Get wise to Weiss, and vintage costume jewellery knockoffs

As you may know, I'm a lover of vintage (particularly 1970s) costume jewellery and am a member (however fleeting) of the Toronto Vintage Costume Jewellery Club (which is having its semi-annual Show & Sale in exactly one week; see details here).

This brooch and clip-on earring set is def not my style. My friend Matt gave it to me to research for him and possibly sell. The name on the back is "Weiss", a highly collectible name for vintage bling hounds - and for those who make and sell fake Weiss.

Thanks to the Google Gods and a book a member lent me, I'm close to concluding that what I have is a fake, meaning the set would fetch waay less than a real Weiss (some brooches go for $150, my sources say).

One, though the jewel-like pieces have the appearance of being prong-set, they're really not. And, not pictured here, the back is textured and the pros say the authentic ones are smooth.

Weiss stopped making jewellery in 1971, which perhaps explains its popularity in collecting circles.

Sorry Matt, looks like you got a dud.

Thanks to Vintage Costume Jewels for the information on Weiss.

For an interesting article (published in 2006) on people selling fake vintage costume jewellery on Ebay, see this New York Times article.