Textured brass swirl brooch. Glass stones. 1986. Deborah Roberts vintage costume jewelry

Deborah Roberts vintage costume jewelry
New York native designer Deborah Roberts produced decorations for three decades – from the 1950s to late 1980s. The original vintage jewelry by nationally renowned jewelry artist Deborah Roberts is difficult to confuse with the work of other designers. Hand-made, usually from brass, copper, bronze or sterling silver, they have their own specific feature – texture. In particular, engraved symbols – hearts, XOXO, and geometrical patterns. Also, the designer combined the use of these metals with semiprecious stones, jelly belly cabochons, lucite and crystals.
Noteworthy, the marking on the back of these products also looks unusual, with the name of Deborah Roberts in script. Also, sometimes with “Sterling Silver”, hearts, and a copyright sign. The artisan style of these jewelry with accents of Art Deco, modernist, abstract, or tribal design makes it unique.
Her jewelry was on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). As Deborah herself stated, “Living with art is wonderful” (The Detroit Jewish News, September, 10, 1993).
Handmade jewelry of this company is rare, and is in high demand with collectors and lovers of vintage costume jewelry. Undoubtedly, the cost of these art pieces, made with high quality and craftsmanship, will increase every year.
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Tropical fish brooch. Gold tone metal, red, blue and green enamel. Signed NLH Landau vintage costume jewelry

Signed NLH Landau vintage costume jewelry
Founded in 1987 by 24-year-old Nat Landau Hyman with a small store in Palm Beach, Florida, the company has grown to become the country’s largest, with more than 95 stores worldwide.

According to Hyman, he did not know anything about jewelry, and it was his mother who gave him the idea to sell high-end jewelry. In addition, she helped to choose what to sell. At first it was a small amount of jewelry, not more than 85 pieces, compared to 1300 in one store today. Success required a lot of work, and Hyman worked, about 18 hours a day, seven days a week for seven years.
Noteworthy, part of his strategy was the opening hours of the store, which worked unusually long – until midnight. Thus, he received more buyers, because neighboring stores didn’t work in the late hours.

Originally, costume jewelry of the company had marking NLH (in the 1980s and 1990s), which stands for Nat Landau Hyman. However, later marking included “Landau”, by the name of the founder of the company, which is still active.
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Bird of paradise vintage brooch. Gold tone metal, glass. 1970s. 5,5 cm. Corel vintage costume jewelry

Corel vintage costume jewelry

The Corel vintage jewelry brand dates back to 1971. In fact, it is related to the famous jewelry brand Coro, which in 1969 became the property of Richton, Intl. Corp. Richton International Corporation owned a 51% stake in Coro, as well as the Oscar de la Renta brand, and launched Corёl brand in 1971. Corel-branded jewelry was produced for about 10 years, since in 1979 all of Coro’s companies went bankrupt. And even the remaining stock of the company sold subsequently also went bankrupt in the early 1990s. Thus, all products marked Corel are vintage and collectible. Noteworthy, the marking contains umlaut in the word “corel” and looks like this – CORЁL. However, the common brand name both in paper sources and on the Internet is “Corel”.
Hand-made high-quality Corel costume jewelry is extremely rare in the market of vintage jewelry and desirable for collectors. Accordingly, the price of these products will increase every year.
Traditionally, the masters of this company used metal and metal alloys of gold tone, multicolor enamel, rhinestones and crystals. The Christmas motif decorations were popular at the time – brooches in the form of a Christmas tree, Santa Claus, candles, angels and bells.
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Green crystal brooch with dangles. Gold tone, yellow and orange rhinestone, green glass dangles. Sadie Green vintage costume jewelry

Sadie Green vintage costume jewelry

The history of American costume jewelry brand Sadie Green began in the early 1970s. She started her business using old materials and design to create beautiful things. Love for ancient jewelry, the artist’s talent and an active desire to earn money allowed her to take her place of honor in the jewelry market.
The characteristic features of these hand-made jewelry is the use of a mixture of metals from modern metal alloys to antique copper and silver alloys in one jewelry piece. These are metal parts of the Victorian era, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, and metal alloys of a later period of the 1970-80s. In addition, antique glass from 1900-1940 complements the later glass and Swarovski crystals. Due to this, the jewelry collections of this brand range from vintage to antique.
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Trumpet Flower Brooch. Metal alloy, 12 K gold filled, faux pearls. Bal-Ron vintage costume jewelry

Bal-Ron vintage costume jewelry
Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Bal Ron Company, Inc. was active for about two decades of the last century (1947 – 1960s).
According to the List of registrants of trade-marks, the founder of Bal Ron Company Inc. was Ballon Harry. He registered his company on the 28th of January 1947 in the patent office of the United States (Official Gazette of the United States Volume 594, 1947). The particular direction of his business was manufacture of Men’s and Ladies’ jewelry.
The company produced high quality costume jewelry with the use of 12 K gold and natural semi-precious stones. In particular, tiger eye, jasper, agate, chalcedony, carnelian, unakite and onyx. Also, cultured pearls, jade, scarabs, multicolor rhinestones and crystals. Thanks to the use of high quality materials, gold plating, as well as the skill of jewelers, the jewelry of this company is well preserved. They are in high demand among lovers of vintage jewelry and collectors, and of course, their value will increase every year.
Traditionally, the jewelers marked their decorations on the back side with the full name of the company Bal-Ron and 12 K GF.
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Tribal face brooch. 925 Sterling silver, ceramics, 1950s. Mexican modernist jeweler Salvador Teran

Mexican modernist jeweler Salvador Teran
The works of the famous Mexican jewelry designer and silversmith Salvador Teran are rare and highly collectible. For example, this marked brooch from the master’s only bijouterie collection, released in the middle of the last century by order of the most fashionable at that time Marbel department store in Mexico City.
Born at Taxco, Salvador Teran (1920 – 1974) received his early training at William Spratling’s Taller de Las Delicias. However, in 1939 he and his cousins ​​left Spratling to establish his company Los Castillo. Salvador was responsible for many projects, although often worked anonymously, without labeling his work. Having worked for the company for thirteen years, in 1952, Salvador decided to leave for Mexico City to establish a new company.
Having hired twenty-five designers, he began his career as a lead designer, inspired by pre-Columbian motifs. However, the modernist interpretations of Salvador were so talented and unique that his products, superior in design and craftsmanship, became very popular among jewelry connoisseurs. Accordingly, the Mexican designer himself received immediate public recognition.
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1985 Brooch. Silver, gold, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, enamel. 7.0 cm. American jewelry designer Fred Leighton

American jewelry designer Fred Leighton
The history of the Fred Leighton brand begins with the name of Murray Mondschein. Born in Bronx, Murray went to the army after high school. When he returned from military service to New York (1959), he bought a Mexican boutique selling antique items, including silver jewelry on McDougal Street. In 1971, Mondschein renamed it to Fred Leighton in honor of the former owner.
The son of an ordinary taxi driver from Bronx, thanks to his incredible insight and ability to sell, managed to turn Fred Leighton in Manhattan into a real trading Mecca for jewelry lovers. The New Yorker newspaper in 2005 wrote that the outside of the store looks like “a huge brooch with precious stones.”
Having worked in the jewelry business for more than 40 years, Murray Mondschein died at the age of 85, on July 26, 2017.
Recognized as “jeweler to the stars”, Fred Leighton was a true legend in the jewelry business, since his jewels shone at the Oscar award ceremony, The Tony Awards and Golden Globes. His jewelry decorated Hollywood divas, such as Charlize Theron and Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Sarah Jessica Parker, Carrie Mulligan and Natalie Portman.

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