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Category Archive: Vintage

Per Ericsson vintage costume jewelry

Per Ericsson vintage costume jewelry

Flower wreath brooch. 925 sterling silver. 3.2 cm. 1950s. Swedish Per Ericsson vintage costume jewelry

Per Ericsson vintage costume jewelry
The Scandinavian silversmith Per Ericsson Stilsmycken worked for a fairly short period of time, from 1949 to 1957 in Helsingborg, Sweden. Traditionally, Swedish silver jewelry is distinguished not only by its classically restrained Celtic motifs, but also by its markings. In particular, the marking of Ericsson’s handcrafted silverware. The marking includes several stamps, and each of which carries a lot of information.
First, the “SEH” label includes “Stilsmycken” (the Swedish word for “Style jewelry”) Ericsson (the designer’s last name), and the “H” stands for Helsingborg, the city where the designer made the piece.
Second, the curly letter “H” stands for the name of the city, in this case, Helsingborg.
Third, two characters – a letter and a number mean the year of creation of the product, for example H9 means 1958.
Fourth, the letter “S” on a corrugated background in a pentahedral shield confirms that the product is made of silver not lower than the standard accepted in the country.
Fifth, the “Three Crowns” on a fluted background in a shamrock-shaped shield certifies that the products were manufactured in Sweden.
Noteworthy, since 1974, the stamp of the crown has changed. Thus, crowns inside the heart stamp means products intended for the domestic market. Also, the crown in the oval is for export products, and the crown in the rectangle is for products that do not meet the requirements of standards.
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Ornella Bijoux vintage costume jewelry

Ornella Bijoux vintage costume jewelry

Pomegranate brooch. Brass alloy, Swarovski crystals. 6.4 cm. 1950s. Ornella Bijoux vintage costume jewelry

Ornella Bijoux vintage costume jewelry
The history of the Italian family brand Ornella began at the end of the Second World War. Its founder, Piera Albani, opened her jewelry boutique “Ornella Bijoux” in the center of Milan in 1944. A few years later, the company was headed by her talented daughter Maria Vittoria Albani Scala (born in Monza in 1929), who actually helped her mother from the age of 15, creating jewelry designs. Becoming the chief designer in 1950, and subsequently the owner of the company, 20-year-old Maria led the company to success, and her boutique became one of the attractions of Milan. Moreover, awarded the status of “Botteghe Storiche di Milano”, the boutique entered the history of creative jewelry art in Italy. Besides, jewelry pieces of this company adorn not only the Milan Palace-Museum Palazzo Reale, but also the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Traditionally exclusive costume jewelry, Ornella pieces are created by the hands of women and for women only. The style of jewelry is mainly Italian “Baroque” Art Nouveau, with elements of flora, fauna and nature, which are naturalistic masterpieces of jewelry sculpture.
An example of such a masterpiece is the Pomegranate brooch, created by Maria Vittoria Albani in the 1950s.
Noteworthy, the designer began to label her pieces only in the 1960s, while jewelry from the earlier period has metal or plastic tags with the inscription Ornella Milan.
Maria Vittoria Albani died in 2019, she was 90 years old.
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Signed Valenza vintage costume jewelry

Signed Valenza vintage costume jewelry

Three-dimensional rose flower 12 K gold plated brooch. 1960s. Signed Valenza vintage costume jewelry

The history of the Italian jewelry brand Valenza began in the late 1950s and covers a fairly short period, no more than a decade. Despite such a short period, the company entered the history of vintage jewelry by creating exquisite products of high quality in materials and workmanship. The rare costume jewelry of this brand is extremely popular for lovers and collectors of vintage jewelry, the price of which will increase every year.
Noteworthy, Valenza, a small Italian town in Piedmont, is the same as Providence in the United States. Both cities are the jewelry capitals of these countries, and the Valenza label is synonymous with gold craftsmanship with a solid artistic tradition.
All products of this company are marked “Valenza” in a rectangle, or “Valenza” with indicating the quality of gold, for example 1/20 12 GF. Traditionally graceful, the designs feature floral and leafy motif, textured metal alloy, gold filling or plating.
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Max Standager vintage costume jewelry

Max Standager vintage costume jewelry

Leaf brooch. 925 sterling silver, Guilloche enamel. 7 cm. 1970s. Max Standager vintage costume jewelry

