PastGems Vintage Jewelry Blog

PastGems is a BBB Accredited Business!!

Exciting news this week.  My little vintage jewelry shop, PastGems.com has just been accredited by the Better Business Bureau!  What does this mean?  It means that as a business I have

• Agreed to Tell the Whole Truth (no hidden fees or exceptions to policies)
• Keep Its Promises (all verbal and written agreements are kept)
• Be Responsive (all concerns are dealt with in a timely manner)

Not all businesses get accredited, so I consider this a real feather in my little cap.  Soon you will be seeing the BBBOnline logo on my website (it takes awhile to work through all of the bureaucracy.) 

An additional perk of being BBB accredited is that my website will be certified Hacker Safe by McAfee -- an additional layer of security to my already secure (Thawte-certified) website, which should help people feel safe doing business with me.

I have already pledged to provide exemplary customer service and I now not only renew that pledge but also vow to follow the tenets listed above as part of my partnership with the BBB.

Thanks to all my customers for being out there -- without you I wouldn't still be here!

xoxo                                               
Karen
 

An 80th Birthday

No, not mine.  My mother turned 80 yesterday, 9/22.  A Virgo, through and through, even tho she's on the cusp.  She lives in Southern California.  I live in Northern California.  But my daughter lives in Southern California, as well as old family friends who live halfway in between.  So a couple of months ago I concocted the idea of having a surprise party for my mother.  I did actually give that some thought.  How much do you really want to surprise an 80 year old woman?

Anyway, I drove down to Orange County on Friday, we had the party on Saturday at my daughter & son-in-law's house, my mother actually showed up (that was always in question right up to the last minute) and she was suitably surprised (shocked might be a better word), happy and grateful to have us all there.  It was only her second birthday party in her whole entire life.  I think she had a good time.

This is the same mother who was sister to my late aunt who had all the wonderful old jewelry that my mother was about to take off to a flea market before I rescued it -- much of it can be found on my website -- several Kramer pieces, some amazing vintage rhinestone watches, an old French Rooster gold coin made into a gold & ruby necklace -- and much more.  There was also a strand of real pearls -- a choker and a bracelet -- I had those repaired and restrung and gave them to my daughter.  A few treasures I also kept for myself.

My mother doesn't look a day over 70 -- still lives on her own, still driving, as spunky as ever.  She told me yesterday, she is now looking forward to reaching 90!  Heaven help us!

xoxo,
Karen

New Designer Signed Category at PastGems.com

We have LOTS of designer signed, hallmarked jewelry in our little vintage jewelry shop, PastGems.com!  Up until now we didn't have a separate category for it so if you were looking for something signed by a designer, you would have to type in the designer's name, which still works.  But we thought it would be helpful to have all of the designer signed jewelry viewable under one category.  It's a little too cumbersome (we think) for us to have separate categories for each designer, so for the time being we are lumpingexample them all under "Designer Signed" near the top of our Category List in the left hand margin.

Have some patience with us as we fill this category.  Each item has to be recategorized individually and it takes some time.  So if you don't see what you are looking for under Designer Signed, feel free to use the Search box.  Meanwhile, we'll be working hard to add all of our beautiful designer signed vintage costume jewelry to the new Designer Signed category.  Happy Browsing and thanks for stopping by PastGems. (Click the link below to see a stunning example of jewelry from Kramer of New York.)
xoxo,
Karen
                              Gorgeous Aquamarine Rhinestone Bracelet from Kramer

Vintage Pendant with Sanskrit(?) Symbols

I recently listed an intriguing vintage pendant with a beautiful topaz colored faceted stone.  The back has these symbols and while I spent quite a bit of time researching, I was not successful in figuring out the meaning.  Does anyone out there know?  Would love to hear from you on this one.  View photos of the rest of the piece here:  Ornate Vintage Pendant with Sanskrit Symbols They may not be Sanskrit at all, but this is what it appears to me.  Love to hear from anyone on this one! xoxo, Karen

The Library!

Yep, I'm in love.  I don't  know how (or why) I ever made it this far in my life without being a library member.  I've been reading ever since I could.  My whole life.  But I had this fantasy once of having a house big enough to house a library with floor to ceiling shelves and one of those ladders you slide along the shelves...so I had this compulsion to OWN all my books. 

This compulsion has gradually declined over the years.  First, I just ran out of space to keep storing all these books.  So I stopped buying hard covers and waited for them to come out in paper.  And then books got so darn expensive, so I started buying them used from either my local Friends of the Library store or from Amazon.  And then I started SELLING my books on Amazon -- OR donating them to my local Friends of the Library.

I started ruthlessly weeding through my collection and keeping only those books I truly loved.  I read so voraciously that it was hard to keep up with having enough books on hand -- to feel really secure I need to have a stack waiting to be read.  If it gets down to only 1 or 2 I get really nervous.

Well, a friend of mine regularly goes to the library.  in fact, several of my friends do this.  I always felt a little intimidated by the library -- I don't know why.  So I asked one of these friends to take me one time and show me around and how it all works.  And then I got my card and checked out a whole armload of books.  And they send me email reminders of due dates and you can renew on line and it takes 30 seconds for me to pull in a return books and I LOVE going in with my list of "Wanna Reads" every 2-3 weeks.  And the icing on the cake is that it feels TOTALLY GREEN to borrow books to read and then pass them back for someone else to enjoy! 

I LOVE getting a book that's already been read so many times that the pages are all soft, the cover is a bit bent -- it just feels loved and well-used.  So the whole thing fits in with my intentions to make a smaller footprint.  I buy very little "NEW" anymore.  There are still some types of books I feel compelled to buy (like my vintage jewelry reference books) but I still always try to get them used.

By the way, i'd love to hear from you what your favorite vintage jewelry reference books are.  One of these days I'll write an article listing some of my favs.

Meanwhile, I hope it's as warm and nice where you are as it is where I am -- I LOVE this warm weather we've been having.  Have a wonderful September day!

xoxo
Karen