laying there for years. Just get your jewelry out and look at it once in a while. The sooner you catch that nasty green gunk, the easier it is to stomp out!

Lost Jewelry In A Graveyard

A while back, I met a lady at a local Steak n Shake parking lot to buy jewelry. It was night but I was able to see the jewelry (kind of ) from the streetlights. After completing the transaction, I told the lady goodbye and started to drive home. I'd gone a little ways when I realized that I couldn't find one particular piece so I decided to stop the car and search. I pulled into the closest driveway and stopped the car. The driveway happened to be the entrance to a graveyard, which didn't necessarily bother me. I stopped the car and went around to the passenger's side to open the car and search. When I opened the door, one cardboard box of jewelry tumbled out. Some jewelry fell inside the car and some fell on the ground. Some fell under the car. So here I am in a pitch black graveyard, feeling under my car for tumbled-out jewelry and laughing/cursing my stupidity. I pawed around and picked up everything I could see. As I backed the car out of the driveway, I used my headlights to illuminate the ground and found a couple more pieces peeking out of grass clumps.
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Antiques Auction at the Preble County OH Fairgrounds

I went to an auction yesterday at the Preble County Fairgrounds in Eaton, Ohio, known as the birthplace of Swine Improvement in America. No swine were visible yesterday. The crowd included farmers, townspeople, and the same old antiques dealers and gold buyers whom I see at every auction in Cincinnati.

There was so much to sell that it filled two large rooms inside the fairground buildings. I love auctions like that because it usually helps keep prices down when there is an abundance of goods. Yesterday, though, auction bids were surprisingly high....apparently the recession hasn't hit Eaton, OH. There were at least 200 ziploc bags of jumbled vintage costume jewelry for sale. I competed against one particular guy in overalls (!) and paid dearly for about 20 bags.


There was half of a room dedicated just to sewing supplies. In boxes of supplies, I would see a bakelite clip here and a bakelite clip there. I intended to stay and bid on these boxes but eventually ran out of time.

My best purchase was a 1970s Lanvin signed colorful enamel pendant necklace. Very Pucci looking. I hope to list it on eBay sometime next week.

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eBay Sponsored Links Can Sell Designer Knockoffs

On eBay, a seller is NOT allowed to use certain words to draw customers. For example, if I have an estate find "David Yurman" looking necklace to sell and I'm not totally sure if it's authentic David Yurman, I'm not allowed to use the words "David Yurman" or "David Yurman style" or "David Yurman inspired" anywhere in the auction title or text of the eBay ad. eBay will end and remove my ad as soon as they are aware of this type of text. If I violate this rule repeatedly, my eBay account can be suspended.

eBay will tell sellers that, prior to listing a designer item, they must be able to authenticate the item's provenance to eBay's fairly strict standard. This policy is supposedly meant to prevent trademark infringement by unethical sellers. I support these rules if this is the true reason for their existence.

Today I searched for David Yurman jewelry on eBay and found at the bottom of the page, in the Sponsored Links section, four different ads for David Yurman inspired (meaning fake) jewelry from paid advertisers. Same thing for Tiffany. eBay is allowing companies who sell fakes to advertise on their pages, right below eBay sellers who have to abide by stricter rules.

I'm sure that eBay's argument would be that nobody is violating eBay's trademark infringement rules if these goods are sold on sites that are merely linked to eBay.

I have a real problem with this. Let's hold all vendors who sell or advertise on eBay to the same standard.

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What Is Thermoset Lucite Jewelry?

Thermoset lucite jewelry was manufactured predominantly in the 1950s-1960s by many costume jewelry companies. It was great for jewelry because the lucite (a heavier plastic) could be molded into many creative shapes and designs. I've seen many examples of thermoset lucite by well-known manufacturers such as Lisner, Coro, BSK, Trifari as well as other makers signed and unsigned.



Lucite can be opaque or translucent. It can also have objects embedded into it....objects such as abalone pieces, or shells, or confetti or glitter. Confetti lucite is exactly as it sounds: lucite with confetti or glitter embedded inside. The bracelets pictured are wide with lucite pieces with embedded items. They are available on my web site with the link below.

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Tiffany Fakes & "Inspired" Replicas are Everywhere!

A few months ago, I purchased a group of jewelry. In the lot was a large silver cuff bracelet with raised daisies on the front. Lo & behold, the bracelet was marked "Tiffany & Co". After some research, I found that this Daisy cuff design is part of the Nature Series. I did not know if the bracelet was authentic or not, so I took it to my local Tiffany store for their opinion. My bracelet turned out to be a fake but it took four Tiffany employees inspecting and discussing the bracelet to decide that the bracelet is fake. That's how good the counterfeit Tiffany jewelry producers have become. They have the details of the jewelry down to the finest degree. According to the Tiffany salespeople, much of the Tiffany jewelry being re-sold or sold on the Internet is fake.

eBay is trying to crack down on sellers who are offering fake Tiffany but it's hard to catch everything. Key word spamming (using word like Tiffany or Tiffany inspired) is against eBay policy and is a blatant disregard for the rules. Today, though, I ran across a seller who is selling Tiffany replicas without calling them so but the items are photographed on a Tiffany blue background. Very misleading, in my opinion.

I obtained another cuff bracelet recently. This one is Mexican silver and is a few years old. It's clearly marked "Mexico". But it's a dead ringer for Elsa Peretti's sterling bone cuff on Tiffany's web site.

I used to think that having a Tiffany pouch or box was good enough authentication that an item is the real thing. But these boxes and bags are being copied and sold too. The only way I'd purchase a pre-owned Tiffany piece is to see a sales receipt from the original sale.



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How To Identify Authentic Amber

Amber is a natural tree resin that can be molded into the same shapes as chemically-made “plastics”. Most amber used in jewelry will range from yellow to brown in color. It runs a range from transparent to translucent. You might see a perfectly clear piece with no “cracks” or inclusions or your amber may be full of these. There is an immature type of amber, not as desirable, known as copal amber. It will not stand up to the tests below. So, if you have something that looks like amber but doesn’t pass these tests, it is copal amber or a plastic. There are several tests to identify amber (some more sophisticated tests which I've not mentioned here but can be found on the Internet). Yy favorite test is the static test.

Static test: Rub your amber against a cotton cloth. It will become electrostatically charged. The charged amber should pick tiny pieces of paper like a magnet.

Solvent test: Please be careful here and don’t ruin your jewelry. You can apply a drop of acetone (fingernail polish remover) to your amber. If it becomes sticky or tacky, it is not true amber. Wash your jewelry as soon as you complete the test.

Bouyancy test: Amber will float in salt water. Make a solution of 2 ½ teaspoons of salt per cup of water and dissolve. True amber will float.

Hot needle test: Heat a needle in a flame until it is red hot. Touch the tip of the needle to a hidden place on the amber. True amber will noe melt quicky and will put off a grey smoke.

The necklace photographed above can be found in my eBay store.

Visit My eBay Store: MidCentury Jewelry

www.midcenturyjewelry.com.