Kaleidoscope effect

Sun face, Moon and stars dangle earrings. Brass and sterling silver. 1990s. Susan L Richardson vintage costume jewelry

Susan L Richardson vintage costume jewelry

British by birth, American artist Susan L. Richardson has the sense of humor that is inherent in the English. Perhaps, this feeling helped her create a series of whimsical jewelry. In particular, the series of earrings “Stick it in your ear”, which she created in 1989.
However, as a jewelry designer she was active for a short period, during 1989 – late 1990s. The features that make her jewelry unique is, first of all, artisan performance, the so-called “art to wear”. Besides, these handmade statement jewelry pieces are multi-layered, with many figures and plots, charms and dangles. Traditionally, she signed her decorations with full name “Susan L. Richardson” and the year of manufacture. Creating her jewelry she used mixed metal – solid brass, antiqued with brass and sterling silver. Also, she used semi-precious stones and crystals.
The professional artist and designer, she sold her high-quality museum-worth works in art galleries. Made at the end of the 20th century, these vintage brooches, earrings and jewelry sets are now highly collectible.
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Bird in flight brooch. Gold tone metal, abalone inserts. Signed Duri vintage costume jewelry

Duri vintage costume jewelry
Located in New Jersey, Duri is currently a well known provider of jewelry service in Plainfield. Incorporated in the 1960s, the company known for high quality handmade costume jewelry ceased to exist in the 1980s.
Noteworthy, in 2000 the Duri brand was registered again as the Jewelers-Retail in 249 E Front St, the Plainfield, the New Jersey 07060. According to sources, its current owner is Chris Yi.
Produced in 1960-1980s decorations represent beautiful Art Deco & Art Nouveau revival pieces. The design feature of this brand is geometric shapes, clean lines, art deco and modernist style, as well as the use of abalone shells and mother of pearl along with pewter and alloys of silver and gold tone. Thanks to this, handmade jewelry of this brand has a specific, characteristic and easily recognizable style. Also, vintage decorations of this brand are quite rare, and have a collection value that will increase every year.
Traditionally, the markings on the back side of each product include Duri brand name with copyright sign.
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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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