24 | Antique Jewels and Appraisals with Hana Thomson
24 | Antique Jewels and Appraisals with Hana Thomson
Today's episode features special guest Hana Thomson. Hana is a jewelry appraiser and writer in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, area. She's worked at museums, auction houses, and in jewelry retail and production. She has a master's degree in the history of jewelry design from 1850 to 1950 from Parsons Cooper-Hewitt in New York City and a graduate technologist degree from the GIA. Hana loves to learn and research the stories behind jewelry, watches, and objects.
I want to introduce you all to Hana so that you can get curious about the jewelry you may have considered selling or getting rid of as part of a decluttering project. Is your inherited jewelry valuable? Tune in as Hana shares critical aspects of evaluating jewelry.
The main topics discussed in this episode include:
Qualifications that makes jewelry antique
How to categorize your old jewelry: retro vs. vintage vs. antique
How to decide whether to sell or keep sentimental pieces
Hana's most memorable client stories
Resources to leverage when assessing jewelry value
The importance of appraisal reports
So if you are considering parting with jewelry, this episode is for you! Gain key insights from a top jewelry appraiser and gain the confidence to learn the history behind sentimental and inherited pieces.
GUEST INFO:
Hana Thomson, Jewelry Appraiser And Writer
Website: Hana Thomson, Appraiser and Consultant
Instagram: @hanathomson_jewels
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hana-thomson-52a9ab11/
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Intro: Welcome to a Pleasant Solution, Embracing an Organized Life. I'm your host, certified life coach, professional organizer and home life expert Amelia Pleasant Kennedy. I help folks permanently eliminate clutter in their homes and lives. On this podcast, we'll go beyond the basics of home organization to talk about why a clutter-free mindset is essential to an aligned and sustainable lifestyle. If you're someone with a to-do list, if you're managing a household and if you're caring for others, this podcast is for you. Let's dive in.
Amelia: Welcome to Episode 24, Antique Jewelry and Appraisals with Hana Thomson. I'm so excited to introduce you to today's guest. Hana Thomson is a jewelry appraiser and writer in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area. She's worked at museums, auction houses and in jewelry, retail and production. With a master's degree in the history of jewelry design from 1850 to 1950 from Parsons Cooper Hewitt in New York City and a graduate Gemologist degree from the GIA, she loves continuing to learn and research the stories behind jewelry, watches and objects. I encourage you to listen in, get curious about the jewelry you or your family members may have tucked away and connect with Hana after the show.
Amelia: Hi Hana. It's a pleasure to have you here.
Hana: Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Amelia: So, Hana, you and I, we just met recently at a NAPO Michigan chapter meeting where you joined as a business partner and for everybody out there who doesn't know NAPO is the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and we have kind of local chapters where we meet up and network and connect with other like-minded folks. As soon as I met Hana and learned that she was an expert in jewelry, I knew that you would be the perfect guest for my audience. So do you want to just start by telling us a little bit about yourself?
Hana: Yeah, so I am a gemologist and I studied jewelry history and design in grad school. I've worked in a lot of different jobs including auction houses and I worked for a collector at museums. I worked on 47th Street in a diamond district in New York doing production and most recently I was doing auction specialist duties all over the place, including valuations, cataloging, meeting with clients, working with people to consign pieces to sell as well as people who are buying. A couple of months ago I moved back to Michigan where I grew up and have been doing freelance work, doing jewelry appraisals and actually just accepted a new job at Tappers, which is a jewelry store here in Michigan. And I'll be doing appraising and estate buying for them.
Amelia: I love it. I mean it just sounds like a dream job for anyone who's interested in jewelry and in fashion and I love hearing about that. So I'd like to ask all my guests about what organization, whatever that meant to you in your childhood home. So what did organization look like for you growing up?
