The owner of Queen Anne’s well-known costume jewelry shop Rhinestone Rosie (606 W. Crockett St.), Rosalie (“Rosie”) Sayyah, is celebrating her 31st year, and she is the gem of the entire collection.
Daughter Lucia Sayyah is her partner. Their shop is filled with glittering costume jewelry that is beautifully displayed. Some are whimsical in nature.
“Jewelry in the shapes of snakes and spiders are always popular,” Rosalie said, as I handed her a 1900s pot metal snake pin with some very small rhinestones and green glass eyes to evaluate.
“In today’s retail market, it would go for about $25,” she said.
A love of jewelry
Rosie took inspiration from her shopkeeper parents, who owned and operated their shop, Eddie’s and Margie’s Used Furniture and Varietal, in Orlando, Fla.
She remembers handling ironing chores with a mangle at age 6. She tidied up, folded, arranged and watched her parents gather, repair and display inventory.
It was there she learned the art of working with customers. In her teens, she was allowed to run the shop in her parent’s absence. And “I loved it,” she said. Despite a college degree in communications and marketing, successful stints as a TV producer in Orlando and for KOMO in Seattle, the love of shopkeeping never left her.
Through a series of garage and estate sale finds and personal friendships with other shopkeepers, she began to acquire and repair pieces of costume jewelry as a hobby. Fine jewelry and diamond stores abounded at the time, but jewelers paid little attention to the more popular, inexpensive pieces of rhinestone, crystal and glass jewelry from the late Victorian era on — they were just valued as family keepsakes and heirlooms.
“There was nobody in the whole United States [who did]…and there still isn’t, really,” who specialized in the kind of jewelry Rosie loved.
Rosie acquired her experience and skill by trial-and-error, study and hands-on experience. Her curiosity and love of discovery led her to the now-gone Queen Anne Hobby Shop, where she has great memoires of being mentored by some knowledgeable shopkeepers who suggested the best glues to use and taught her techniques and soldering skills.
Watching her work today — sitting at her jeweler’s station, her hands working quickly, her attention to accurate detail or jumping up to greet customers — you see why she is successful.
In the ‘80s, Rosie took some of the best examples of her work to the upscale I. Magnin & Co.’s jewelry department. The company hired her to do repairs for the store, and that began her first foray into the business.
She credits two other women for mentoring her: Karen Lorene, owner of the downtown shop Focare; and, Carol Winship, of the now-gone Madame and Co. in Pioneer Square.
She soon settled into the shop space next door to where she is today.
The current space was remodeled two years ago. Folks drop in with inherited or acquired pieces, and Rosie and Lucia give them a free evaluation of up to three pieces. It includes a circa date, analysis of materials and history and an estimated retail value. The store buys or consigns pieces that make the cut of their discerning eye.
An expert reputation
If the appraisals sound a lot like what you would hear on “Antiques Roadshow,” it is because Rosie is, in fact, a longtime participant on the show. Two years after the show began in 1996, Rosie saw a flyer and contacted the producer, who invited her to join the show.
She is often recognized. “It is my distinctive hair!” she quipped.
Her style and knowledge of her subject matter is what has kept her on the show since 1998.
“I love the celebrity of it, the discovery and surprise of seeing interesting pieces…the people!” Rosie said. “I never get sick of the questions I hear over and over: What is a rhinestone? And how do you clean them?”
The answers: “A rhinestone is a piece of glass or crystal that is foiled on the back. And no water…. A soft, dry toothbrush is the proper way to clean them so as not to damage the foil.”
Rosie does three shows a year. She is one of the few women and few West Coast experts the show uses.
She credits the show with giving her a respected reputation that has put her in the lead as the costume jewelry expert, a popular lecturer on “Rhinestone Culture” and furthering her shop’s ever-growing business.
“We have taught a lot of people how to wear rhinestones to great effect,” she said.
The store helps wedding parties find the perfect jewelry for their celebrations and do estate sale appraisals, and Lucia does goldsmithing and fine jewelry custom design and repairs.
Rosie and Lucia keep an eye out for special pieces their customers might like, and everyone is invited to sign their little pink book with requests for special things and invitations to special events.
Rosie hopes Lucia will follow in her footsteps with “Antiques Roadshow.” “She does everything I can do and more,” she said.
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