Sell Costume Jewelry in Riverside Turn the brooch over. In Riverside, the back often says where in the world it was bought.
No minimum · free house call · cash the same visit
California Vintage Buyers buys costume jewelry across Riverside, Corona and Temecula on a free house call: every clasp and pin back read under a loupe, signed pieces priced individually in front of you, the rest bought as an honest lot, and cash paid the same visit. Call (949) 449-1255.
Riverside is where Southern California’s navel orange began. Eliza Tibbets planted the parent navel orange trees here in 1873, the city incorporated in 1883, and the Glenwood Mission Inn opened to guests in January 1903. March Field opened on March 1, 1918 and served as an active base until it became March Air Reserve Base in 1996, so for most of a century military families moved through Riverside on their way to and from postings abroad. Corona, a city since 1896, was the lemon capital of the world; Temecula grew out of the old Vail Ranch after 1964 and went from about 2,700 people across the whole valley in 1970 to a city in 1989.
So a Riverside jewelry box is often a traveled one: a brooch stamped Occupied Japan, a necklace marked Western Germany, glass beads from Czechoslovakia, alongside the Trifari and Coro bought at home. A Temecula box was often packed up somewhere else and driven out. We read all of it the same way, by maker, mark and construction. Text photos to (949) 449-1255 and we will tell you the same day whether a visit makes sense.
What a Riverside jewelry box turns out to hold
Jewelry bought on postings abroad
Pieces marked Occupied Japan, Western Germany, Czechoslovakia and other countries, bought abroad and carried home. Read for maker, construction and condition, and bought with the rest of the box.
Text us a photo Send us a photoSigned designer costume
Trifari with the crown over the T, Miriam Haskell’s hand-wired pearls, Eisenberg, Weiss, and Coro with its Vendome line. The mark is a few worn letters on a clasp or the back of a brooch.
Text us a photo Send us a photoGlass beads and rhinestones
Strands of pressed and faceted glass, rhinestone sets kept together, and the loose beads from a broken strand, which belong in the same bag as the clasp.
Text us a photo Send us a photoBakelite and early plastics
Carved bangles, dress clips and figural pins, tested at your table with hot water, never a hot pin, with the result shown to you.
Text us a photo Send us a photoThe fine pieces in the same drawer
Rings and chains that are not costume get a free identification and, if you decide to sell them, a pointer to the reputable specialist buyer we would use ourselves. The rest of the drawer gets a real offer the same visit.
Text us a photo Send us a photoRiverside, Corona and Temecula, on our inland runs
We drive inland regularly from the Laguna Hills warehouse and group Inland Empire calls into inland days: Corona pairs with Riverside and Norco, and the Temecula valley is on our route most weeks, so a call usually becomes a visit within the week. In Riverside we work the older streets around downtown and the Mission Inn, Wood Streets and the neighborhoods along Victoria Avenue, Arlington, and the streets around the air base; in Corona the blocks around the Circle and the newer neighborhoods south of the 91; in Temecula and Murrieta everything from Old Town to the Rancho California neighborhoods. The evaluation is free with no obligation, and family is welcome at the table or on speakerphone.
What a country mark can tell you, and what it cannot
A country name on the back of a piece narrows its age to the years that country existed under that name. That is a window, not a year. These are the marks we see most in a box that traveled, with the window each one allows.
| Mark on the back | Window it allows | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Made in Occupied Japan | The Allied occupation of Japan, 1945 to 1952 | Who made it, or whether it was sold on a base or in a shop |
| Western Germany or West Germany | West Germany existed as a state from 1949 to 1990 | Which decade inside those forty years; construction and style narrow it |
| Germany, with no West | Before 1949 or after 1990 | Which side of that gap; the clasp, plating and stones decide |
| Czechoslovakia | The country existed from 1918 to 1992 | Whether the piece is from between the wars or later |
| A maker’s name and Pat. Pend. or a patent number | Generally the 1930s through the mid-1950s | A price on its own; condition and the specific design still decide |
| A maker’s name with a small c in a circle | 1955 or later, after Trifari’s copyright case against Charel | How much later; the maker’s other marks narrow it |
Country windows are the historical dates of each state. Pat. Pend. and copyright dating follow published maker histories and the 1955 Trifari v. Charel decision. None of these rows is a price. Signed pieces are valued against the dated figures in our maker guides, and we make one cash offer at your table after the whole box is sorted.
