The dealer's notes

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

◆ Start here

• What is a mystery jewellery jar?

  A sealed jar of vintage jewellery with a declared piece count. What is really inside, how it differs from a blind box and what to check before you buy.

• 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.

◆ Latest notes

• What does a 925 silver hallmark mean?

  925 stamped into a piece means the metal is 92.5% silver, not plate or colour. Where the mark sits, what else sits beside it, and how it gets misused.

• How to clean tarnished sterling silver jewellery

  Tarnish on sterling silver is silver sulphide, not damage. The cloth method that works, what a dip solution ruins, and why we skip the baking soda trick.

• What is a sterling silver mystery jewellery jar?

  Sterling has a melt value a silver-toned jar doesn't. What 'sterling silver mystery jar' should actually promise, and what we put in ours.

• Where to buy mystery jewellery jars in Europe

  Where to buy a mystery jewellery jar without customs surprises: what European stock looks like, what shipping should cost, and checks before you order.

• Vintage jewellery gifts under €50

  What €50 buys in vintage jewellery, how a sorted mystery jar compares with one chosen piece, and what to check before you wrap it.

• How much is vintage costume jewellery worth?

  Most unsigned costume pieces are worth little resold alone. What really moves the number, and why checking a piece isn't pricing a jar.

• What does 'estate ring' mean?

  An estate ring had a previous owner and came from a house clearance or estate sale. Not necessarily old or valuable: what the word really tells you.

• The history of the mystery jewellery jar

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

• Inside a coquette mystery jewellery jar: bows, pearls, and real versus faux

  Bow brooches, pearl strands and pastel ribbon pieces: what a coquette jar holds, real vs faux pearls, and how to spot fast-fashion stock.

• Sterling silver vs silver tone

  Silver tone is not silver: it's a colour, not a metal. How it differs from 925 sterling, 800 and silver plate, and how to tell them apart without a kit.

• Caring for vintage jewellery

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

• Questions

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

• A witchy mystery jewellery jar, piece by piece: moons, stones, metal versus mineral

  Moons, pentacles, tumbled stones, oxidised silver-tone: what a witchy mystery jar holds, what a good one declares, and three signs of a bad one.

• Y2K mystery jewellery jars: chunky chains, butterflies, and how to date a piece to 1998–2005

  Chunky gold-tone chains, rhinestone charms, butterflies from 1998–2005: what a Y2K jar holds and how to tell period pieces from reproductions.

• The gothic mystery jewellery jar: black glass, cameos, and how to pick a good one

  Black glass, oxidised silver-tone, crosses, cameos: what a gothic mystery jar holds, what a good one declares, and 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.