N&N Vintage Costume Jewelry
FAQ
FAQ
| What is this stuff? What is 'Vintage Costume Jewelry'? Definitions vary, but broadly speaking what you see on this site is classic vintage costume jewelry - dating from the beginning of the 20th century to about the middle of it, mostly made in the USA, produced in quantity to specific (and often patented) designs, using non-precious metals and stones. The best pieces are designed by people who had formerly worked for precious jewelry houses in Europe and North America, such as Cartier - Alfred Philippe, chief Trifari designer from the 30s to the 60s, or Marcel Boucher, who designed first for Mazer in the 30s before setting up the Boucher firm which produced from 1940 to the mid 60s. They were free to imagine and produce pieces in costume that would have been either physically or economically impossible to produce in real jewelry. |
| How can I find out more about the designers and the jewels? This site offers a lot of information - original patent drawings and vintage adverts that enable you to see the dates of pieces, and references to books showing jewels, with dates and prices. For more information, and links to books available for purchase, see our book references page |
| How long have you been in business? Can I trust you? N&N went live on 9 January 1999 - you can see our update history here. An outline 'about us' is here. We guarantee all our pieces as authentic vintage items as described. You can see our payment, shipping and returns policies here. You can be sure you will receive the pieces you buy as described. |
| How do I purchase jewels from the N&N site? To purchase jewels from this site, use our secure shopping cart system. Items can be added to your cart - the links for the shopping cart are on both the collection pages, and the items' own pages - and then checked out through our secure server (which enables Visa and Mastercard numbers to be sent to us securely); or the checkout will take you to our paypal address (enabling customers to use Amex and other cards, which we cannot otherwise process); or the cart allows you to input your full details, and gives you our address, if mailing checks or money orders. An important point - there's no real time processing when a credit card order is submitted through the cart checkout: we retrieve the data securely and process the Visa and Mastercard numbers directly, so you will be charged only after we've confirmed your order by email (there are sale discounts in some cases to be taken into account). Please ignore the shopping cart's options to increase the quantity of an item - all our vintage jewels are of course unique and are listed individually. Please also note that all items on this site are subject to prior sale - occasionally there can be a delay in marking items as sold. |
| Where are you located and how do you ship items? How much does shipping cost? Items are shipped from Toronto, Canada. All prices on this site are in US Dollars. Shipping is often (but not in all cases) included in our prices - see our Shipping Policies for full details (and there is an outline of this on the checkout page of the shopping cart). |
| What are your returns policies? If a customer should for any reason wish to return any purchase, they must 1) inform N&N Jewelry by email, within 3 days of receiving it, of their decision to return the piece 2) ship the item back to us in its original condition at their own cost. (Important - DO NOT ship back to us before receiving authorization and instructions.). At the customer's choice we will then provide either: 1) a dollar refund minus a re-stocking fee of 20% of the price paid; or 2) a site credit for the full amount paid (towards purchase of another piece from the N&N site of equal or greater value) There are no returns on sale items |
| Do you buy vintage costume jewelry? N&N is always looking to purchase vintage costume pieces, similar to the items already on site. Email us with pictures and prices if you'd like to sell pieces to us. |
| Do you provide identification and appraisal services We do not offer valuation or appraisal services or answer individual questions regarding jewelry. But you will find a wealth of information on this site that will help you identify pieces... |
| Do you have a catalogue? Our website is our catalogue! |
