Silpada Jewelry: Retired Designs, Marks, and What It’s Worth

Short answer: Silpada was a Kansas company that sold sterling silver jewelry through home parties from 1997 until it closed in July 2016. Richline Group bought the Silpada name and designs that year and relaunched it online, so a “retired” Silpada piece is one from the party-plan years that isn’t sold new anymore. Most Silpada is .925 sterling, pieces are usually identified by a style number like N1503, and secondhand prices are usually below what it cost new.

If you went to a jewelry party in the 2000s, there’s a good chance you came home with a chunky sterling necklace and a little Silpada box. At its peak the company had tens of thousands of independent reps, and all that jewelry is now finding its way to resale sites, often with the original pouch and paperwork still attached.

What happened to Silpada?

Silpada started with two friends, Bonnie Kelly and Teresa Walsh, who met in 1985 and spent years running jewelry parties before officially founding Silpada Designs in 1997 in Overland Park, Kansas (the company was later based in nearby Lenexa). The model was the classic home party, and it worked: by 2010, Silpada had about $230 million in annual revenue and 32,000 reps.

Avon bought Silpada in July 2010 for about $650 million, then sold it back to an entity owned by the founders in 2013 for $85 million. In 2016 the company told its reps it would close on July 31, citing falling sales, fewer parties, and weaker recruiting (one executive told JCK that “women don’t party the way they used to”). That October, Richline Group, a Berkshire Hathaway company, bought the brand name, designs, and inventory, and in November 2016 Silpada came back as an online store. It still sells there today.

How do you identify Silpada jewelry?

Look for a stamp with the Silpada name and a sterling mark (925) somewhere discreet, such as near the clasp, on a tag, or on the back of an earring. Some pieces also carry a country of manufacture. We couldn’t find an official guide to exactly how Silpada stamped its pieces over the years, so if you see a variation, don’t panic. What matters most is that the name and a silver mark are there, and that the style looks right.

The style number is your best tool. Silpada gave each design a code made of a letter and a number, like N1503 or N1218, and that code was printed on the packaging and in the catalogs. In resale listings the letter almost always matches the category: N for necklaces, B for bracelets, R for rings, and W for earrings on party-era pieces. The current Richline-era site uses E for earrings, so a W code probably points to the older years. (That’s a pattern we see in listings, not something Silpada has published.) If you have the original box, card, or receipt, keep it with the piece.

What does “retired” mean for Silpada?

“Retired” just means a design isn’t sold new anymore. It’s resale-market vocabulary, not an official Silpada label, and the company doesn’t keep a public list of retired designs or a catalog archive (its site says it doesn’t have catalogs right now). Since Richline still sells some older favorites alongside new collections, it’s worth checking silpada.com before you call a piece retired. Old printed catalogs do turn up secondhand, and they’re the easiest way to match a style number to a name and original price.

Is Silpada jewelry real silver?

Mostly, yes. Silpada built its business on .925 sterling silver, and Avon described it as “a direct seller of sterling silver jewelry.” Plenty of pieces pair the silver with stones, pearls, or glass. In the later party years Silpada also mixed in brass, copper, and patina finishes, plus natural materials like tagua nut, acai seed, and wood, and today’s site sells some gold-plated silver too. So read the stamp and the original description rather than assuming every piece is solid sterling all the way through. Our sterling silver guide walks through the marks and at-home checks.

What is Silpada jewelry worth?

Usually less than it cost new, and that’s worth knowing before you price it. Silpada’s retail prices ran from roughly $20 to $300, and resale buyers know there’s a lot of it out there. What helps: big statement necklaces and cuffs, heavier pieces (the silver weight sets a floor), popular designs people search for by style number, and the original box or pouch. What hurts: heavy tarnish, missing stones, and broken clasps. We don’t quote a typical price here because it swings so much by design, so search completed sales for the exact style number. Our guide to pricing jewelry for resale explains how.

Selling? Put the style number in the title if you know it (buyers search for it), photograph the stamp, and mention the original packaging. Silver tarnishes in storage, so a gentle polish before photos makes a big difference; our guide to cleaning jewelry at home covers sterling. Shopping? Browse Silpada on StillSparkly.

Sources

• UMKC Entrepreneur Hall of Fame: Bonnie and Jerry Kelly, Silpada founders
• Lawrence Journal-World: Avon buys Silpada for $650 million (2010)
• Avon Products 8-K: sale of Silpada to Rhinestone Holdings (2013)
• JCK: Silpada Designs to close (2016)
• National Jeweler: Richline Group acquires Silpada Designs (2016)
• USPTO: SILPADA trademark, Reg. 2308977 (first use 1997)
• Silpada: FAQ (relaunch under Richline, no catalogs)