Rhinestones, plastic bangles, brooch pins, rings and a multitude of other styles of costume jewelry has been collectible for decades. There are more dealers then ever before and a wealth of resources to gather information including books, TV shows, the internet and trade publications to provide novice buyers and collectors with pricing information. Yet with all that access to information, you can still find under priced jewelry and mistakes on a regular basis.
Why? Because they made it by the BOAT load! There's lots of costume jewelry out there. Mom wore it, her mother wore it and they still enjoy it today.
The point I'm trying to make here, when you're at a yard sale and the the people are over 50, if you ask the lady if she has any old rhinestone jewelry or beads in the house she would like to sell, 3 out of 5 times I find they do. Even if it's broken or missing stones, high quality names like Eisenberg, Schiaparelli, Trifari (cast sterling and Jelly Bellies) and Bakelite figural brooch pins, can bring in the high hundreds for a single piece and 15.00 to 50.00 for some of the average pieces.
The majority of the stuff you can find was cheap when they bought it in the 1940's through the 1970's. So they generally think very little of it and sell it cheap. The money is made when one of these better named pieces are mixed in the jewelry box with the cheap stuff. A lot of times they received it as a gift and can't tell the difference. Your gain. So ask when you're at sales. Learn to identify quality in a piece. Prong set clear stones, good design, signed pieces cast in sterling. I've picked up entire boxes filled with pins for under 30 bucks. It would be worth while to invest in a few jewelry books just to get familiar with the names and methods of manufacture. Lots of money to be made on the costume jewelry
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