The Queen's Christmas Brooch 2020 and Trifari Costume Copy

 Queen Elizabeth wore the Courtland Thomson Shell brooch for her Christmas broadcast for 2020. You can see that brooch in close up on The Court Jeweler Blog.  The beautiful shell brooch belonged to The Queen Mother.  

In the 1940s, there was tremendous admiration for the Royal Family as symbols of resistance to the Nazis.  In this spirit American jewelry companies made jewels inspired by those designs.  Trifari, which had a franchise to sell jewelry at the Norman Norrell Boutique in London made many pieces inspired by crown jewels.  One such fur clip is the Trifari shell brooch shown here. It is an Alfred Philippe design patent number 148,145, dated December 23, 1947.  In Trifari's design the shell was turned 180 degrees. and there are no dangling ribbons of stones as in the magnificent royal jewel. Still, there is a large faux pearl in the center and the style certainly harkens to the Courtland Thomson design.

The back of the stately clip is marked sterling, pat. pend. and Trifari on the clip mechanism.

A smaller version of the design was patented for the earrings, That was patent number 148,156, dated January 13th, 1948. The earrings are marked sterling on the back and Trifari on the clips.

What a  lovely set to wear for Christmas dinner or holiday zoom! Best to you for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Denver Museum's Dior Show

The Denver Art Museum has an exhibition of Christian Dior couture including costume jewelry. sounds like a so fun exhibit.  More information here.  The exhibit is called From Paris TO The World.
Time to dust off your Dior jewelry and wear it! If you go t the show tell how it was.

Have you Seen Darkest Hour?

Have you seen the new film Darkest Hour?  You might be interested in getting you circa 1940  jewelry out for the occasion.  There lots of great jewelry from the time period of course. But if you want to channel the support that Americans felt for the British standing alone in at that time you might look for a Bundles for Britain pin. Sold as a fundraiser these pins generated monies for the British War Relief Society and Bundles For Britian. The United States was neutral until it joined the war in 1941, but U.S. humanitarian efforts were ongoing then.  The pin shown here has the British motto on it Dieu et Mon Droit (God and My Right) and was made by Accessocraft.  Even Cartier produced a design benefiting the effort. You can find one of them here.

The Story of Trifari - a history of the Iconic Company now on Amazon

I recently published a history of Trifari on the Amazon Kindle. It's 247 pages.
"An illustrated history of the beloved jewelry company, Trifari. The book traces the beginning of the company and profiles the principals and their vision. Lavishly illustrated, the book includes patent references, fashion history and hallmarks to aid the collector."

 https://www.amazon.com/Story-Trifari-Maureen-Brodsky-ebook/dp/B01NBOM2XD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483311177&sr=8-1&keywords=the+story+of+Trifari

The Story of Trifari

Joan Rivers Jewelry auctioned

I missed this auction of Joan Rivers' jewelry. This was her collection of fine jewelry.  I sure it was spectacular.
Auction of Joan Rivers' Jewelry
Here is her orchid ( costume) brooch signed Joan rivers.  It has a poured glass look with pave rhinestones. 

New Chanel Jewelry

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal debuted Chanel's new wheat inspired jewelry. It's motif made me think of my previous post with the Alfred Spaney's wheat motif.  Chanel's bracelet is very evocative of this design.

Vintage Trifari Recycled the look of 19th Century

I recently bought this lovely Alfred Spaney for Trifari large rhinestone brooch.  It is 4 inches long and dates from the early 1940s.  It has the patent number 129320 on the back.  In looking through Claude Freganc's Jewelry From the Renaissance to Art Nouveau, I saw two images that caught my eye.  Of course, many know that the rhinestone look of the 1930s-early40s recycles the age of diamonds look of the early 19th century.  Often these designs are compact florals, open roses in a cascade. But on page 101 there is this striking tiara and aigrette, both by Duval for Empress Maria Feodorovna.   The lovely wheat sheaves and long grasses look is there. and Spaney beautifully translates it to a more modern open brooch.
The wheat sheave was popular with the ancient Egyptians and continued to be a symbol in Christian iconography.  A singe sheave of wheat represents harvest and fertility, which seems like a luxurious symbol for a lovely brooch.

Duval was a Swiss jeweler who settled in Saint Petersburg, according to Fregnac.

Bonham's Seeking Jewelry Specialist for New York Office

Bonham's is seeking a jewelry specialist for the New York office.  Sounds like such a fun job, contacting dealers, collectors, and colleagues, appraising jewelry, assisting with sales.
Sigh,
See the details here.

Verdura The Power of Style Exhibit in New York

Opening on October 14,  2014, will be the Verdura 75th Retrospective Exhibition, marking 75 years of the Verdura store on 5th Avenue, New York. Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera and Patricia Lansing will curate the show.  More on it here at the Verdura blog.
Fulco Di Verdura started his career designing costume jewelry and went on to create a fine bespoke jewelry business when he moved to New York in the late 1930s.  One of his most coveted creations for Chanel is the Maltese Cross bangle bracelets.
Fortunely, Kenneth Jay Lane picked up on the idea and created wonderful versions of this iconic bracelet.

Wear yours when you see the Verdura exhibit in New York.

