When jewellery is called museum quality — and when it’s not

Rethinking jewellery’s worth

When jewellery is called museum quality – and when it’s not

Published September 11, 2025

The other day, I received an email from someone saying they had purchased a museum quality bracelet from the Middle East and wanted me to validate it. That’s not the first time I’ve heard someone describe jewellery as museum quality – sellers use the phrase too. But what does it really mean?

What people think ‘museum quality’ means

The email about the bracelet mentioned that a similar piece was in the collection of a large museum. Could I please confirm whether their bracelet had the same value? Behind this seemingly simple request is a set of common assumptions. When non-museum people use the label museum quality, they usually mean one of three things:

There is a piece just like it in an actual museum collection;
It’s very beautiful, undamaged, and, oddly, sometimes size matters too;
It’s rare or unique – you will not find a comparable piece easily.

Put together, these often add up to a fourth meaning: expensive. If it’s museum quality, surely you’ll be willing to pay more for it.

To put it bluntly: in my view, the term museum quality, more often than not, is used mainly to add prestige for both sellers and buyers: ‘look what I managed to find!’ Maybe it could even play into the desire of collectors to share and show their pieces: what better way to acknowledge your excellent taste than to own a piece similar to one admired by thousands? Of course, it’s always nice to find a parallel in a museum, but does that mean your piece is exceptional?

The thing is that this has very little to do with how museums themselves think about jewellery – and why the question of the e-mailer is impossible to answer for me.

Examples of jewellery in museums: from plastic beads to diamonds

Let’s start with jewellery that is actually in museums. I’ll share two examples with you, which you can also see above: click to enlarge them.

A few years ago, I loaned a few strands of plastic eye-beads to our National Museum of Antiquities. They were literally airport purchases, you know the type – cheap, mass-produced bracelets and keychains.

Does being in a museum suddenly make them museum quality? Nope. Although they were mass-produced and of little material value, they were included in an exhibition on beads because they showed how an ancient symbol, the eye, continues into modern souvenir culture. They illustrated a particular storyline the museum wanted to tell.

Another case is the Zeeman diamond pendant, sold for €30 in 2025. One of these pendants now sits in Antwerp’s diamond museum DIVA. Clearly, a silver pendant with a tiny lab-grown diamond isn’t museum quality in the sense of rarity or luxury.

See more about that particular pendant here, it’s quite the story!

It’s hardly comparable to the diamond necklace of Marie-Antoinette that led to the French Revolution, to name but one famous example. But it is important as cultural evidence. It marks a shift in how diamonds are marketed and consumed, and that makes it valuable for a museum narrative – specifically the story that DIVA aims to research and share.

These examples, both cheap and mass produced items on display in a museum, show why assuming museum quality means ‘expensive’ or ‘rare’ can be misleading.

Parameters that define ‘museum quality’ jewellery

So, what does make a piece of jewellery museum quality? As I said above, the term is often misused in the market as a synonym for ‘exceptional’ or ‘expensive.’ But in reality, museum quality jewellery is defined by a set of parameters that relate to cultural, historical, and ethical significance. Museums decide what to collect based on their mission and research priorities. These are some of the key factors you could think of:

Cultural or historical significance – A piece may be important because it reflects social identity, ritual, or everyday life.
Representativeness – Museums often collect typical examples of a style or tradition, not just the unusual ones.
Rarity and survival – A fragile bead that has survived for centuries may be more important than a mass-produced gold bangle.
Condition – While good condition is preferred, damage can sometimes add meaning if it tells a historical story.
Contextual value – A piece may be collected because it contributes to a wider narrative.
Ethical considerations – Provenance matters more than ever. Museums increasingly reject objects of dubious origin, regardless of their other qualities. A piece of jewellery may be big and beautiful, or filling a lacuna in the collection, but if its provenance can’t be traced, museums will more and more decide to pass on it. Provenance matters, people, I can’t stress that enough!

Taken together, these parameters show that museum quality jewellery is about meaning, not money. Actually, what qualifies as significant for one museum may not even be considered for another.

What about aesthetics…?

But surely, you might think, a truly beautiful, well-preserved piece must be museum quality? Aesthetics do play a role, of course, especially for display. But beauty alone is never enough. It’s almost like real life here.

In fact, aesthetic appeal can be misleading. Some Turkmen jewellery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art has come under scrutiny because several pieces are suspected to have been created more recently, to satisfy collectors’ demand for something ‘museum quality’.