Max Standager vintage costume jewelry
Danish silversmith designer Max Standager worked at Jemax jewelry workshop from 1961 to 1985. Traditionally using 925 sterling silver, he created elegant, laconic design jewelry, marking them with the brand “Sterling 925 Denmark M.S.” in an oval frame. He also used his workshop label “Jemax Sterling Denmark”. Besides silver, the master used gilding, Guilloche enamel and semi-precious stones.
These elegant brooches and pins, with a simple design and graceful lines in the shape of a leaf, flower or just a circle pin attracted women of the 1960s of the last century. They wore them on a coat, sweater or scarf, and they are quite appropriate for our time. High quality materials and workmanship, handicraft, exclusivity and interesting design make these jewelry desirable for lovers and collectors of vintage jewelry.
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Signed Ballou Reg’d vintage costume jewelry

Signed Ballou Reg'd vintage costume jewelry

Space Shuttle patriotic lapel pin. 1980s. Inspired by The Space Shuttle orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the NASA. Sterling silver. Signed Ballou Reg’d vintage costume jewelry

Signed Ballou Reg’d vintage costume jewelry

The history of the Ballou Reg’d jewelry brand is closely connected with one of the oldest American jewelry companies BA Ballou & Co., founded in 1876. Located in the jewelry capital of the United States, East Providence, Rhode Island it was the family-owned company. Run by six generations of designers, it started with its founder Barton Allan Ballou (1835-1922). However, the company became famous not for costume jewelry, but for the release of army badges, clutches, and lapel pins for politicians and US patriots. Thus, during the Second World War, they produced 300 million badges for the U.S. Armed Forces, for which they received the “Army-Navy Efficiency Award”.
During his lifetime, in 1910, Barton made his son Frederick Allen Ballou (1869-1947) president of the company. Then, after the death of Frederick, his son Frederick Allen Ballou, Jr. headed the company.
After the end of the war, when the demand for militaristic symbols fell, the company began to produce costume jewelry, creating “Ballou Reg’d” brand. Jewelry with this label was produced until 2000. Noteworthy, the famous family brand ceased to exist in the early 2000s, becoming the property of another company, The W.R. Cobb Company in 2009.
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French jeweler Pierre Peron 1905-1988

French jeweler Pierre Peron 1905-1988

Disc shaped hand forged silver brooch. Engraved with cross, hearts, spirals, and motto “Stok Ouz Ae Galon”. 4.4 cm, mid 1930s. French jeweler Pierre Peron 1905-1988

French jeweler Pierre Peron
The life of the famous French painter, sculptor, writer and jewelry designer Pierre Péron (5 October 1905 – 27 March 1988) was not easy. Born in the port city of Brest in the west of the Brittany Peninsula, Pierre studied painting at the Schools of Fine Arts in Brest and Nantes. In 1933 he received the position of a teacher of graphics at the Paris Academy of Arts, where he remained a professor until his return to Brest in 1965. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Pierre successfully worked as a jewelry designer. In 1935, while in Paris, he joined the Seiz Breur (or Seven Brothers) movement of Breton artists, founded in 1923. An important focus of this movement was the revival of the original Kelt-Breton art. This led the artist to the Parisian company Kelt Maison Rivière, where he successfully created ornamental designs in 1936-1937.
During the German occupation, Peron was captured and spent two years in a concentration camp in Austria. After the war, Peron illustrated books, drew caricatures for magazines, wrote articles, worked as a decorator in theater and cinema, and was the curator of the Brest Maritime Museum.
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Jacqueline Singh vintage costume jewelry

Jacqueline Singh vintage costume jewelry

Victorian style necklace. Copper, Purple stone, White, purple and blue art glass. Jacqueline Singh vintage costume jewelry

Jacqueline Singh vintage costume jewelry
The history of the Jacqueline Singh brand began in 1980, when designer-jeweler Kanwal Singh, who moved from India, opened a jewelry boutique company in Paris. He named his company after his French wife. Jewelry connoisseurs have appreciated Singh’s idea of ​​combining French Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles with the ancient traditions of Indian jewelry. Thus, the exquisite handcrafted jewelry of this brand quickly gained success and popularity.
Noteworthy, collections are renewed twice a year, and designs of out-of-date jewelry are usually not renewed. According to experts, within three years any Jacqueline Singh jewelry becomes an expensive collectible rarity. The exclusivity of these jewelry is undeniable, since the craftsmen of this company create all products by hand and only in a Parisian workshop. Traditionally, the range of materials used in the work is diverse and practically unlimited. In particular, noble metals and precious stones, as well as metal alloys, copper, bronze and silver. The combination of multicolored precious and semi-precious stones with Austrian crystals and Bohemian glass creates exquisite ornamental patterns.
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