Kaleidoscope effect

Maple leaf brooch. 925 sterling silver, gold plated. 4.7 cm, 1970s. Leo Askhim vintage costume jewelry

Leo Askhim vintage costume jewelry

Stylish vintage jewelry made by the skilled Danish silversmith Leo Askhim is a gift from nature itself. Real flowers, plants, flower buds were first covered with silver, then with a layer of gold. The frozen, bewitching, undying beauty of nature in the Master’s jewelry.
The history of Danish “Leo Askim” jewelry brand began from a silver plating factory in Malling. Its founders and owners were a businessman and self-taught inventor Leo and his wife Inger (1930-2017). A trained goldsmith, Inger had a great talent for both drawing and modeling. She met Leo in 1952 and graduated in 1954. In 1953, Leo and Inger opened a workshop in Frederiksgade Aarhus and started silvering coffee pots and cutlery. The couple got married on 21 August 1954. The next year, Leo begins experimenting with silver-plating children’s boots and succeeds. The work was truly innovative, and the workshop was the only one in Denmark that could do the work. Although the use of electrolysis for silvering is an old technique, the trick lied in getting the silver to stick to all sorts of materials.
Soon the workshop in Aarhus became far too small. Askhim bought a large plot of land on Bredgade in Malling (1959), and built a workshop and villa in 1960. The buildings designed by his neighbor, architect Børge Christensen, expanded to two floors in 1961 and to three floors in 1964.
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Unique design brooch pendant from the Shard collection. Handcrafted. Silver and gold plated. 1980s. Sidney Carron vintage costume jewelry

Sidney Carron vintage costume jewelry
A contemporary designer and the founder of the brand of the same name, Sidney Carron has been creating jewelry for almost forty years. He opened his workshop (in the back of his boutique) in the 1980s, in the historic district of Paris – Le Marais. The products of the French brand Sidney Carron Paris can be called sculptural jewelry. Obviously, his study of architecture influenced the design of his jewelry made in a minimalist and graphic style. His sculptural, artisan, and deliberately brutal jewelry is timeless and interesting to people of all ages. Undoubtedly, any woman who chooses these earrings, pendants, brooches and necklaces will not go unnoticed and stand out from the crowd.
Traditionally using silver and gold plating, the designer polishes and assembles jewelry by hand. Also, he uses such materials as metal alloys, leather, steel, and others.
Noteworthy, the designer’s workshop was awarded the Fabriqué à Paris (Made in Paris) label, assigned by the city of Paris. This guarantees high quality of French production and know-how.
Thanks to the unique design and markings on the front surface, Carron’s works are difficult to confuse with other jewelry masters. Vintage items produced by the craftsman from the 1980s to 2000 are collectible.
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Victorian style Sterling silver smoked quartz brooch. 1967. Scottish silversmith John Fraser Inverness

Scottish silversmith John Fraser Inverness
In his youth, John Fraser gained valuable experience in silver and watch making workshop of Medlock and Craik located at 6 Bridge Street, Inverness. Young and sporty, he had strong hands, and talent for arts, in particular, jewelry making. Having begun his career as an apprenticeship in the 1930s, one of his first pieces was a gold paper knife. However, his apprenticeship didn’t last long, as his silversmith teachers didn’t want him to “get his hands damaged” and advised him to find another job. According to Mr Fraser, it was terrible blow. But John didn’t give up, he continued jewelry making. Unfortunately, these were war years and much of the jewellery that he had produced back in his apprenticeship days disappeared. Yet, there could be very few pieces indeed that are still in existence from the thirties, mostly in private homes.
Active from 1930-s to 1982, Fraser was one of the well-known makers of clan badges, kilt pins in classic Celtic design, rings, brooches and pendants with the use of silver, and semi-precious stones.
He marked his pieces with stamps “JF INS” (John Fraser of Inverness), also “Edinburgh silver” and the year of manufacture.
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High-end Haute Couture floral design brooch. 1980s. Gold plated, cream tone resin disc, amber glass stones. 1980s. Kalinger Paris vintage costume jewelry