Those pieces have no parallels, no clear provenance that would explain their virtually pristine condition despite being over a century old, there are no old photographs, no historic sources. And…they’re unusually large compared to well-documented Turkmen jewellery of the same age. It needs more research, of course, but firm fact is that copies of traditional jewellery are increasingly sold as authentic, and, there it is again, as ‘museum quality’.

Misuse of the term ‘museum quality’

If you’ve ever browsed antique shops or online listings, you’ve probably seen the phrase museum quality splashed across descriptions every now and then. And for sure, that sounds impressive! It suggests that you’re buying something authentic, rare, and important.

But more often than not, it’s just marketing. Sellers use it in three main ways:

To push up the price – labelling a piece as museum quality can make it seem more valuable than it really is.
To imply authenticity – if a museum owns something similar, then surely this piece must also be genuine and significant… right?
To increase pressure on you to buy – you would not want to pass up that single opportunity to acquire something truly unique, would you?

As a buyer, you can protect yourself by treating museum quality as a red flag rather than a guarantee. It’s not a term used in museum cataloguing. It’s not an accepted standard in the jewellery trade. It’s marketing.

Just to be clear: that doesn’t mean the piece in front of you has no value! It may be exquisite, rare, or historically interesting, or all of the above. But those qualities deserve to be weighed against your personal collection preferences.

Let me just say this: I know of one dealership that has actual museum quality jewellery that makes my jaw drop whenever I visit. I could think of several museums where part of these collections would make for a superb addition. But take note: these dealers never use the term themselves, simply because they don’t need to: their visitors know what they’re looking at and whether that matches their collection preferences.

A piece of jewellery needs to be a right fit for a specific museum – slapping a general term on a random piece just does not make sense. There’s literally no need to loudly and visibly stress that something is ‘museum quality’ – the right museum will decide that for itself, and if their curators are any good, they will spot a right fit for their collection just as easily in a thrift shop as in a high-end gallery.

So, museum quality jewellery is not a universal standard. What one museum chooses to collect, another might not even consider. The term only makes sense when tied to a specific institution and purpose.

What does ‘museum quality’ really mean…?

So, what is museum quality jewellery? It’s not a universally acknowledged label, but a very specific thing. It considers provenance, cultural meaning, representativeness, and context. Museums collect jewellery because it tells human stories: of identity, of daily life, of tradition, and sometimes of global change.

When sellers use museum quality as a catchphrase, it often misleads buyers and blurs the difference between cultural significance and market value. But when we use the term carefully, it becomes a reminder that jewellery is more than material: it’s heritage, story, and identity.

So next time you see that phrase in an Ebay-description…Hold on for a second. Think. Ask questions. Dig deeper. What, exactly, is it about this piece that would make it suitable for a museum? And which museum would that be? And why? As always, it boils down to doing your own due diligence – so you’ll recognize that museum quality piece when it does cross your path!

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The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

15 reasons why provenance matters for ethnic jewellery

by dr. Sigrid van Roode | Tips for collectors

Provenance and research

15 reasons why provenance matters for ethnic jewellery

Published Feb 12, 2024

When you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that the topic of provenance for ethnic jewellery pops up every now and then. It gives some people the heebie-jeebies, others are outright annoyed this word keeps crossing their path, and others again never gave it much thought and wonder what the fuss is all about. Here are 15 reasons why paying attention to provenance is a really good idea!

Provenance: what is it again?

Provenance is like the story of a piece of jewellery. It tells us where it comes from, who owned it before, and how it got to where it is now. It’s a way to know the history of the jewellery, like a family tree for things.

This can be important because it helps us understand its value, make sure it’s real, and sometimes, it’s needed for legal or museum reasons. So, when you hear about the provenance of a piece, it’s like hearing its life story and all the places it has been. Or, when you’re more into detective TV-shows: the chain of evidence.

It may take the form of receipts, entries into a diary or purchase ledger, photographs with a jewel in it, your own notes on what a seller shared with you…anything that may serve as proof of the story of your jewellery.

Why does provenance matter for ethnic jewellery?

I mean, let’s be honest for a minute: we all have seen enough heist-movies to understand that provenance is very relevant when it comes to a Rembrandt or Picasso, or the big diamond necklace from some royal or celebrity.

For looted art, we also get it. No peddling stolen cultural heritage. Makes total sense.

But ethnic jewellery..? That was available by the kilo in the 1960s. It would have been melted down if not for collectors, (both foreign and local!), and receipts were not exactly provided.

