Never has it been so easy to buy secondhand luxury goods, with a boom in online auction houses, resale sites and sourcing platforms adding to existing old-school bricks-and-mortar stores. Nor has consumer appetite been so ravenous, with Bain valuing the market at €50 billion ($80 billion) in 2025 – with hard luxury (watches and jewellery) accounting for around 83 per cent of those sales.
With more access and availability than ever, how do we make sure the vintage and antique jewels we’re shopping for are worth their weight? Emrys Cousins, the founder of Sydney-based reseller Love Well Sourced, shared her guide ahead of a sourcing trip to the Jewellery and Gem World fair in Hong Kong in September, where more than 3000 vendors – among them vintage and antiques dealers – sell gemstones, jewellery and watches from the far reaches of the earth.
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