Meet The Jewellery Collector Who Turned Her Cat Obsession Into A Business

If Internet culture has taught us one thing, it’s that cat lovers really go all out when it comes to their feline friends. Whether it’s pampering their fur babies with treats and toys or pandering to their every whim, pawrents (including this writer) have been known to indulge their kitties with everything their picky and particular hearts desire. But one woman has turned her love for cats from an obsession, to the calling card for her vintage jewellery business, Eye of the Cat Jewellery.

Jennifer Banse, one of Harper’s BAZAAR Singapore’s Stylish Women in 2023, is not just a chic former model, she is also a vintage jewellery lover and collector. Her love for these pieces started in 2015 when she was living in New York City with her husband. There, she was exposed to the joys of antique shops, flea markets and the Winter Show at the Park Avenue Armory.

Banse was also missing her senior cat back home in Singapore. “I grew up with cats. I’ve always had cats around me, and when I moved to New York, I had to leave my senior cat behind. I left him in the care of my mother, so I was in New York for four or five years without a cat. I was trying to fill a void in a way,” she explains. Her love for her cat, who passed away in 2019, led her to collecting cat-themed jewellery. “Cat motif jewellery started jumping out at me, and I started focusing the collection on cat pieces.” This led to the creation of Eye of the Cat Jewellery that same year.

One of Banse’s most cherished pieces is her one-of-a-kind charm bracelet that she built piece by piece and is filled with beautiful, vintage cat charms. Some of these charms represent her late cat, as well as her current cat, Luci Mittens. The uniqueness of her bracelet—she is the only one who owns this exact, same piece—represents to Banse the true charm of collecting vintage. Currently 10 cat charms hang off it and Banse describes it as a labour of love that she has been slowly amassing over the past four years. In the jewellery scene, this particular bracelet has become her signature. “Collecting jewellery was the catalyst for me starting Eye of the Cat Jewellery. It made me realise what I love doing and made me want to spread the love of antique and vintage jewellery.”

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Banse explains to us that what is considered antique and vintage jewellery is relative to the current time period. In the US, vintage jewellery is generally 40 years and older, while in the UK, a vintage piece usually dates back at least 30 years. Antique pieces are necklaces, rings, brooches and earrings that are a whopping 100 years or older. As for what to look out for with vintage jewellery, she says hallmarks are one way to distinguish a piece’s provenance and history. “The first thing I will look for are hallmarks. Hallmarks will tell you information like the purity content and the maker’s mark, telling you who made the piece, or when the piece was made. In the UK-made pieces, there’ll be date letters. So you can actually tell which year it was made and where it was assayed, because they’ll have different assay offices where they will stamp the piece.”

Another piece of advice Banse has for future collectors is to buy what you love. “Don’t follow trends. Buy what you love and not what other people you know love or want. This makes you appreciate the piece more, and makes you want it in your collection for a longer time, or even forever. Another thing to look out for is quality and rarity. Look at the piece closely, to study the craftsmanship and make sure everything is in good condition.”

Banse also says you should also go to a trusted source, especially if seeing the piece in real life is not an option. “My other tip would be to go to someone you trust, who is experienced at looking at a piece and verifying if it’s antique or vintage, or if it’s a reproduction piece... they would have done their homework. They would have also tested a piece for you and would have sent it to a gemologist to test the stones too.”

Starting Eye of the Cat Jewellery has also meant that Banse has had to cross the divide between being a collector and a seller. This means buying pieces for her customers and not just ones for her personal collection. Still, she approaches the task in a similar way. “I buy mostly the things that I love, but I curate it for a wider audience. Some are pieces that have been around for 100 years. So they’ve lasted all this while, and I believe the craftsmanship and quality of each piece will make them last 100 years more. Collecting jewellery has been a really interesting journey, because you learn so much behind different eras and different periods,” she says.

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Banse estimates that she currently has 20 to 30 pieces of cat jewellery in her personal collection, with the number changing after each buying trip and also according to what she eventually decides to sell. Recent acquisitions include a stick pin with a realistic-looking enamel cat on the pin head from a trip to England. There are also pieces she will not part with, like a costume jewellery brooch featuring a cat playing with a pearl “ball”. For her online store however, Banse focuses mainly on materials like 18k, 14k or 9k gold and precious stones, ensuring their longevity and value.

Unsurprisingly, cat-themed jewellery sells very well on her site. Banse says that if an owner finds a piece that reminds them of their own cat, they are likely to buy it. Still, stellar pieces including a retro cat pendant, a brushed gold cat brooch with sapphire eyes and a carved agate cat cameo pendant are still available.

Collecting cat charms has also led Banse to create her own signature cat connector charm. She works with a local jeweller who runs a small family business to produce these. Crafted from 18k gold and dotted with gemstones like diamonds, sapphires and rubies, these are the perfect addition for those who love both cats and charms, allowing the wearer to connect their various charms to a necklace or bracelet. “The cat connector was actually for my growing collection of cat charms that were getting out of control. I wanted to find a connector that could hold multiple charms together, and I was looking for a particular style, a cat face, but I couldn’t find it.” Filling this hole in the jewellery market is yet another way that Banse has cemented her connection to cats.

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If there’s one cat motif piece that Banse hopes to add to her collection, it’s a Victorian crystal Essex cat pendant. “So this one is pretty special, because it’s a reverse hand carving on the back of the crystal and then it’s hand painted, so the convex shape will actually make whatever’s painted on appear 3D.” Banse has seen such pieces that belong to other collectors and hopes to make one hers someday. It’s the thrill of the hunt that makes vintage jewellery collecting so exciting for this self-confessed obsessive.

When asked to describe the feeling one gets from collecting vintage and antique pieces, Banse is effusive. “The joy is really in finding and acquiring pieces that nobody has. It’s one-of-a-kind. You’re the only one who has it. You’re telling your own story... not someone else’s mass-produced story, or wearing something that other people are wearing. So I think the thrill is really finding good, quality heirloom pieces that last, and that can last another 100 years or more, and being perhaps the only one who has it.”