Hollywood Glamour Exhibit at the MFA

On September 9th, the MFA's new exhibit of Hollywood costume and jewelry will open. This exhibit will run until March 8, 2015 in the Loring Gallery of Textiles.  The movies of the studio era seem to be an ever flowing fountain of exhibit material. Let's face it. There were tons of movies, tons of costumes and tons of jewelry.  Then, women enjoyed looking feminine and enjoyed the sparkle, luxury and even sometimes humor of jewelry.  The movies reflected that taste for femininity, glamour, and luxury. When I go out for dinner, I seldom see women wearing jewelry.  The ring must be a massive diamond or nothing at all.  There is no enjoyment in decor on one's self.  I'm surprised there are even jewelry counters in the department stores or so many jewelry sellers on etsy.
Perhaps it's fear, perhaps the austerity of our times. Seems like women in the 1930s were way more optimistic than now.
This exhibit sounds lovely and if you see let me know if it meets your expectations. Everyone can use a little glamour.
Wall Street Journal had an announcement of the exhibit in the print version today and has a nice slide show of some of the featured artifacts in a slide show here.

Miriam Haskell - Why I love her jewelry

So much has been written about Miriam Haskell Jewelry.  The design, the luxe attitude, the ingenious construction.  That's all true.  I think I love Miriam Haskell's work because she took the idea of branding and made private brand at her shop and grew it into a national brand.  And one other reason, she went to my alma mater, the University of Chicago.
Right now, I've got a few Miriam Haskell necklaces on ebay:

Chunky Green Swirled Bead Haskell Necklace

And there is a baroque pearl and rhinestone opera length long necklace on eBay here:

And lastly a long white milk glass necklace with Italian type white glass beads:

 The white milk glass necklace is available here.

A Cartier inspired necklace by De Lillo

A Cartier inspired necklace by De Lillo

I'm listing today a beautiful De Lillo necklace which gives a nod, design wise, to the fabulous Mogul and Art Deco style that Cartier made so famous. It was Jeanne Toussaint, Cartier's mistress  who upon her promotion to major jewelry revolutionized Cartier design and style. She created the panther motif and used precious gems in cabochon and polished non-faceted  forms.  Both amazingadornments.com and  antiques.about.com describe De Lillo as a collaboration between Wm DeLillo and Robert Clark.  Clark is notable for having served as head designer at Miriam Haskell starting in 1960. In addition, he worked at Tiffany's and Harry Winston. The firm De Lillo came into existence in 1967.  In the mid 1970s the design team folded the company and moved to France to work for Schiapparelli and Nina Ricci.

 Booklet from the Cartier Exhibit at the Field Musuem showing carved, bead and cabochon jewels.

And here is a photo of a diamond and emerald bead necklace from the 1930s from The Price Guide to Jewelry by Michael Poynder, Antique Collector's Club, London, 1985.

The DeLillo necklace is at auction on Ebay.

Carolee copies Cartier

I leafing throught this beautiful book from the library, American Jewelry, Glamour and Tradition by Penny Proddow and debra Healy, when I was struck by the similarity of the Cartier designs and the Carolee pin I have.  I love the copy aspect of costume jewelry.  Carolee did a great job here.  Found this pin at the Salvation Army in Chicago.  While Carolee's version is gold-tone,  Cartier brooch in the middle is platinum.

Caption reads American Flag Bow Brooch and Designs 1940
Rubies, sapphire, diamonds and platinum
Signed by Cartier, New York
Designs contemporary with brooch by William Sheer, Inc.

Downton Abbey Era, 1920s Green Glass Flapper Necklace

While we are waiting for the next season of Downton Abbey you might want to watch my video on Downton Abbey Era Jewelry. Just recently, I found a beautiful green glass flapper necklace from the 1920s. I love the long look to the necklaces. 

The glass in this necklace is mottled and swirled to look like jade. There are rice shaped beads, and faceted and round beads.  Overall, the short strand of the necklace measures 30 inches in length while the lower round bead with the tassel is 4 inches in length.  Characteristically, the beads are knotted and the clasp is a simple spring ring. 

Lapel Watches Discreet timepieces for business meetings

Hello again. I haven's posted in a long time but I'm back.
Today I'm posting a few photos of lapel watches.  These were all found for very modest prices and I think they are so useful.  You can wear a lovely time piece and know the time without giving it away.  The watch hangs upside down so that you can view by simply glancing down.  No obvious looking down at a watch or very rudely taking out your phone.  I think they are so great in a business environment.

Notice, the last example has the decoration on the front and watch on the back.  You'd have to be a bit more discreet in looking at the time.  Still, would be more inconspicuous that current timepieces.
Here's the last one:

Love this example since it has a second hand.    You could time the toast! 

Knock-out fabulous -Set in Style

New show at the Cooper Hewitt- means it's time for a trip to New York. Set in Style looks fabulous. It's beautiful survey of the amazing, gloriously sumptuous jewels created by Van Cleep & Arpels. Exhibition runs until June 5th 2011. You can see all the fabulous jewels that fed the costume trends. I'll be celebrating by wearing my faux jewel to dinner.

An Early KTF Masterpiece

Here's one of the earliest KTF (Trifari) patents I've ever seen. James Katz has the patent on his website. The patent is for the invisibly set ruby branch. Overall, the pin is 3 inches long by 1 and 3/4 inches wide. Signed KTF and 32 on the back.

Hi. I'm interested in the influence of real jewelry on cosutme jewelry design. This blog will tract my research on the influence of the great jewelers on the costume market. In addition, I'll write about costume jewelry questions of interest.