Antique and vintage jewelry has never been hotter—just ask the owners of Lang Antiques, a 53-year-old mecca for period jewels located in the heart of San Francisco (at 309 Sutter Street, just off Union Square), where soaring demand lifted sales in December to their highest total ever. The reasons for the category’s blockbuster performance are at once general (the fine jewelry market has seen a dramatic uptick in sales since 2020) and specific to the particulars of buying vintage. These include the fact that, for all intents and purposes, vintage jewels are one-of-a-kind; they’ve been crafted using age-old techniques and are meant to endure through the ages; and, given their pre-owned nature, they are the epitome of sustainable, their carbon footprints effectively at zero. The through-line that connects every piece of jewelry worth collecting “is the story behind it,” says Suzanne Martinez, co-owner of Lang Antiques. She joined the business as an experienced gemologist..
