hidden gems; Mixing vintage and contemporary pieces with a curator's eye defines a new breed of jewelry boutique.(Erie Basin, In God We Trust, Doyle and Doyle)

One of Michelle Williams's favorite places in New York is a jewelry boutique called Erie Basin, nestled in Brooklyn's waterfront-and-warehouse Red Hook neighborhood. "It's a strange oasis in the city in the middle of nowhere," she says. "There is some bravery in opening a store where no subways run." The actress is drawn not only to the destination shop's "crusty Victorian aesthetic" ("It's modern but curious-and a bit subversive") but also to the way it displays its mix of wares: "It's not so much about consuming as it is about archiving."

Owner Russell Whitmore pairs vintage finds from flea markets with works by contemporary designers such as Philip Crangi, Mary Preston, and Conroy + Wilcox. When arranging objects as compositions, he pays attention to the interplay between them, or what the suggestion of grouping varied materials, periods, and origins evokes. "It's important to take things slightly out of context," Whitmore explains. "Sometimes placing a very ornate Victorian piece next to an odd bit of American folk art reveals the beauty in each. The shop is small enough that I consider how each individual work will affect the whole."

Much like museum curators who select paintings and sculptures to create a cohesive show, a new wave of store owners vets and presents jewelry that results in mini exhibitions. Old green medicine bottles, specimen jars, shells, driftwood, taxidermy birds, and mirrored picture frames dress up china cabinets and antique desks that serve as display cases. Jewelry from different eras is often assembled in distinct vignettes, as at lower Manhattan's Doyle & Doyle, which carries estate heirlooms as well as contemporary styles. Cameo earrings, signet rings, and numerology pendants call to mind the romance and femininity of the Victorian era, while crystal hawk and cross chokers are representative of a Goth aesthetic. Necklaces in a palette of neutral woods and a ring that resembles a rock formation draw on natural materials for an organic tableau. And a coral-inspired cuff whisks you away to a sun-drenched coast. Each boutique relies on some version of these unifying themes to create a welcoming environment and an educational shopping experience. Some boutiques pamper their customers in even more homespun ways, like Ginette Jewelry Bar in the West Village, where customers sip espresso as they flip through coffee-table books and browse among vintage rings and contemporary gold monogrammed bracelets.

A few years ago, hipsters with a flair ...