About Susan Caplan

Susan Caplan sells genuine vintage costume jewellery from the great twentieth-century houses — pieces already forty or fifty years old — and a discount code is welcome, because everything here is one of one.

What is actually on sale

This is a curated resale business, not a brand making reproductions. The stock is authenticated vintage costume jewellery from names such as Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Trifari, alongside unsigned pieces from the same eras chosen on design rather than label. Necklaces, earrings, brooches and cuffs dominate, mostly in gilt metal, glass paste, enamel and faux pearl rather than precious stones — which is what costume jewellery has always meant. There is also a line of restored and reworked pieces and a service for selling your own jewellery on.

Costume, not fine — and why that matters

Do not confuse the two. Costume jewellery from these houses was made in plated base metal with glass and resin stones, and it was designed for impact rather than for a safe. Its value comes from the maker, the period, the condition and the design, not from the metal content, so there is no scrap value underneath it. That also means it needs different care from gold: plating wears, glass paste chips, and the vintage adhesive holding stones in place is decades past its best. What you are buying is a piece with a history, sold as it survives.

Condition, authentication and one-of-a-kind stock

Every listing is a single item. When it sells, it is gone, and a comparable piece may not appear again — which is the argument for buying the thing you like rather than waiting for a better price. Read the condition notes carefully and look at the photographs at full size: light surface wear, small losses to plating and period repairs are normal in pieces of this age and are described rather than hidden. Signature and hallmark details are part of the authentication, so a piece described as unsigned is not a lesser piece, only an unattributed one.

Shipping, condition and using your code

Stock leaves the UK with free delivery above a spend threshold, and international orders are sent with duties and taxes settled up front rather than demanded on the doorstep — worth checking, since that changes the true cost. Items can go back inside the published window in the condition they arrived, though earrings are often excluded for hygiene. Type the code into the basket before paying and read the revised figure; on single-piece vintage stock a code will not combine with an already-reduced price, so compare the two.