Kaleidoscope effect

Gorgeous brooch with charms – lipstick, nail polish and perfume. Gold tone metal, blue and red cabochon. 6 cm. 1990s. Estee Lauder vintage costume jewelry

Estee Lauder vintage costume jewelry
Founded in 1946, Estee Lauder Corporation is famous for its cutting-edge technology and innovative discoveries, which underpin the creation of exquisite luxury products. The whole world knows the Estee Lauder brand, producing luxurious, unsurpassed in terms of effectiveness skin care products, makeup and perfumes. However, its story about how to make a woman beautiful could not but connected with eponymous jewelry. For example, exquisite jeweled perfume bottles or compacts, as well as costume jewelry. Noteworthy, the design of many of EL jewelry is unique, combining cosmetics and jewelry. In particular, a series of locket pendants, which are multifunctional jeweled pieces. Any woman could wear such a pendant as a jewelry, and also use it as a cosmetic product – perfume or compact powder. Also, the design of many costume brooches included the dominant theme of cosmetics. For example, a brooch with charms in the form of lipstick, nail polish and a bottle of perfume.
Traditionally, EL jewelers used 14 carat gold, alloy of gold and silver tones, glass cabochons, faux pearls, crystals and enamel. All decorations have marking EL, or Estee Lauder.
Produced in the 1980-90s, decorations of this jewelry brand have become desirable for lovers and collectors of vintage costume jewelry.
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Gold branch statement brooch. Lucite, goldtone metal. 10 cm. 1980s. Antigona Paris vintage costume jewelry

Antigona Paris vintage costume jewelry
Registered in 1978, French jewelry brand Antigona Paris produced very stylish statement jewelry for about two decades, till mid-nineties of the last century. Their runway couture pieces were highly popular in the 1980-90s. Sold in boutiques and jewelry departments of prestigious department stores not only in France and Europe. In particular, Selfridges in London. Also, according to the New York Magazine (2 Dec 1991), one of the boutiques in Trump Tower NYC sold Antigona Paris decorations and “unusual jeweled buttons”. Noteworthy, each decoration has the full stamp on the back, which includes “Antigona Made in France” or “Antigona Paris”.
Traditionally abstract or modernist design, the jewelers used textured matte gold or silver tone metal, lucite and enamel. Currently, the products of this French brand are a rare vintage, desired for collectors and connoisseurs of vintage costume jewelry.
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Gorgeous night cityscape pendant, 2018. Silver, gold, Emerald, smoked quartz, Amethyst, iolite, moon stone. Unique and beautiful Linda Ladurner jewelry

Unique and beautiful Linda Ladurner jewelry
Linda Ladurner jewelry is a work of art that we can contemplate as much as wear with grace. Noteworthy, she works alone to create jewelry from oxidized silver and forged gold inlaid with precious stones. According to Linda, she prefers precious materials because they are durable, unchanged and live for centuries.
In 1982, she opened her studio in Paris and has since been creating exceptionally unique jewelry, while maintaining a recognizable style. The talent and imagination of the designer allows her a free and spontaneous game with forms and directly with the material. Creating her jewelry collages, she draws her inspiration from different cultures and eras, showing a very personal original expression. Traditionally, the plots of her design include legends or city landscapes, as well as abstract objects, the reliefs of which, graphic or geometric, enliven the imagination. For about forty years the designer draws her inspiration from nature, the city, the art of different cultures and eras, as well as from films or cultural news.
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Unique and beautifully made Crocodile on a leaf dress clip. Silver with blackening, copper-colored alligator. 7.5 cm. 1980s. Sylvia Dahl vintage costume jewelry

