Costume Jewellery

Yesterday I found a ziploc sandwich bag full of what looks like grandma's collection of old costume jewellery. I know enough to look for markings for real gold, silver, etc. Unfortunately none of them bore those marks. But very little of it will stick to a magnet, so my question is how do I figure out what its all made of. I'm guessing aluminum or brass, just by the weight of items, but is there a way to tell the two apart?

The only really good (I hope) goody I found was an old (non-working) Waltham pocket watch. I've looked them up and they sell for a good price in working condition, so I'm going to take it to the local jeweller to see cost of fix/appraisal.

I have found some really valuable costume jewelry. Let some of the women in your life help you with this too, my GF didn't like any of the items. She was a big help in showing me the quality of the construction though, the value is in the fine details and the name of jeweler is everything!

Look for the signature marks - a lot of named costume jewelry is worth far more than scrap. Even broken stuff will sell well to crafters.

Thanks all. I was already going to try to sell the watch as "steampunk" if it wasn't worth fixing it.

Jill is correct, good quality costume jewelry will almost always have jewelers marks. They are not always easy to find though!

Holy crap, you guys weren't kidding. I don't have any of it with me but I remembered "Boucher" being on one of the pieces. Looks like I might have to look into getting an ebay/paypal account!

It helps to have a loupe to find some of the marks, and look around the clasps if there's nothing on the back.

Even unmarked stuff has a market, sold in 'lots'.

I have a suitcase full . Some really nice stuff. Pawn shops won't be bothered saying it's junk aka not real. SCAMMERS advertise on cl but are no shows and low ballers. What is the best site to compare and view ? A costume jewelry forums? Ija

I usually search completed auctions on eBay...gives you a good idea.

A pretty good site to look up the maker's marks:

Researching Costume Jewelry History, Jewelry Marks, Fashion Jewelry, Vintage Jewelry research, Jewelry signatures