Hana: I'm one of three kids and my mom was always telling us, finish one thing, put it away before you move on to the next thing and always keep track of your own stuff, clean your own room. My sister was the messy one so she was always trying to bribe her to clean her room. I actually liked cleaning my room and I was one of those people and I still am, that just collects things. I always was finding rocks and shells and of course I had stuffed animals and toys and I really enjoyed putting them in their place, like lining them up and making, even organizing them by color and I always found it satisfying and I always am like the person that writes. I like writing things out and having lists and still and now I have a niece who's three and getting her to put one thing away before she moves to the next is a challenge. But hopefully it's something that gets drilled into her head as she grows up.
Amelia: I love that. I love just thinking about the order of lining things up, interesting colors and writing out things. I can imagine there's a connection there between your childhood and the passions that you have put forth here. And of course, yes, with your niece, like it starts very young when we create a system and a process for anyone to follow. We try and see if it sticks and keep trying and trying again. I think the same occurs or happens for us as adults as well. It's building a routine for sure. So let's dive into your work. You mentioned that you worked for an auction house, which I think is fabulous and personally, there was one point in my career where I was pursuing art history and studying and reading a lot about the background and history of particular art objects. So I love not just the period of history that you study, but this idea of antique or old objects. So you mentioned visiting clients' homes, kind of uncovering what they had in their closets and drawers and making sense of what you found. So I'd love to first like what exactly is an item that is antique and what qualifies a piece to fall into that category of jewelry?
Hana: So whenever I cataloged something as antique, it's at least a hundred years old, so that's an easy way to just kind of delineate that and then when it's more recent, like things from the thirties and forties on, there are different eras like vintage or retro depending on what time period it's from, but it hasn't been a hundred years yet if it's from the thirties and forties. So it could be later deco, then retro, then vintage as you go on.
Amelia: Okay. Yeah, I would love to hear what's the general range for retro and vintage because some of our listeners might have some pieces that are from the mid 20th century as well.
Hana: So retro jewelry is mostly from 1940s. It's the period right after art deco and it's during the war time. So pieces are mostly in 14 carat gold, more volume. It's kind of like a reaction against art deco, which was very streamlined and geometric. So retro pieces are big in terms of the metal that's used. There was scarcity for getting diamonds and gemstones during the war. So jewelers focus more on using metal to create pieces. I really like retro pieces. They're kind of, even a lot of rubies and like little surprise watches with really flowing lines and then after that I would consider the fifties and sixties and even the seventies, vintage. Fifties is a little more traditional style with jewelry and then as you get into the sixties and seventies the jewelry got bolder, chunkier.
In the seventies you have all these colored stones like lapis and malachite, tiger's eye and more funky designs and then in the eighties, it's all big and bold and the nineties I would still call vintage, but you recognize the styles around that time still because you grew up probably seeing them more like marquee diamond engagement rings were big in the nineties and kind of chunky metal.
Amelia: I love it. Yeah, that's so helpful to have a context because listeners are seeing jewelry within their own homes, they're seeing their parents, they're inherited from several generations. So when it lands on your doorstep, it might all sort of be grouped together, but it's helpful to know sort of what comes from what age range. And I assume, and correct me if I'm wrong, that something that is antique or from a longer period ago may carry more financial value than something more recent or is it really about the individual piece itself?
Hana: It's really about the individual piece, what the materials are, what the stones are. If it's a designer piece of jewelry, how heavy is it, then like the condition. I love antique jewelry the most, personally I think especially Victorian jewelry I love because it's sentimental and I love the design. They're very sweet pieces and I love finding pieces that have an engraving with the date on it and the name and just how old it is. But it also goes with trends like now the sixties and the seventies pieces are coming into fashion more. People like the big chunky gold and it's also a personal style. What do you like? What would you actually wear?
Amelia: Yeah, as a professional organizer when I would go into people's homes, you're looking at older objects that you might want to sell or gain some value from or keep, honestly there's that kind of fine line between, between financial value, what you would get if you sold it or put it up for auction and the sentimental value, the stories behind it, the family generation after generation having it passed down. So I'd love for you to talk about how as a gemologist you really help clients come to terms with their choices in these two areas.