And what is more: it is still being offered for sale in the countries of origin. Why on earth would anyone care about proper provenance now?

In my view, provenance is not just about legal acquisition (although that definitely plays a role, too). In provenance discussions, the emphasis is often on illegal trade. And that is what annoys people to a point where they’d rather avoid the topic altogether. I totally get that. But there is more to provenance, and so I’d like to step away from the whole legal/illegal vibe and focus on something else entirely.

Or better, make that two things.

First, the world is changing – the 1960s are 80 years away from us. Traditional jewellery is taking on a new role for the cultures that it comes from. It is increasingly valued as heritage, displayed in museums, and part of a country’s identity.

And second: for ethnic jewellery, provenance is far more about safeguarding knowledge about heritage. Provenance is super important for research purposes!

15 reasons why documenting provenance is a really good idea

Here is a list of reasons I could think of, varying from research to appraisal to personal – and yes, I even included a few legal reasons why caring about provenance is a really good idea.

1 – Cultural significance. Provenance is crucial as it provides insight into the cultural context of the vintage ethnic jewellery. Knowing where a piece comes from exactly, ensures that it does not end up orphaned and detached from its cultural context. Take it from me: I just spent years of my life figuring out what Egyptian zar jewellery is, and much of that research was devoted to piecing together the exact provenance of pieces that are now with collectors and museums.

2 – Preservation of heritage Of course, the focus on provenance is also about protecting cultural heritage. It aims to prevent the trafficking and illegal trade of artworks that might have been taken from their places of origin under questionable circumstances. Read more on how that may affect ethnic jewellery in the future here.

3 – Research value Very important: secure provenance of vintage ethnic jewellery is a great help in jewellery research. It provides insights into the evolution of styles, techniques, and materials used, and it also may help to understand its function and use.

Documenting the journey and origin of traditional jewellery, even when purchased in bulk, shines a light on the social, economic, and cultural conditions of the time. Proper provenance can be a make-or-break factor in our knowledge about jewellery, and about the cultures that it comes from.

That research I mentioned under reason no. 1 allowed me to understand why jewellery became available on the market when it did, and what its changing importance for its wearers was. Without provenance, that jewellery would just be a random pile of things.

Moving on from research to trade: provenance is important for the jewellery market as a whole, too.

4 – Market credibility. Emphasizing provenance contributes to the overall credibility of the market. A transparent and well-documented history of a piece of jewellery adds value and trust to the entire industry, benefiting both buyers and sellers.

5 – Market value. Knowing the provenance of your pieces can contribute to their market value. As the market begins to place more emphasis on transparency and traceability, having a documented history can make your collection more appealing to potential buyers or institutions. This is already a visibly growing practice in the ethnographical world, where tribal art is offered with a clear provenance.

6 – Ethical sourcing. There’s a growing awareness of ethical considerations in the jewellery and ethnography world in general. Provenance helps ensure that jewellery has been sourced and traded ethically, aligning with contemporary values and expectations.

7 – Authenticity assurance. Knowing the provenance helps in ensuring the authenticity of the jewellery. While you may have bought pieces you love, having a well-documented history can assure you and others that what you own is genuine and not a counterfeit. In an era where forgeries are becoming more sophisticated, provenance acts as a safeguard. Mind you, fakes are as old as humanity itself – it’s never a definitive assurance, but it sure helps!

8 – Investment value. For collectors looking at jewellery as an investment, a strong provenance can enhance the security of that investment. It provides a comprehensive history that can be crucial for future sales or transfers. As the art world evolves, a well-documented history becomes increasingly important, ensuring that your pieces retain their value and relevance over time.

9 – Age verification. Provenance serves as a means of verifying the age of vintage jewellery, allowing collectors to accurately assess its historical significance. It is another tool in your toolbox to avoid getting duped.

This is also a really important factor in jewellery research: if I can be certain that a particular style or type existed at a given period, this will help me place those jewels in their cultural context.

But that is me: what about you? What can proper provenance bring you, personally?

10 – Family legacy. Provenance is vital for those who wish to pass down jewellery as a family legacy. It provides a documented history for future generations, and it is these generations that may be needing sound provenance. When combined with your own family history, the provenance of a piece may include photo-albums, diaries, memories…the life of your jewellery becomes entwined with your own. Its history is as much your history, and the most heartbreaking conversations I have are with heirs who had no idea of this part of their parent’s lives – and now can no longer ask.

