How many times have you watched something like Antiques Road Show and wondered how these people get so lucky to have a treasure they didn't know about in their possession? I so often wish I could come across a diamond ring someone thought was cubic zirconia, or a necklace someone assumed was pretty rhinestones and it turned out to be rare gemstones, or a signed designer piece, but I just about never do. And then, my family members weren't collectors. They were just refugees after WW2 and like so many of their friends, they came to regard money in their bank accounts as wealth. Far be it from them to buy up paintings or pots or ornaments at a yard sale or flea market. That was just throwing their hard-earned money away. So no family treasures were passed onto us that could ever make someone's face light up like Christmas when they learned what they were worth as antiques.
So when a lady recently approached me regarding a stunning siam red collection of Sherman jewelry she owned, I was once again in awe and not a little envious as to how she had acquired one of the pieces. The gorgeous large-stoned necklace shown in her photo below was being thrown out at a rummage sale!!
Someone asked her if she'd like to have it. Since she liked pretty, glittery jewelry, she said "Yes". Now I don't know if she saw the little oval with "Sherman" in it on the back (it'd be the first thing I'd look for!) but talk about getting lucky! She then went on to acquire the other pieces bit by bit. What she has now is not a matched set, but being signed Sherman pieces in the most sought after color for Sherman, she has some valuable jewelry on her hands. Unfortunately for me, she's not interested in selling it but then, I'm not sure I could afford it anyway!
But now that I think of it, I did "get lucky" in my earlier days of buying Sherman jewelry. To be honest, I didn't even know about Sherman until I went to a garage sale looking for gold jewelry. A lady there had this massive display box filled with gorgeous, glittering Sherman necklaces, brooches and bracelets. She seemed really puzzled that I wasn't the least bit interested in those and I was puzzled as to why she was puzzled. After all, that costume jewelry stuff couldn't be worth what real gold is, could it? Well I came to learn over time that not only could a Sherman sell for the same as a diamond or gemstone ring, but sometimes, if the color was right, or the design different enough, it could sell for even more.
Once I began researching this famed Canadian vintage costume jewelry designer, Gustave Sherman, I nearly went into shock seeing what his pieces would fetch. What Miriam Haskell, Schiaparelli, Stanley Hagler and others are to American costume jewelry collectors, Sherman is to Canadians. On that famous auction site we all know, it's rare to see a Sherman not sell ... if it's at auction. Siam red sets and Sherman cuff bracelets go as high as $1000 or more. Seeing that interest in Sherman, I began actively looking for Sherman at antique shows (couldn't afford them LOL) and flea markets (never found them). Then one Sunday I visited a local flea market just for something to do and I spotted what I thought was a rather gaudy set of jewelry buried at the bottom of the vendor's display case. I commented to him that it was rather ugly. He smiled knowingly and said "Ah...but it's valuable!" I was about to say "You could fool me" when I turned it over and spotted the Sherman oval on the back of the necklace and the block lettering on the clip-on earrings. Suddenly, it wasn't ugly at all. I negotiated with him and got the set for, well, nearly a song. He too didn't know how really valuable it was. I couldn't wait to rush home, clean it up, take photos and see if anyone liked it enough to buy it. Well, did they what! I made back 3 times my investment on that one set! Sadly, since then, I've never really gotten lucky again, at least not in acquiring Shermans. But once in a while, I stumble across a treasure that someone didn't know they had, like the first Jabel ring I ever bought. But that's another story for another time.
So is there such a thing as "getting lucky" or do we, as I've always believed, "make our own luck"? I suspect when you work the two together, if you're alert and informed when you're hunting for treasure, you can indeed be lucky.
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