Have you ever thought about creating your own jewelry line? If I’m being completely honest, it’s hard as a jewelry lover not to dream that dream from time to time. There are many reasons why it’s never happened for me, but the main one is that I’m just not all that artsy. I enjoy learning about the history of adornment and wearing it whenever I can, but I have always struggled with the creative aspect.
Luckily, plenty of people have the vision and inspiration to design and produce the little treasures I enjoy collecting and selling. Sweet Romance is one brand consumers have looked to for an array of interesting vintage-inspired designs for quite some time now, and there are some I never pass up when they cross my path. Others, not so much, but all the many facets of this brand make it a topic worth pondering.
Sweet Romance Background
Sweet Romance is the brainchild of Shelley Cooper, who founded her California-based business in the 1980s. As an artist and historian, many of her designs have been inspired by antique or vintage jewelry, while a few styles are very close copies. Take a holiday brooch called “Retro Rudy” as one example, which looks very much like a 1960s Mylu reindeer design with some slight modifications. Most pieces have some art deco, Victorian, or gothic attributes—including a collaboration with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark— without being exact replicas of older jewelry.
All Sweet Romance pieces are crafted in the firm’s workshop in Los Angeles, which is unusual since most fashion jewelry is now produced in Asia rather than in the United States. Cooper’s designs are made into models and then cast into rough pieces before being plated and finished. Some pieces are decorated with Swarovski stones or beads, while others are embellished with vintage components.
Ollipop is another brand that this business produces. Some examples with this mark have ethnic influences, while others are trendier contemporary designs. Some Sweet Romance and Ollipop styles are still available through the Sweet Romance website, and others have been retired. This company has also made an array of fashion accessories, such as evening bags and fancy dressier items like perfume bottles and trinket boxes.
What to Buy
If you scroll through the Worthpoint Price Guide, you’ll find many different jewelry styles associated with Sweet Romance. One of my personal favorites is called the Vogue Corsage Pin. It’s still made with clear stones and was previously made in fall-tone and spring-colored variations, but the retired version, measuring 6” long, is the most impressive of all. I’ve seen claims that it was worn on a couple of different Vogue covers, but that’s not the real story. This piece was inspired by a Vogue cover from May 2004, where Nicole Kidman is wearing an antique diamond spray brooch on the back of a full-length gown. I encourage you to look it up. It’s magnificent. I would also encourage snatching up any of these brooches if you come across them. The larger ones tend to sell for $125-150 or more, even though the smaller ones are still being made.
Egyptian revival jewelry by Sweet Romance is also a good buy. Many pieces with Egyptian motifs incorporate one or more glass elements that are said to be genuine old stock dating to the 1930s. The company calls these limited-edition pieces, although they’ve been producing them for quite some time. My guess is that the designs will retire when the new old stock elements run out. In the meantime, they sell well like most Egyptian revival designs and can bring prices in the hundreds for an elaborate necklace with lots of dangles or a set with a matching bracelet and earrings.
As you’re contemplating Sweet Romance, cats are also a good motif to keep in mind. This company has repeatedly shown a soft spot for felines, and some of their designs are quite clever. One I’m particularly enamored with is their Elizabethan Feline pin, which is still available through the company’s website, but bargain hunters seek them for less than the $84 retail price point. There are also holiday styles and charm bracelets adorned with kitties that all seem to sell fairly well in the secondhand marketplace, albeit not extremely high—usually in the $25-75 range.
Cuff bracelets are perennial good sellers with many brands of jewelry, and this brand is no exception. Some very attractive bold cuffs can be found marked Ollipop, but one of my colorful faves with Sweet Romance branding is the “Tango” bracelet featuring millefiori beads. The necklace with dangling chains holding millefiori elements is also one to keep in mind when it comes to good sellers.
There are a number of other interesting designs, like a hand pendant holding a magnifying glass on a long chain, a few Christmas tree pins, and several Victorian revival festoon necklaces, that are worth picking up if you can find them for $50 or less. The key with any of the styles still being made is to keep the pricing low enough so that they’ll be bargains compared to ordering them new.
What to Leave Behind
Honestly, there aren’t too many pieces of Sweet Romance that I leave behind when I find them at flea markets and thrift stores as long as they have a little substance and style. I do look at the rings marked both Sweet Romance and Ollipop closely because that’s one area that tends to consistently sell lower than other items. Some of the small brooches, including examples with reproduction vintage lithographs as the focal point (even the kitties!), sell for less than $10 most of the time, so I usually leave those behind, too. Really plain chain pieces with just a few beads sell for small sums as well.
It’s easy to use the WorthPoint Price Guide for retired items and check what new Sweet Romance is selling for on the company’s website while you’re shopping. Then, you can pick up all the good money-makers and leave the rest behind unless those little gems are just too attractive to pass up for your own collection.
Pamela Siegel is a freelance writer and author who has been educating collectors for more than two decades. In addition to three books on topics relating to antiques and collectibles, she frequently shares her expertise through online writing and articles for print-based publications. Pamela is also the co-founder of Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l (CJCI) and the proprietor of Chic Antiques by Pamela.
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