Vintage Charm Manufacturer Catalogs
I'm a heavy user of jewelry reference books. In fact I have a mini library of them and the shelf is growing all the time. I spend lots of time learning how to identify older charms and bracelets, as well as costume jewelry. Lately I've been on the hunt for old catalogs and pages of charms from manufacturer and sales companies.
This is a treasure I found on ebay. It was a bit pricey but in perfect unused condition. Didn't even look like the pages had been folded open until I took these photos. It's a silver charm catalog from the Wells Manufacturing Company in Attleboro, Massachusetts, stamped July 27, 1953. Attleboro was a major jewelry hub in the early & mid 20th century. This catalog was provided to Bousquet's Jewelry Shop in Worcester, MA for use in ordering inventory and it shows all of the Top Hat charms and bracelets available at the time. It's treasure trove of pictures and descriptions that I'm finding invaluable for identifying vintage charms.
I see a lot of Wells charms and it's exciting to be able to give them an approximate date of manufacture. These catalogs were scarce to begin with and are becoming rarer every day. If I ever find one at auction there usually is a bidding war for it, however for folks like me who take pride in describing the jewelry that I sell as accurately as possible it's well worth the time and money spent to dig up these old catalogs and use them as a guide.
Category: Private Jewelry Collection
About the Author (Author Profile)
Wanda Fitzgerald is a Florida native and an vintage charm collector who loves to share her adventures in an e-commerce jewelry business with anyone who is interested.Subscribe
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- sell costume jewelry | Digg hot tags | December 19, 2008
Wow, I like this…I am always on the look out for items like this…so many books, so little time.
One of the myths about the internet is that you can find any sort of reference, and this is proof that you can’t – that you still have to find old time references…
I know that you found this book on the internet, but where would I find the information that it contains other than in this book?
Martin
Hi Martin – I’m not sure where you could find the information, that’s why I look for these old catalogs. History on vintage charms is sketchy, but getting better lately. I would be happy to scan this catalog & email to you if you would like. Also there’s a woman in my charm discussion group that has a nice website where she posts photos of charm catalogs http://vintage-charm-jewelry.com/ I am going planning to do a feature story about her soon (have to get her permission first but she’s very sweet & I’m sure it will be okay). Thanks for visiting, looks like you have lots of useful info on your site as well.
I have been searching all morning for some info on a piece with a “Wells Ster” mark on it, and you are the first place I have found with anything that might even be close!