Good question! Not to mention a difficult question, but let’s take a look at where you might take a look.

First, when creating your own jewelry, the history of the beads is what contributes greatly to its selling price. If you know for sure the beads are from the 50′s or 60′s (or even 70′s), that helps. Sometimes that’s hard to do, though, if you are buying beads loose.

Sometimes you can find signed vintage bead necklaces that are unrepairable. I’ve seen some bead necklaces where the clasp (where it was signed) was so badly damaged as to be unusable (unless you were a whiz at soldering). Those beads are “ripe for the picking” so to speak, and you can date them far more accurately.

The next question is what kinds of beads do you have? Faux pearls are ubiquitous, so the cost per bead is pretty low. Vintage Swarovski can be more expensive. You can try a google search — here’s one for vintage Swarovski beads:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22vintage+swarovski%22+%2Bbeads&btnG=Search

Thanks so very much for your kind words as to my site and jewelry — I appreciate it! I hope you continue to have fun with your vintage beads and creations!

Gail

Any info you can provide would help greatly.

By the way, I love your site and the jewelry you create with vintage beads. I am looking into grabbing up more from vintage lots on ebay:)

Tanya