A Jewelry House Call, in a Seller’s Words
“They were very professional, friendly, and extremely fair on pricing some jewelry for us. I was very comfortable having them in our home.” Mica Clark, Google review
How it works
Call or text photos.
A real conversation about what you have, no pressure to sell.
We come to you.
We look at everything, at your pace. We know what we're seeing.
Cash offer, same visit.
A fair price on the spot, or a full estate sale run for you.
Common questions
You are in Laguna Hills. Do you really come out to Riverside, Corona and Temecula for costume jewelry?
Yes, on our inland days. We drive inland regularly, Corona pairs with Riverside and Norco, and the Temecula valley is on our route most weeks, so a call usually becomes a visit within the week. One jewelry box is reason enough when it is on the route, there is no minimum, and the evaluation is free with no obligation. Every clasp is read under a loupe, signed pieces are priced one by one, the rest is bought as one honest lot, and cash is paid the same visit if you accept. Text photos to (949) 449-1255 first and we will tell you the same day whether a visit makes sense.
Dad was in the Air Force and Mom bought jewelry wherever they were stationed. Is jewelry from overseas postings worth anything here?
Often, and it is read the same way as anything bought at home: by maker, mark, construction and condition, not by where it was bought or what it cost then. Some of it will be ordinary souvenir jewelry, which goes into the lot. What we stop on is a maker’s name, good glass and rhinestone work, carved or figural pieces, and complete sets. Keep the pieces with whatever came with them: boxes, cards and tags help us place them. And keep the box together rather than splitting out the foreign pieces, since the same drawer usually holds the signed American costume bought between postings.
The back of a brooch says Occupied Japan, or Western Germany. Does that date it?
It narrows it, which is useful, but it is a window, not a year. A piece marked Occupied Japan was made during the Allied occupation, 1945 to 1952. Western Germany or West Germany means the forty years that state existed, 1949 to 1990. Czechoslovakia covers 1918 to 1992, so that mark alone cannot tell a prewar piece from a postwar one. A plain Germany is either before 1949 or after 1990. Inside those windows, the clasp, the pin back, the plating and the way the stones are set do the rest of the dating. Do not clean or polish a marked piece to read it better; we read marks under a loupe at your table.
Grandma’s box goes back to the citrus years, the 1930s and 40s. What in it might be that old?
Look for two things on the backs. A maker’s name with Pat. Pend., or Pat. or Des. Pat. with a number, generally means the 1930s through the mid-1950s, the era collectors chase; a small c in a circle means 1955 or later. Signed mid-tier pieces are listed at roughly $25 to $100 against $1 to $25 a piece unsigned (asking prices in a secondary guide, August 2026), so those early signed pieces are the ones we price on their own. Leave everything as you found it, including stiff clasps and missing stones, and keep any loose stones in the container they were in. We read the whole box at your table and make one offer on it.
Know what it’s worth before you sell.
Our field guides explain how the market actually prices these things. No fishing, no hype: real ranges and the details that move them.
One call. We’ll take it
from there.
(949) 449-12555.0 on Google · Free visit, no obligation · Cash the same visit
Mon-Sat 6 am-8 pm · Sun 8 am-5 pm
A real person answers seven days a week, weekends included. Photos sent today are usually answered the same day.
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Also from California Vintage Buyers
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- Sell vintage in Riverside, where the barns still have things in them.→
- Estate buyers for Corona, racing history included.→
- Estate buyers for Temecula, from Old Town to the vineyards.→
- Estate buying in Murrieta, where whole lifetimes of collecting came to rest.→