Sylvia Dahl vintage costume jewelry
Undoubtedly, the design of jewelry marked Dahl cannot be confused with the design of other jewelers. Traditionally, this is a realistic natural design – a butterfly, a frog or a crocodile floating on a large silver-toned leaf. Also, the jeweler and silversmith Dahl usually used silver and copper to create her costume decorations. Thus, it is impossible to talk about the diversity of the plot and the materials used to create these vintage jewelry. However, products marked Silvia Dahl are vintage and have a certain collection value. Unfortunately, there is no detailed information about the designer of these jewelry on the Internet. Perhaps the full name of the designer is Laila Sylvia Dahl (November 7, 1940 – September 2, 2012), born in Brooklyn. After graduating from Brooklyn College, where she studied costume design, she worked as a designer for off-Broadway productions. A gifted artist and designer, she had exceptional talent in various artistic fields, including drawing, painting, quilt, sewing and knitting. According to the memoirs of people who knew her, she had a unique ability to capture ordinary moments and turn them into beautiful works of art.
Nevertheless, I would like to have more accurate information about a talented jeweler. Noteworthy, these naturalistic dress clips or brooches were sold in the 1980s in the jewelry departments of Neiman Marcus department stores.
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Patriotic American flag bow brooch. Enamel, rhinestones. 1940s collectible vintage pin. Louis Stern vintage costume jewelry

Louis Stern vintage costume jewelry

The history of the company began in 1867 when three sons of German Jewish immigrants – Isaac, Louis and Benjamin Stern founded корпорацию Stern’s, or Stern Brothers. Initially, they sold dry goods in Buffalo, New York, gradually becoming an important merchandising family in New York City. In 1868 they moved to New York and opened a store on Sixth Avenue, 367. The whole family worked in this elegant shop, known for its fashionable goods. Ladies from all over New York came here in search of clothes and accessories of Parisian fashions brought by brothers from Europe. This company was distinguished from the others by its elegant gatekeepers in top hats and the generous and friendly service by the owners personally. Later, their business developed until the 60s of the last century.
Meanwhile, Louis Stern, one of the Stern’s brands, began operations in 1871. The company produced silver and bijouterie jewelry until the 1950s. Focusing on elegance and quality, particular attention was paid to the quality of the gold plating of jewelry. The jewelry marking included the symbol L-S Co, 1/20 10 K GF (gold filled). Undoubtedly, all Stern jewelry is a rare vintage of collectible value. Although Louis Stern himself, the founder of the jewelry company, died in 1922 (in Paris, while visiting his daughter), the latest jewelry marked with drugs date back to the 1950s.
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Basket of flowers gold filled rhinestones brooch. Harry Iskin vintage costume jewelry

Harry Iskin vintage costume jewelry
American designer Harry Iskin is considered an undeservedly forgotten jeweler. However, products marked “HI” are highly collectible. The history of the brand begins in 1930, when Harry Iskin founded the jewelry brand of the same name in the United States.
His parents, emigrants from Russia moved to the UK, and Harry was born there on September 30, 1886. At the age of 22, he moved to the United States, and in 1908 received American citizenship.
Iskin began working as an engraver in a jewelry workshop. In addition, he began to make his jewelry decorations – and their sales were very successful. As a result, in the early 1930s he opened his own atelier, and in 1936 moved to a more spacious building in Philadelphia. His jewelry became so popular that in 1938 he opened a second salon-workshop in Manhattan.
Iskin became famous for the release of high-quality jewelry, as well as silver jewelry, often gold filled. The peak of the popularity of Iskin brooches and bracelets falls on the period of the Second World War, when jewelry from Europe was practically not brought.
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Greyhound dog with a red rose pin pendant from the series ‘Dog jewelry’. Fine satin finish, hand brushed lacquer coating. Nature inspired Mark Shields jewelry

Nature inspired Mark Shields jewelry
Born in Virginia, Mark Shields grew up surrounded by beautiful nature, animals and birds. The boy showed his talent in drawing in early childhood. According to the jeweler, his father taught him respect for the craft, and his mother – a deep understanding of beauty. Once, at the age of 20, he was lucky to become a student of one of the leading silver craftsmen of the 20th century, William de Matteo.
After completing his studies, Shields founded his own studio in 1980 and began to create jewelry from silver and pewter. Traditionally, jewelry designs included realistic images of animals and birds – dogs, cats, seals, birds, and wild animals. In 1989, he began to create a collection of pins made of tin and bronze, treated with oxides, electroplated and special brush techniques.
In 2015, his talented student Jennifer joined Mark Shields. Fortunately, she pays as much attention to detail as Mark Shields and shares the same love for animals.
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