Hana: It can be a really tough conversation with clients because sentimental pieces that have been passed down in their family, a ring often represents such a personal milestone like the ring that their grandfather proposed to their grandmother with. So that personal value is often not related to the financial value of the piece and of course everyone thinks that their own story and their own pieces are very important. So sometimes when we evaluate the piece, we realize that the financial value of the piece is not nearly as great as the sentimental value. So I sometimes advise people to keep it because it's going to be worth more to keep as a personal token of your family history.
Amelia: Yeah, I love that, the story can carry a greater value on occasion than the financial value.
Hana: Everyone hopes that their pieces aren't going to increase in value and they'll find treasure that is going to be a huge impact financially and that's rare. It's rare to find a huge diamond that no one knew about in their family but it's a nice surprise when you find something. I mean I've looked at clients' homes with piles of jewelry in their closet and they don't even know where to start. So sifting through that stuff, even in like a little tiny ring, if you find a Tiffany stamp on it or find out that it's an unusual piece that no one's sold something like it recently in the market, it's a nice surprise when you're going through and you have to really dig in and look at everything individually to find that out.
Amelia: I'm going to invite you if you're willing, are there any sort of highlights of client stories that you have found or discovered that were really interesting to you, to the market, to the client? Any stories you'd love to share with us?
Hana: Yeah, my favorite was when I was at the auction house in Chicago, there was a client who's going through her mother's things, her whole house full of stuff. She found in her filing cabinet stuck in between some of the files in the drawer, a necklace that she had never seen, she didn't know her mother had. We looked at it and it was a Louis Comfort Tiffany necklace sitting at the bottom of a file cabinet for decades. It's honestly my favorite piece of jewelry that I've ever cataloged and researched because it was Louis Comfort Tiffany, I don't know if you're familiar, he's like the, the son of the founder of Tiffany and Co. So his jewelry is very artistic and rare. He used a lot of the designers that worked with him for the stained glass and kind of translated that into fine jewelry and finding a new Louis Comfort Tiffany piece in that condition that no one has seen before was so exciting and of course the client had no idea, she had no expectations of what it should be worth. So for the auction I was able to write this whole essay for the catalog and we made a beautiful art shot of it printed in the catalog and it sold for like three times the estimate.
She was so happy and I was so happy because I got to handle it and show it to everyone. And the buyers who collect that type of jewelry, when you see something that's new to the market that's never been seen, it's really exciting because you know it's not been passed along in the trade and it hasn't been marked up. So it was fresh and exciting, really exciting.
Amelia: That sounds crazy and so much fun for the client and for you and ultimately the buyer as well because you're adding to a collection and really selling to someone who treasures and values the item as well. So I downsized my mother a few years ago and what I learned is that you really truly have to look in every nook and cranny when you're going through someone's home. I know that this isn't always the case for everyone, sometimes it needs to be done in a rush but if you have those extra few days or extra few moments to really kind of look for hidden treasures, what a delight that can happen if you find something. I love that. Okay, well let's shift a little bit and get more practical so that listeners know what to look for in their own homes and know what next steps to take with pieces of jewelry that they may have.
So I feel like there's a category of jewelry that's kind of worn but still contains some financial value in the metals and stones. On an earlier conversation I was telling you about a pair of rings that I've worn for over a decade that I know are not in the best condition, but probably a little bit of value there in the metal and the stones and there's a category of jewelry that most people have that's in good condition, but we're not wearing it, we're not showing it off. Maybe it's not our personal taste. Can you give us a sense or outline the best process or next steps for these two categories of items?
Hana: So if I love jewelry and any time that jewelry is hidden away and in a jewelry box and not being worn, it's kind of sad because I want it to be seen and that's the purpose to be worn. So I think it's hard a lot of times when you inherit jewelry or given pieces, even from a partner that's not really your style, you feel kind of torn because you feel like you should be obligated to keep it or because it's been in your family. But the beauty is that if you sell it or donate it, it could be worn, someone else can enjoy it and it can be seen and its purpose can be carried out, which I think is worth it, someone else can enjoy it. So there are a lot of pieces, smaller gold jewelry that has value because of its materials and someone would enjoy a gold chain, everyone can use that, but if you don't wear it, why is it sitting around? Why do you have it?
