In the flea market in Milan, Q’s favorite place to visit is not those neat high-end antique stalls, but those “Junk Stalls” where jewelry is piled in boxes like garbage.
Because only in the chaos there, lies the real “Bargain”.
Many sellers (especially ordinary people clearing out their attics) do not have professional appraisal knowledge. They often treat blackened 9K gold as copper, or broken gold chains as scrap metal.
Today, let’s share a few practical ideas for “hunting”.
1. Don’t Dislike “Low Purity”: Treasures of 333 and 375
Many novices won’t buy anything unless it’s 18K (750). But in old European goods, low purity gold often means older age and better craftsmanship.
- 333 (8K): This is a low purity gold unique to Germany and Northern Europe. Many pre-WWII German Art Deco rings, set with huge synthetic rubies or citrines, used 333 gold. Their shapes are extremely exaggerated and modern. Although the current gold price is not high, the design value is extremely high.
- 375 (9K): The mainstream of the British Victorian era. Many exquisite carved bangles and gold coin pendants are 9K. Because of high hardness, their patterns are usually preserved better than 18K.
Hunting Point: Sellers often sell them cheaply on the grounds of “low gold content”, but what you are buying is that exquisite craftsmanship from a hundred years ago.
2. Look for “Decluttered” Remnants (Conversion Jewelry)
This is currently the hottest trend in Europe and America: Conversion Jewelry.
- Single Earring: Many people lost one earring, and the remaining one became waste. But if you buy it back and find a goldsmith to add a loop, it is a beautiful pendant.
- Stick Pin: Victorian gentlemen’s stick pins were usually made extremely finely (with animal heads, gem flowers). No one wears stick pins now, and the price is extremely low. Buy it back, cut the long pin short, weld a loop, and instantly transform it into an exquisite clavicle chain pendant.
- Broken Chain: A broken Albert Chain, if the T-bar and dog clip are still there, buy it back and make it into a bracelet, the value will double immediately.
Hunting Point: Buy at the price of “defective goods”, spend a little labor fee, and change it into a unique orphan product.
3. Beware of “Black Gold”: Oxidized Real Gold
Not only silver turns black, low purity K gold (9K, 10K, 14K) because it contains copper and silver, will also oxidize seriously over time, turning reddish copper or even black.
Many sellers see dark things and think it is gold plating fading, pricing it at a few euros.
How to distinguish?
- Look at the Mark: Carry a magnifying glass with you. If you see a tiny 585 or 375 in a pile of blackened metal, don’t make a sound, buy it silently.
- Smell: Heavy copper rust smell is copper. Even if K gold oxidizes, the metal smell is usually relatively light.
- Look at Wear: Gold plating wear will reveal the base color (usually gray-white or brass color). K gold is the same color inside and out, even if the surface is black, rub it with your fingernail or a cloth, inside is still golden.
4. Easily Overlooked Marks
Besides common numbers, some special national marks are often ignored by sellers:
- Horse Head: French 18K gold mark between 1838-1919.
- Clover: Some Austro-Hungarian gold marks look like flowers or leaves.
- Russian 56: 14K gold (56 Zolotniks) from the Tsarist Russia period.
If you can recognize these “heavenly books”, you have higher information authority than the seller.
Final Advice: Hunting requires knowledge, but also luck. But never buy things you don’t like just for “greed for cheapness”. Because the biggest leak is that you bought a treasure that you truly love and are willing to accompany for a lifetime.
