Buying VINTAGE Jewelry in the NYC Diamond District. #gjwfashion #gjwjewelry

Liam! Liam, where are we going? New York! We're headed to New York City taking Amtrak and we have our first buying appointment at 1 30 on 47th street. Our owners take trips to New York City a few times a year to meet with gold buyers. This time they're bringing their families along. Can I see you put it up to your eye? I see a gem! We are headed to our first appointment on 47th street. We navigated the subway not very well but we're close. It is so hot out right now. We're almost there. One more block. The diamond district on 47th street has lots of jewelry stores that are open to the public but our owners have built relationships over the years with some gold buyers who only work on a wholesale basis so they'll get to source from jewelry that you can't just walk in off the street to see. What are we looking for during these appointments? Good quality gemstones, well-made pieces. They'll look for things that they know we're low on in the shop like certain gemstones or styles. Good everyday bread and butter pieces that are always in demand but they'll also always be on the lookout for anything unique. These appointments take several hours and it's literally just sorting through hundreds and thousands of fine vintage and estate jewelry. Since they were with their families this trip they took a little detour to the museum to see some even more impressive gemological specimens. I think we have two rings right now from the victorian era that have holding forks. So a lot of our customers ask us how can this piece be vintage if it has a synthetic gemstone in it. You can see here that synthetic rubies actually hit the market in 1902 so they've been around for a very long time. The next week back in the Meijing Vintage Studio the entire team gets to look through the haul. Some of us even pick some pieces out to keep before they ever make it to the shop. Now let's take a closer look at some of the finds. We got some really nice masculine diamond rings. These are great because we've been seeing a lot more men interested in wearing engagement rings. This looks to be like a retro era cat pendant. Our gemologists have since tested it and found the body to be aventurine quartz. I was finding myself really drawn to the purple gemstones this time probably because of my nails. These rings with pearl halos are especially stunning. This is one of our most expensive finds from this trip, a diamond and sapphire toit et moi ring. Toit et moi means you and me in French. I love this one. The green is stunning. We usually look for gemstones that don't have quite this much wear but this one's just it's just worth it. We think someone will appreciate it regardless. This butterfly piece is more modern but it's one of my favorites. The colors on it are just mesmerizing. I'm actually surprised none of our staff kept this one. This antique stick pin is very pretty. A lot of people ask us how to use these. Today they're best used as tie pins. They were popular in cravats and as clothing fasteners but when the modern zipper was invented these started to fall out of use. We could also turn it into a pendant and use the stick to make a dainty ring band. A peridot ring. Love the texture on this ring and the peridot color really pops against it. This hornet or wasp pendant is very cool. Pieces like this are great for collectors. Some clients look specifically for animal or bug jewelry. Same as this owl brooch. I wonder if it could be worn as a pendant. An abacus pendant. Any charm or pendant that's interactive or that moves is always a fun find. This mesh style ring is fun. This will be one of the few rings that we can't resize. This is probably my favorite kind of bicolor gemstone. Watermelon tourmaline. Tourmaline is one of the October birthstones. A crescent moon pendant with pearls. Celestial themes are always in style and have been for decades. We found several retro era zodiac charms. These are always a hit. A sunstone halo. We don't find this gemstone very often in the jewelry that we source. It's definitely a modern ring and sunstone isn't the hardest of gems so it's not great for everyday wear but gosh this would make such a pretty engagement ring. This is a fun bag of cherub charms. They're all slightly different so these will make a very fun collection to list. Here we have a hope chest charm. Hope chests were traditionally used by young women to keep things in in preparation for marriage. This piece is beautiful. It looks like it has a couple different colors of gold accenting the designs. This is a rare find from the art nouveau era. The enamel is so well preserved. Love that she has her own diamond earring too. This was our founder Laura's favorite find. Absolutely decadent and moves really nicely. Let us know which of these pieces caught your eye or tell us what we should be looking out for on our future sourcing trips.