11 – Insurance coverage. Switching to the cold-hearted reasons: provenance is often required by insurance companies to assess the value of your collection accurately. While you may not be concerned about selling, having proper documentation can ensure that your pieces are adequately insured against loss, damage, or theft. In other words: keep those receipts, even if it’s only for your insurance coverage!

12 – Legal considerations. Provenance documentation is increasingly becoming a legal requirement, especially when dealing with the sale or transfer of valuable items. While it might seem burdensome, having a record of your purchases can protect you from legal issues and ensure compliance with evolving regulations. These are in more detail:

13 – Ownership verification. Provenance serves as a means of verifying ownership, a crucial aspect when transferring jewellery to museums or other institutions. It helps confirm that the seller has legal rights to the item and can transfer ownership without legal complications. This is actually a thing: if you’d like to make a donation, the receiving party will want to ensure you are actually entitled to do so.

14 – Legal transfer to heirs or institutions. If you plan to pass your collection on to heirs or donate it to institutions in the future, having a clear provenance makes the transition smoother. It helps your beneficiaries understand the value and significance of each piece, and it helps prevent disputes or legal challenges among heirs or between the donor and the receiving institution.

15 – Museum acquisition policies. Many museums have strict acquisition policies that mandate a clear provenance for any item they accept. By meeting these standards, your pieces may become more attractive to potential buyers or institutions, expanding the reach and influence of your collection. Here is a roadmap to help you get started with donating your collection.

Why should you care for provenance as a business?

While it might feel like an extra layer of scrutiny, emphasizing provenance is not meant to hurt anyone’s business. It revolves around transparency and accountability. It is, in essence, a collective effort to elevate standards, protect cultural heritage, and safeguard the knowledge still attached to jewellery, before it has completely vanished.

Why should you care for provenance as a collector?

Documenting provenance may seem like a lot of effort, especially for collectors who just want to enjoy the pieces they’ve acquired over the years without the hassle of documentation. However, as I have outlined above, there are several important reasons why provenance is gaining attention, even for items purchased decades ago without receipts.

Provenance: anything I can do…?

After working your way through this list, you may be thinking: I don’t really see how this affects me. The thing is, it may not be relevant now, but it certainly will be in the near future. Whether we like it or not, the emphasis on provenance is growing stronger.

And I would not be devoting this much blog space to it if I felt it was a minor matter. I believe establishing and documenting provenance is incredibly important, not because of the legal/illegal angle, but because of everything we stand to lose. There is a wealth of heritage, culture and history in your jewellery that deserves to be preserved, and provenance is one of the factors that helps do just that.

So even if there is just one among the 15 reasons above that speaks to you, now is the perfect time to get organized!

I created a guide for you with clear, actionable steps that you can start with today. Find it here: every little note you make today, helps preventing this beautiful aspect of a culture from getting extinct. Thank you!

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5 rookie mistakes

by dr. Sigrid van Roode | Tips for collectors

Avoid these mistakes in collecting

5 rookie mistakes lessons I learned in collecting jewellery

Updated Feb 16, 2025

Collecting vintage and antique jewellery from the Middle East is such a beautiful activity. The hunt for that one special piece, the jolt of excitement you feel when it finally arrives or when you walk out of that store! But…did you know there are some pitfalls that can impact the importance and even the value of your collection? Here are 5 mistakes I totally made myself – and which proved to be valuable lessons!

1. Neglecting to research regional styles and techniques

That’s a no-brainer… diving into the market without a thorough understanding of the diverse styles and techniques specific to different regions and cultures will get you duped for sure. The Middle East and North Africa are a mosaic of cultures, each with its distinct jewellery traditions. From the intricate filigree work of Yemeni silversmiths to the colorful enamel designs of Amazigh craftsmen, the nuances are vast and varied.

When I purchased my first pieces of jewellery, as a young student, I definitely made mistakes (and I have the Drawer of Shame to prove it!) It took me a while to learn to recognize both regional styles and stylistic developments over time…and that is what it takes to avoid this: time.

My advice would be to invest time in researching the unique characteristics of jewellery from the regions or cultures you’d like to collect, right from the start. Having a handle on these aspects not only enhances your appreciation for the pieces, but also acts as a safeguard against purchasing replicas or misattributed items.

With time, you’ll become a lot less vulnerable against intentional fooling! This post tells you exactly what to look for.

