Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Napier Sterling Will Be Marked Sterling

There's a lot of misinformation about Napier jewelry. Soon there will be a book published on The Napier Co. with approximately 3000 pictures.

A Word About Napier Sterling Jewelry.

Napier marked all of their sterling jewelry with the word sterling. Napier also heavily plated their silver tone jewelry with a silver plate. Because of this, Napier jewelry is claimed to be solid sterling jewelry on auction sites and websites alike although it is not marked as such. This is not true. It will test for sterling but it IS NOT solid sterling silver.

Napier antique silver finish was so exquisite that it often fools the savvy jewelry collector. Do let this be you!

Up until at least the 1980's Napier did not use 925 as a identifier for sterling silver. The word sterling will be visible on the piece.

Goldette Is Not Native American Jewelry

Recently a lot of Goldette Squash Blossom style necklace have been showing up on Ebay. It's important to note that these pieces are not genuine American Indian jewelry. In fact they're not made from any noble metal or semi-precious stones.

Goldette (or Golette as one auction listed) is typical of American Costume Jewelry manufactured during the 1960's. According to Illusion Jewels http://www.illusionjewels.com/costumejewelrymarksg.html this company was own by "Circle Jewelry Products" beginning in 1958. Please visit their website for additional information on the company's marks.