Colorado woman finds $15K Tiffany & Co. necklace in Goodwill box of jewelry, then goes down a rabbit hole to confirm whether it’s real

A Colorado woman found a jackpot while browsing ShopGoodwill. The lucky find in question? A jewelry box with a $15,000 Tiffany & Co. necklace, among other trinkets. 

Dana (@retrostarrvintage), the owner of RetroStarr vintage, an online reseller, posted a video highlighting the online find. The only question she and other commenters had was: “Is the necklace real or is it a knockoff?”

Dana’s initial post

Dana, a vintage fine jewelry reseller, had initially purchased a bulk box from ShopGoodwill, an online auction website, for “$89 plus shipping.” She and her friend were looking through the platform’s jewelry lot on its website. Then her friend noticed a possible Tiffany & Co. product.

She received a regular cardboard box with a plastic lining, which contained the supposed Tiffany & Co. necklace. After initial research, Dana realized that the necklace was worth over $15,000. “Now i’m spiraling a little,” the content creator wrote in her video’s description.

Commenters, though, weren’t convinced that the product was genuine.

“The gold doesn’t look real to me,” one commenter said. 

Another mentioned that the clasp on the necklace didn’t even mention Tiffany & Co., which added to speculation that the necklace was fake.

Dana decided to verify whether the piece was from Tiffany & Co., so she went to a store in an indoor mall the very next day to check.

Was the necklace originally from Tiffany & Co?

Dana took the necklace to a representative from Tiffany & Co., who gave her bad news. The piece, according to that particular associate, was likely fake and not a Tiffany & Co. product. 

At first, Dana was disappointed. But she still had a feeling that the necklace was authentic in some way, shape, or form. She walked across the hall of the indoor mall she was in. There, she sought the opinion of a Rolex and jewelry dealer and asked whether the necklace had 18k gold or diamonds. 

They took it to the back and came back: The necklace was made with authentic materials and had gold and diamonds in it. “Who actually made this?” Dana asked.

The turn of events led her and others following the story to question the representative who originally told her it was a fake product. Viewers argued that a store clerk at Tiffany & Co. wouldn’t be able to authenticate vintage stock anyway. 

“I wouldn’t count on the knowledge of a sales associate , especially if you told them you found it in a Goodwill box,” one commenter said. 

The authentication rabbit hole

From there, Dana went on a “saga” with the necklace. She did more research and concluded that, at the very least, the rose gold piece was a “Tiffany style” necklace. She still couldn’t conclude that it was from Tiffany & Co., though.

Commenters on previous posts noticed that the color of the necklace Dana found didn’t appear to be a “Tiffany & Co.” rose gold. That ended up sending Dana down a “weird jewelry authentication rabbit hole.” She noticed that it probably wasn’t vintage. But it wasn’t necessarily a new piece from the jewelry company either.

“It was too pink for Tiffany rose gold, almost closer to Tiffany’s old Rubedo metal from 2012,” Dana wrote in her video’s description. “But the HardWear collection didn’t launch until 5 years later.”

Rubedo notably generated controversy among metallurgists, who argued that the company did not make a new “metal” for the Tiffany & Co collection. The Rubedo line was supposed to be discontinued in 2012, but online sites like the Copper Development Association Inc say that pieces were made after the fact. 

The TikToker promised to continue looking into the necklace and updating her audience. 

The Mary Sue has reached out to Tiffany & Co and Goodwill via email. The publication also sent a TikTok direct message to Dana for more information.  

@retrostarrvintage My friend and I were sorting through a ShopGoodwill jewelry lot tonight when she suddenly goes, “Wait… I think this says Tiffany.” And now I’m spiraling a little. Tomorrow I’m taking it to Tiffany. #shopgoodwill #vintagejewelry #jewelrytok #tiffanyandco #treasurehunt @tilly_trish ♬ Welp, Didn't Expect That – Yu-Peng Chen & HOYO-MiX

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]