Blue rhinestones butterfly brooch. 1950s. American vintage – Regency costume jewelery

American vintage – Regency costume jewelery
The history of the Regency jewelery brand began in New York City by the Polowitz family who owned Regina Novelty Company. In the short twenty-year period of its existence (1950s – 1970s), the company managed to create not so many jewelery. However, all Regency creations, especially labeled, is a good find for collectors of vintage costume jewelery, and their value grows every year.
The favorite motif of Regency jewelery is a butterfly, made in bright unexpected shades and spectacular forms. Also, many decorations have leafy and floral motifs with the rich use of high-quality rock crystal in contrasting or complementary color combinations.
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Leaf brooch. Silver, red, black, purple and marsh agate. 1880s 6 cm. £ 400-700 LYNH. Antique Scottish pebble agate jewelery

Antique Scottish pebble agate jewelery
Now very rare, Scottish silver products with the inserts of agate, granite and other local stones. Such jewellery became especially popular when Queen Victoria, always feeling proud of her Scottish ancestors, bought Bolmoral Castle in 1848. In the design of the Celtic hand-made jewelry, they were often more refined and often made according to individual orders.
Craftsmen used agate, a variegated veined variety of chalcedony, in costume jewelry from the time of the Roman Empire, usually carved in the form of oval cabochon or figurines. The muted colors of agate — swampy green, rusty red and ocher — combined with the gray tones of granite matched the palette of the Scottish landscape. Agate biotechnology sometimes inherited the forms of Celtic embellishments. For example, a dagger brooch or a round brooch with a long hanging pin, a black topoloch motif, a harp, a Celtic cross and heraldic attributes for a weapon. All – made of polished agate, trimmed in silver with engraving.
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Mechanical brooch. The flower closes and opens the petals when you move by the leaf. Made of metal of gold tone, transparent rhinestones. Joseph Warner vintage costume jewellery

Joseph Warner vintage costume jewellery
Founded by Joseph Warner in 1953, the Warner company produced jewelry till 1971. Known for its high quality workmanship, Warner costume jewellery is made of metal of gold tone, lacquered metal, and enamel, often decorated with rock crystal, and superior rhinestones. Traditionally, Warner costume jewellery includes flower designs, insects, animal and figural motifs. Noteworthy, in addition to traditional costume jewellery design, Warner produced a series of floral brooches with innovative motifs. In particular, mechanical brooches from the “day-night” series equipped with a cunning “opening and closing” mechanism. Among them – umbrella and flower brooches.
The company ceased operations in 1971. Today, all costume jewellery signed Warner, or Joseph Warner is collectible and vintage by default, and accordingly, constantly increasing in price.
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Stylized figure Mick Milligan brooch. Stamped, corrugated and coiled metal of gold tone, crystal of rhinestone. 1970s length 15 cm. Vintage Zandra Rhodes costume jewellery

Vintage Zandra Rhodes costume jewellery

Protege of Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent founded his fashion house in 1961 and released the first ISL collection the next year. The style of his jewelry ranges from elegant classic to exotically refined. The jewelry of the 1970s, theatrical and bright, demonstrates the same purity of forms and lines as clothing.
Born 19 September 1940 in Chatham, Kent, English fashion designer Zandra Rhodes produced not only fashion collections, but also bright costume jewelry for them. Her first eccentric collection of clothes, as well as handcrafted jewelry for it, appeared in 1969. Noteworthy, such talented designers as Andrew Logan and Mick Milligan made jewelry for her clothing line. All ZR jewelry decorations demonstrate a bright personality, and her own handwriting that collectors really appreciate. Trendy, stylish and unique works of Zandra Rhodes are highly collectable now.
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Cat catching a mouse brooch. 1970s. Vintage sterling silver Jezlaine costume jewellery

Vintage sterling silver Jezlaine costume jewellery
Lovers and collectors of vintage costume jewellery know Jezlaine, or Jez, an American jewelery firm, quite well. However, the company began in 1975 as a family business in a garage of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on the personal savings of its founder. As Robin McVey, Jezlaine Limited owner confirms, “No bank would lend me money … Now, everyone is banging down my door. I could afford to.”
The main direction of the brand was the manufacture of silver jewelry by the method of artistic forging. Traditionally, Jezlaine produced brooches, charms, pendants, earrings and bracelets of exquisite and unusual designs, but always of high quality. Very often, Jezlaine produced series of decorations. For example, “The Cats”, “Christmas”, or “St. Valentine’s” collection, made of 925 sterling silver. All filigree adornments of this brand have marks on them, labeled 925 Jez, or Jezlaine Sterling.
In 1999, Sunstone Imports, located in Morton Grove, Illinois, acquired Jezlaine Limited.
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Fabulous butterfly vintage brooch, color rhinestones, gold tone metal, cabochons, signed. Robert De Mario vintage costume jewellery

Robert De Mario vintage costume jewellery

Founded in 1945 in New York, Robert De Mario company produced costume jewellery of a very high quality, with a careful study of details. Produced in small quantities, De Mario decorations are rare and highly appreciated by collectors of vintage jewelry. However, in 1965, the company ceased to exist. The short production period (1945-1965) and the uniqueness of hand-made jewelry brought DeMario to the catalog of rare and collectible vintage brands.

Noteworthy, the partners decided to create the line of jewellery similar to De Mario brand. Thus, in 1967 appeared Juliana. This jewellery line lasted about 2 years, but the name (Juliana) itself became very popular among collectors of vintage jewelry. This line of jewelry didn’t have mark, instead, the name Juliana was written on a separate paper label.
De Mario jewelry was a complex multilayered work, combinations of diverse components and materials – wood, gilding, natural and artificial pearls, mother-of-pearl, faux emerald and garnet. The combination of natural wood, complex incrustation with mother of pearl, techniques of gold foil, the use of rock crystal and beads makes this multi-faceted product truly fascinating.
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Rare 1940s Flower Basket brooch. Rhinestone, Rhodium. Signed ORA, a mark used by the Chicago based company Ralph Singer Jewelry Co. Chicago based ORA vintage costume jewellery

ORA vintage costume jewellery
First, it was a creative duo of designers Oreste Agnini and Ralph Singer (Italian Raffaele Cantaluppi) who used the name ORA for their jewellery. Originally, they made the jeweled buttons and brooches for the Eisenberg line of clothing. But later, when they ended with Eisenberg, in 1920-1930s, they began producing jewellery known as ORA. The name of their Chicago based company which employed 200 people, was “Agnini & Singer”. Noteworthy, their earlier products didn’t have any mark on them. However, already in late 1930s they began marking their jewellery pieces with the brand name “ORA”.
According to some jewellery guides, the name ORA is a combination of the names Oreste and Ralph. But according to other sources, Ora in Italian means “hour”, and they advertised their jewellery as “Jewels of the Hour.”
Most often ORA vintage costume jewellery features various motifs, from music to Masonic, Art Deco design, with an abundance of crystals. And always ORA jewelers demonstrate high quality and creative design in their jewellery lines.
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