I can see how it's intimidating for people. Auction houses or jewelry stores who sell that kind of thing are oftentimes, they don't have the time to go through all these lower value pieces and try to help walk you through what you should do with them. And especially if you don't want to bring your huge jewelry box somewhere and carry it with you. I would sort your pieces first by, is it sentimental to you? Would you feel disappointed if you got rid of it? If you are so connected to it or feel like it's part of your family history, maybe it's not worth selling. Maybe you can look into repairing it or sizing it or somehow altering it so you would actually wear it but if you don't wear it here's a little plug for my new company, tappers. They buy jewelry from the public in any category, even if it's a gold chain that you don't wear and they offer you a check on the spot and Tappers sells it back in many different channels, but it will ensure that someone else will enjoy it and it makes the process easy and fast.
Amelia: So you are suggesting that would apply to both things that are not in the best of condition but have value because of the metal and the stones and is also an option for pieces that you're just not wearing that are in good condition to find the local jeweler. What kind of things should you be asking to qualify the professional that you're interacting with? Like what are we looking for when we're talking with a particular jeweler or person when selling this lot of items?
Hana: Yeah, so Tappers is unique in that they have a whole estate buying department. A lot of jewelry stores, like your local jewelry store, might not bother with the gold chain unfortunately. So that's why it's nice if you're in Michigan to take advantage of that because they will purchase any type of jewelry.
Amelia: Yeah. So the next category is like, the category I'm thinking of is a golden coin shop. So you're walking in and you assume that there's someone there that's familiar with jewelry or familiar with metals and you may not be able to answer this, I don't know if there's like certain things that we're looking for to feel safe with the person we're selling the item too, so that we're not getting undercut to too much.
Hana: Yeah, unfortunately, I think so many people think that the jewelry business is untrustworthy and they're kind of skeptical of that and I can see why, especially when it's your treasured items that you're wanting to sell. Well first of all, when you're looking preliminary, looking through all your things at home, before you go to anyone, things to look for, for value, just pick up a piece and feel its weight. If it's really light and it feels dinky, it's a good sign that it probably isn't like high quality craftsmanship and when it's 18 carat gold is heavier than 14 carat gold or lower carat gold. So you can kind of feel, okay, is this a more hefty piece. If you look inside of the ring, does it have a stamp on it? Or are there any kind of stamps to show that it's karat gold and if it's a designer piece, those are helpful. If you have paperwork for a watch, that's always good.
So then when you're trying to seek out a buyer, I would form a relationship with someone. If you have a jeweler that you go to for cleaning your engagement rings or your family jeweler and you form a relationship with them, they're going to be honest with you and treat you in a very fair way because they're your client. So they want to keep you around and make you happy. If they're able to give you a good price on pieces that you're selling, you'll come back and buy pieces from them. So it's kind of like a mutual partnership. If you have someone you can go to that you can trust, they'll be a good resource. Like they'll know about diamonds, they'll know about gemstones, like what's the carat weight of this? Be able to identify gemstones.
It's a resource that a lot of people don't take advantage of I think because the jewelry stores, of course their priority is selling new merchandise, but most salespeople at a jewelry store are gemologists and they're trained to know about these things. So even just going to get some information about what time period is this piece from? Is it real gold? Are these diamonds, can help you in your process of deciding? Maybe you'll find out, okay, this is so interesting, this is from the thirties when my mother was born and I want to wear it now. Or maybe you decide, okay, this is worth nothing or maybe they'll buy it from you. So it's kind of like gathering the information first to help you decide.