2. Overlooking the importance of provenance and collection management

Provenance, or the documented history of a piece, is really paramount when building a collection of vintage and antique jewellery. Who were the previous owners of a piece? When was it first acquired? Has it been restored or altered? Equally important is keeping track of your collection. They usually go hand in hand.

The thing is I did not realize that this is actually important until much later. When I first started to collect jewellery, I just purchased what I liked and what I could afford, and never wrote anything down.

And people, did I come to regret that…! Things like the local name of a piece, or the name of the shop I found it, or the year I bought it. From the bottom of my heart: Write. It. Down.

Please do it now, while you still remember it – if not for your heirs, then for future collectors so they don’t have to start all over again with researching things you already knew. It’s such a waste of all the energy and time you have spent on finding out more on your pieces if they end up as nameless orphans.

Added bonus: I’ll never forget my surprise when I had purchased a piece of jewellery I was really excited about, only to discover I already owned one….believe me, there will be a point in time that you do not remember exactly what’s in your collection.

When purchasing jewellery with a gallery or online, ask for a comprehensive provenance that outlines its journey through time. You will have absolutely no problem obtaining this from reputable sellers! And, if you’re the first person to buy a piece in the country of origin itself, its provenance journey starts with you: download this free resource to do that in 5 easy, proven steps.

Why should you even care about provenance for jewellery from the Middle East and North Africa? Well, ultimately, a piece with a well-documented provenance ensures a transparent and trustworthy collection.

And while it may not matter to you now, as provenance only continues to increase in importance, it will be very relevant once you’d like to donate or sell your collection in the future. This post provides you with a clear action plan to approach a museum.

Of course, the jewellery itself speaks to its value and importance! But missing provenance may still cause the value of your collection to plummet, while outstanding provenance has proven to actually increase its value.

Want to start documenting your collection, but have no idea where to start? This course shows you step by step, including templates, checklists and how-to’s!

3. Failing to authenticate materials

Now here’s a field I made errors of judgment in, too. How to recognize real amber and coral from a photograph, for example? The Drawer of Shame contains bloopers here, too.

What is presented as silver may actually be low-grade silver or even base metal, and what about those murky waters of gemstones? Failing to authenticate these elements can lead to costly oversights, as I have learned in the past.

Granted, it’s a mistake you’ll only make once, but still. That feeling of having misjudged is just painful. There’s a reason I call it the Drawer of Shame instead of the Drawer of Valuable Lessons Learned, after all.

Related to that is insight in the use of synthetic materials: they really do not have to be indicators of reproductions. You just need to know which is which…for which I refer back to point number 1 above.

Synthetic materials may be authentic replacements, or even part of its design from the start. Click here to see some surprising examples of pieces that were actually designed with plastic.

I’d say it is crucial to be well-versed in the materials commonly employed in Middle Eastern jewellery, and their uses during different time periods. This, too, takes time and learning.

4. Ignoring preservation and maintenance practices

So, you’ve successfully purchased a piece of jewellery…and then all of a sudden it has turned green from verdigris. Yes, been there, too! And that panic attack is one I will not lightly forget.

Silver jewellery requires attention and care to preserve its beauty. Ignoring proper preservation and maintenance practices can result in irreversible damage, diminishing the value of your collection.

How to avoid your collection ending up damaged? For this, you’ll want to implement careful storage practices: see 4 simple tips on how to store – and how not to store – silver here.

A second advice is to regularly inspect pieces for signs of wear, loose settings, or corroded metal. By adopting a proactive approach to preservation, you safeguard the longevity and quality of your wonderful collection.

Quick tip: since that encounter with the Green Monster, I go over my collection twice a year. Around the end of the year, in the holiday season, and roughly halfway through the year during my Summer break.

5. Underestimating the power of connecting with others

Building a collection of vintage and antique jewellery from the Middle East is an ongoing learning process, and that is also the fun of it. I honestly learn something new every day!

Networking with experts and fellow collectors is fun, stimulating and productive. Underestimating the importance of connecting with individuals who share a passion for the same niche can limit your growth as a collector.

That sounds like a big claim, but think of it as an ever-expanding circle: see more, learn more, lessen your chances of getting duped.

For me, I noticed that I started to make significantly less mistakes when I started learning from others. Having conversations works both ways and develops never-ending, mutual learning.

And most of all: I gained friendships and a community that are just invaluable. Thank you for being here!

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Where can I find more on traditional jewellery from Southwest Asia and North Africa?

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