I had wonderful luck at an estate auction over the weekend.  They had several boxes of jewelry and luckily, almost no one else bid against me. Two other bidders won a few individual pieces but I stuck with my strategy of buying whatever is left when they offer it up as one lot.  The 200 pieces of jewelry I bought will be cleaned, photographed and will soon serve as fodder for my Ebay store.  I found a few pieces though that I absolutely loved and wanted to share.  I’m a complete sucker for small functional pieces like lockets and pill cases.  The first piece I bought was a set of cuff links, shaped like books that open to hold a picture of a sweetheart and a St. Christopher medal (the patron saint of travelers).  I’ve never run across the book/locket/cuff link/religious medal combo before.

I also bought this little hinged sachet piece by Florenza.  I feel like it was likely worn as a pendant and could have held some sort of fragrance

This cute little tiny pill case in the shape of a book has a hinged lid and was made in Mexico.  It’s the one piece out of this lot I’m going to have a hard time parting with.

This last piece is not quite a locket and not quite a picture frame.  When its folded up it measures just 1.5 x 1 x .5 inches.  I’m not quite sure what you’d use it for but its just adorable.

I’m always in search for old costume jewelry when I’m out looking for things to sell.  It’s easy to find, store, photograph and ship.  Also (even though I don’t wear jewelry much), it’s all pretty cool and fun to look through.  While I’m rather nearsighted I’ve found that I have better luck making out the tiny brands stamped on the pieces than most.  I’ve been selling jewelry for a while and just from buying a researching small pieces, I’ve learned a lot more about it than I ever thought I’d know.