Amelia: That's so helpful because I think most of the time what we do is we either do nothing, we let them languish in a jewelry box and continue to sit there year after year or we expect it to be a quick, smooth, easy process, turn the jewelry in, get some cash and move on. But what I hear you saying is that there's added value to developing a relationship and that value is trust and respect and I'm assuming that it's also okay to get multiple sorts of valuations or eyes to look at a piece if you're wanting a second opinion.
Hana: Yeah, that's common.
Amelia: Awesome. So the last thing that I want to talk to you about, part of your qualifications is that you are an appraiser. So when does someone actually need an appraisal report for a particular item?
Hana: So there are two types of appraisals that are the most common. The first one is a retail replacement appraisal for insurance. So anytime you have a valuable piece of jewelry, like an engagement ring, a wedding band, you want to have an insurance value so you have it insured in case it's lost. So you need to know the value that the insurance company would be willing to pay to replace your ring. So that value is basically to recreate your ring if it was lost or stolen. So it includes purchasing a diamond and the labor for a jeweler to set it and create the exact same ring at the retail value, brand new. So this is usually higher than the other values that I'll talk about in the next one. The next one is the fair market value appraisal and that is used for estate tax purposes. The value is how much would that exact piece sell in the secondary market as is?
So it's a used item, it's being sold at auction rather than at a retail price at a retail store brand new. So this value is usually a lot lower because it's this piece as is. It's kind of like a car. If you buy a car at a store, a car dealership brand new, you drive it home and the next day you try to sell it, you're not going to be able to get the same price that you just paid for because now it's a used car, it's not a brand new car that you just bought at the dealership. So it's one of those things that I try to walk clients through because a lot of people come just asking what is this ring worth and it really just depends what the purpose is of the value that you're looking for. Are you looking for an appraisal for insurance? That's going to be a value, that's the retail price of a new ring. And if you're looking to divide your assets between a family or to an estate, you're trying to sell all the items and distribute, that's going to be the price that it costs to sell the item as it is.
Amelia: That is such a helpful distinction because I feel like there are many categories within home organization, whether it's furniture or collectibles where the fair market value is different than the original new replacement price or value of an item. So I think that's really helpful for folks to know that those two numbers would be different. Well thank you so much for chatting with me today. I want to close by asking you what's one creative way that you employ organization now as an adult?
Hana: Well a couple months ago, my sister told me about bullet journaling, which I've never heard about, but I'm one of those people that still uses a written planner and I write down my schedule. So the bullet journal is just grid paper blank. It's just kind of a blank place for me to keep track of anything that I write down. So I put lists in there, I put my schedule in there, I am keeping track of all the books that I'm reading this year and so before I had post-its with lists all over the place and trying to just have it all in one place. Plus it can be kind of fun with different colored pens and stickers and stuff. And then I think it would be cool to look back on and see all the things that I did this year and what I was thinking about and just put it all in one place and it's really easy for me to go back and be like, oh, what was that thing I was doing? What was that book that I read that I really liked? And it's fun.
Amelia: Yeah, that's so awesome. I kind of want to see a picture of it because I imagine all the different colors and doodles perhaps or different colors of gel pens or stickers.
Hana: Yeah, I love color coding, color coding systems.
Amelia: So fun. Well thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me, Hana. I learned so much about sentimental value versus financial value, what to do with particular pieces and how to think about the next steps for items. So I would love for you to tell everyone how they can follow you, connect with you after the show.
Hana: Thanks so much, Amelia. My website is Hanathomson.com, H a n an and no P in Thomson. So I have a blog on there and I write articles and you can also follow along on Instagram. It's HanaThomson_Jewels
Amelia: Love it. I'm already following you, so we'll meet there again. Talk to you soon.
Hana: Bye. Thank you.
Outro: Thanks so much for tuning into this week's episode. If you liked this episode and know of just one other person who'd get value from it too, I invite you to share it with them. I'd be more than grateful. I'd love to stay connected with you too. Make sure to follow this podcast to connect with me on Instagram @apleasantsolution and join my community at apleasantsolution.com. Talk to y'all soon and remember, you are more organized than you think.
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