The dealer's notes

Guides on mystery jewellery jars: what's inside, what pieces are worth, and how a jar gets sealed.

• The history of the mystery jewellery jar

  From dime-store grab bags to today's sealed jars: how the mystery jewellery jar format began, spread through online marketplaces, and started declaring what's inside.

• Coquette mystery jewellery jars: what's actually inside, and how to tell real pearls from faux

  A coquette mystery jewellery jar is a sealed jar of bow brooches, pearl strands and pastel ribbon-motif pieces built around a soft, romantic palette. What separates vintage bow-and-pearl jewellery from new fast-fashion coquette stock, and what a good listing must declare before you pay.

• What is a mystery jewellery jar?

  A sealed jar of pre-selected vintage jewellery, bought without seeing the pieces. How an honest seller fills one, and what it must declare first.

• Are mystery jewellery jars worth it?

  Mostly no. One test separates a hand-sorted jar from rejarred bulk: does the listing name the categories, the piece count and the source?

• How to tell if vintage jewellery is valuable

  Hallmarks, clasps, construction and maker's marks: the checks a dealer runs on a piece, in the order they run them.

• Sterling silver vs silver tone

  925, 800, silver plated and silver tone: four things at four prices. How to tell them apart with the piece in your hand.

• Caring for vintage jewellery

  How to clean tarnished silver, what never to put in water, and why some darkening is better left alone.

• Where to buy mystery jewellery jars in Europe

  Buying inside Europe avoids customs and week-long transit. Where the stock comes from, what shipping should cost, what to check first.

• Questions

  What is in a jar, what it declares before you buy, whether it counts as gambling, how returns work and where we ship.

• Witchy mystery jewellery jars: what's actually inside, and how to tell metal from mineral

  A witchy mystery jewellery jar is a sealed jar of moon-and-crystal costume jewellery — pentacles, oxidised silver-tone, tumbled stones, dark paste. Here is what a good one declares before you pay, and the three signs of a bad one.

• Y2K mystery jewellery jars: what's actually inside, and how to tell it's real

  A Y2K mystery jewellery jar is a sealed jar of chunky gold-tone chains, rhinestone charms and butterfly motifs from around 1998-2005. What separates a genuine period piece from a new reproduction, and what a good listing must declare before you pay.

• Gothic mystery jewellery jars: what's actually inside, and how to pick one

  A gothic mystery jewellery jar is a sealed jar of dark, ornate vintage costume jewellery — black glass, oxidised silver-tone, crosses, cameos, garnet-red paste. Here is what a good one declares before you pay, and the three signs of a bad one.

• What is estate jewellery?

  Jewellery that has had a previous owner, usually sold when a household is cleared. What the word promises, what it doesn't, and where good pieces hide.