About Me--The Joolry Mogul

Hi, and welcome to my page. I am Kim Cummins, AKA, The Joolry Mogul, a name conferred upon me one day by my husband as he watched me leave for my mall space with yet another load of "jools." I have been a dealer and collector of vintage costume jewelry for almost 10 years. I have a very successful web site

in addition to buying and selling on eBay auction. Ten years ago, I would never have dreamed I would be doing this. If you read on, you will discover how I got here.

How It All Began

In 1992, my knowledge of antiques and collectibles was absolutely nill. My husband, Larry, was an avid collector of Anheuser-Busch pre-prohibition breweriana, but I had little or no interest in learning about "old bottles and glasses" and pre-prohibition brewers. He would drag me to shows, flea markets, and antique shops. After 20 minutes I had "seen everything" and was ready to go to lunch! My interest in jewelry somewhat matched my interest in antiques. I had a few pieces of "good" jewelry, most of which Larry had bought me as gifts for special occasions. I wore these occasionally. I owned almost no costume jewelry. I had always considered it an extravagance, so I seldom felt at ease spending extra money for jewelry to match an outfit. It was in this context that I found myself unprepared for the small gift Larry brought home late one day in September,1992. It was a Trifari necklace, circa 1950. He had purchased it from a friend at work who did estate sales. The friend brought boxes of costume jewelry to work to sell to the women who worked there. I had never seen anything like it before. We showed it to my mother-in-law, and I can remember asking, "They made jewelry like this?" She said, "Yes. I had a whole set at one time. We bought it at the jewelry store. It was expensive, even then. People often bought rhinestone jewelry as gifts. It's collectible now. I have a book on it. You can look at it." She came back with the first edition of Harrice Miller's Official Indentification and Price Guide to COSTUME JEWELRY, 1990. As I paged through it, I was awestruck. I asked my husband if his friend had any more. He said, "Yes, boxes of it." I said, "Let's go!" I ended up buying almost everything he had left, and Just Jewelry was born. Since then, our business has grown by leaps and bounds. We are now one of the largest costume jewelry dealers in the St. Louis area. We have an extensive and varied inventory of reasonably- priced items, and we specialize in signed designer pieces. My husband is my business partner and the primary buyer. He still loves "shopping the malls" more than I do. Hardly a day goes by when he does not come home with a small bag of "treasure," as he calls it. I love to do the selling, and I have enjoyed the friendships I have made in the process. My interest in jewelry--well, it's certainly changed. I no longer consider costume jewelry an extravagance. I wouldn't be without it!


Favorite Links

Just Jewelry
Jewelcollect
Past Perfection
Lasting Values

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