Not All Experts Are Experts

With the wonderful internet now at the disposal of even the most humble amongst us, so-called 'Experts' had better raise their game!

This article is not to ruin anybody's reputation, but rather for these 'experts' to become accountable.

I've been watching the Auctions in the UK since lockdown in 2020, because some beautiful pieces have come onto the market. This, I believe, was due to the previous generation passing away. I also came to believe the beneficiaries of these antique pieces of jewellery have underestimated their value.

In order to get to know the market, I wrote a mini e-book and self-published this on Kindle, with Amazon. The reason for writing this book was to educate myself, not to make money (the small amount I've made has come in handy, I won't lie). But what I've discovered has been ignored by the experts time and time again.

My book is called 'Selling Antique Jewellery: Identify and Market Exquisite Antique Jewellery For Profit', it's published under the name of Jayne Austen, which is similar to my sister's maiden name, which was Jane Austen. I thought the name would bring some more eyeballs to my book, and also confuse those who wish to block me from success.

I adore pearls, absolutely adore them. An oyster spends at least 7 years in pain to produce something truly beautiful. Reading the stories on Vocal I see many people who have spent years in pain, and now have a beautiful soul.

I spotted a pearl necklace coming up for auction, but the picture was terrible:

I believe that, as I bought the item, I was entitled to use the photograph.

On initial inspection, I thought it had been discoloured through perfume or hairspray, but the diamond clasp, set in 14ct yellow gold, would be worth the money.

I waited in anticipation for the auction, and once the item I was interested in came up, I acted swiftly and placed my bid. I was saying to my laptop "put the gavel down, put the gavel down". I was the only bidder, and of course, I successfully bought the necklace. The Hammer price was £45.00, Fees were £12.42, and Postage was £18.53, making a total of £75.95 - quite a bargain, I thought!

The clasp set in 14ct gold led me to believe this was a vintage piece, or was bought overseas, because the typical fineness of gold in the UK is 9, 18, 22 or 24 carat gold. Antique and vintage pieces are often 14 and 18 cts.

In addition to this, old 'rose cut' diamonds are becoming more valuable due to 'lab-grown diamonds' entering the market. 'Lab-grown diamonds' are increasingly seen as inferior, I'm sure they're not, but there's snobbery around the fine-art market. (Don't want to do anything to limit my ability to raise money.)

The necklace arrived - it was beautiful:

The pearls themselves were all different sizes, the main pearls ranging from 9.5mm - 9.6mm. This is an indication that these were real pearls, because pearls are natural and are all different sizes. The necklace itself was also 'heavy' in comparison to simulated pearls (another indication they were genuine). I identified the colour as 'Champagne' Golden Pearls.

So, filled with enthusiasm, I sent this to a high-class auction house in London. They assessed that the pearls were imitation because some nacre (the coating on the pearls) was missing on one of the pearls. However, pearls are formed by layers of nacre on top of the last layer as the oyster is irritated by the foreign object.

I once had a cultured pearl ring that I cleaned with a fluid that took a layer of nacre off and ruined the ring. The pearl looked dull beneath, similar to the damage on this necklace. It may have come off during storage, which can sometimes happen.

The result was that I couldn't sell this as perfect and adjusted the price accordingly, listing this on eBay on 6 June 2025, and sold it on 8 June 2025.

Pretty remarkable wouldn't you say?