About ten years ago I started collecting Victorian jewelry. I was drawn to Victorian jewelry because it is affordable. Inexpensive Victorian jewelry started around the mid-19th century when some forms of jewelry, mostly pins and brooches, began to be mass-produced. The quality of mass-produced jewelry improved after the civil war when supplies of silver and gold rapidly increased and manufacturing methods for gold-plating (or creating gold-filled) jewelry were fine-tuned. Jewelry shops began to offer a wide variety of inexpensive jewelry pieces to both men and women. Today, these items can fit into any collector's budget. Of course, the finest and rarest example of Victorian jewelry can cost thousands of dollars. However, due to mass-production much of  last century's Victorian jewelry is still available at often moderate prices.

To make certain  that you don't overpay for your Victorian jewelry, I suggest purchasing several Victorian jewelry price guides. Below you'll find a list of my favorites:

"The Official Identification and Price Guide to Antique Jewelry, 7th Edition". (2005) Kaplan, Arthur Guy, House of Collectibles, New York, New York.

"Complete Price Guide to Antique Jewelry". (1999) Gilbert, Richard E., Wolf, James H. Ashlands Publications, Sarasota, FL.

"Warman's Jewelry Identifciation and Price Guide, 3rd Edition". (2002) Romero, Christie, Krause Publications, Iola, WI.

"Antique Jewelry, 2nd Edition". (1997) Snell, Doris J. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.

"Collecting Victorian Jewelry, Identification and Price Guide". (2004) Bell, C. Jeanenne, Krause Publications, Iola, WI.

Good luck with your collecting. Don't forget to check out Victorian Love Jewelry and those nifty Haley's Comet Brooches!