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four locations in the Netherlands · Gemologist checked
Collection
Retro jewelry is what happened when platinum went to war. From 1939 the metal was requisitioned, so jewelers turned to gold — and, because gold alloys could be tinted, to rose and green gold used together in the same piece. Scale went up and stone counts went down: tank-track bracelets, scrolled ribbons of polished gold, huge citrines and aquamarines, and cocktail rings built to be seen across a room.
Between pieces
Every piece here exists once, so this page empties and fills again as we buy. That is exactly when it is worth telling us what you are after: our buyers are with European estates, auction houses and private sellers every week, and we write to you first when something right comes in.
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About retro
Retro pieces (roughly 1935 to 1950) are bold and sculptural, in rose and yellow gold, with large semi-precious stones such as citrine and aquamarine, made when platinum was restricted.
Every piece here is checked at our own bench before it goes online: metal karat tested, marks read under magnification, stones and settings examined, and condition described as we find it. Anything we cannot verify is left as not specified rather than guessed, and we will show you any piece live on video before you buy.
Pieces from this period typically sit between roughly $900 and $8,000 with us, depending on gold weight, stone quality and condition.
Indicative only. Every curated vintage, antique and estate piece is one of a kind and priced on its own merits, with free insured US shipping.
Personal service
Three ways to go further, all of them with a person on the other side.
One of our jewelers takes any piece to daylight and shows you the hallmark, the setting and any wear, live and in your own time zone.
Book a viewingOur buyers are with European estates and auction houses every week. Describe the piece and we write to you the moment something right comes in.
We will source itOur Atelier pieces are newly handcrafted in our own workshop, taking their cues from the vintage and antique jewelry we have spent decades restoring. New work with a vintage soul, never sold as antique.
Explore AtelierThe mid-century years that followed kept the confidence and refined the line. By the 1950s and 1960s jewelers were working in textured yellow gold, brushed and woven surfaces, spray and foliate brooches set with small brilliants, and the first properly modernist Scandinavian and Dutch silver. It is the most wearable antique-adjacent jewelry there is, and still the best value per gram of gold on the market.
Every piece in this hub is weighed to the tenth of a gram, tested where the hallmark is worn, and checked at our bench for the things that fail on jewelry of this weight: clasps, tank-track links, hinges and worn shanks. Our gemologist identifies the stones and any treatment. We have been buying and restoring in the Netherlands since 1973.
Platinum was declared a strategic material during the Second World War, so 1940s jewelry is almost always 14K or 18K gold, frequently rose or a mix of rose, yellow and green. That single fact dates a great deal of Retro work more reliably than style alone.
From the 1950s the vocabulary changes again: textured gold, woven and brushed surfaces, abstract and organic forms, and Scandinavian and Dutch silver by named workshops. Signed modernist work is researched and attributed only where a mark supports it.
Because these pieces are substantial, weight matters to value, so we publish it. They also happen to be the easiest vintage jewelry to wear daily: solid construction, few fragile settings, and stones chosen for colour rather than delicacy.
Not sure yet?
One of our jewelers will take any piece in this collection to daylight and show you the hallmark, the setting and any wear, live and in your own time zone.
Book a private video viewingKeep exploring
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Exclusive vintage drops
New treasures every week, by email, before they go live here.
Guides and neighbouring collections worth a look.
How to place a piece in this period.
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Made to be noticed across a room. Big colored stones, gold scrollwork and Retro confidence, usually in a size
Read morePost war optimism in gold: textured surfaces, spray brooches, fluid gold necklaces and the first modern solita
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