Kalinger Paris vintage costume jewelry
The history of the Kalinger costume jewelry brand began in October 1986, with a small workshop founded by the couple Catherine and Laurent Martinez. Their family business – small boutique appeared at 28 rue des Archives, in the Le Marais district of Paris. Four years later, on 1 March 1990, the Martinez officially registered their Kalinger jewelry brand. The designers created the jewelry in a typical French style. In particular, massive appearance, large size, Byzantine inspiration, a combination of plastic, glass and metal with the effect of “crumpled” gold and gilding. Also, the designers used large stones of unusual shape imitating precious stones – “rubies”, “emeralds” and “sapphires”.
Lovers and collectors of vintage jewelry cannot remain indifferent to the extraordinary beauty of brooches, bracelets, earrings and rings created by Kalinger designers in the 1980s. Hand-crafted haute couture jewelry, striking, eye-catching designs combined with high quality materials and workmanship make these jpieces highly collectible.
The Parisian jewelry brand Kalinger ceased to exist in 1997.
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Flower filigree design bracelet. Sterling silver. 1960s. Christian Veilskov vintage costume jewelry

Christian Veilskov vintage costume jewelry
Vintage silver jewelry is a wonderful world of retro, covering a very long period and a variety of styles. Once upon a time, silver jewelry was an unaffordable luxury. It was during this period craftsmen made bright unique jewelry, and sometimes from scrap materials, but the more valuable it was for their owners. Often inherited such pieces over time acquired the status of vintage.
Traditionally, Danish vintage silver jewelry is very popular among jewelry lovers and collectors. One of Danish silversmiths was renowned designer Chr. Veilskov, whose hand crafted brooches, bracelets, cufflinks, pins and earrings are rarity now. According to sources, the master opened his workshop in Copenhagen in 1963 and worked there for 23 years, until 1986. Unfortunately, the biography, place and date of birth of this talented Danish silversmith are unknown.
Inspired by the beauty of nature, the artist created exquisite jewelry with floral, plant and animal motifs. Simple and minimalist, sometimes modernist and filigree design (like the above bracelet) traditionally combined with the highest craftsmanship. He marked his products with the initials of his first and last name – C.V. or the stylized initials Chr.V (in the letter C) and 830 S, that is, sterling silver.
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Swan brooch designed for Trifari. 1941. Silver tone metal alloy, lucite, blue glass cabochon, rhinestones. 6.5 cm. Norman Bel Geddes vintage costume jewelry

Norman Bel Geddes vintage costume jewelry
Can a man who designs cars and airplanes make costume jewelry at the same time? Today, perhaps not. Such a person was Geddes, who worked in the first half of the 20th century. Born 27 April 1893 in Adrian, Michigan, Norman Melancton Geddes became the legend of design, called “Pioneer Of American Industrial Design” and the man who designed everything. According to Geddes himself, he was the man who designed his life.
For a short period of time he studied at the Cleveland School of Art, but but left it at the age of 16. Geddes first married Helen Belle Schneider in 1916, and they combined their names to Bel Geddes. Since that time, he worked with her in a creative duet, having designed about 200 stage performances from 1916 to 1937. In 1927 they opened an industrial design studio, creating designs for commercial products.
Aged 56, he and his and his wife Helen Belle Schneider began to work on costume jewelry designs. Launched in summer 1950, their “flow-motion” jewelry designs based on architectural and floral motifs were innovative. Noteworthy, in 1941 he became the author of two jelly-belly designs of brooches for Trifari. Produced in a very limited edition project, these jewelry pieces are quite rare.
Norman Bel Geddes died in New York on May 8, 1958. His autobiography, Miracle in the Evening, was published posthumously in 1960.
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Jelly belly fish brooch. Gold tone alloy, lucite, rhinestones. 1992. Harrice Simons Miller vintage costume jewelry

Harrice Simons Miller vintage costume jewelry
Renowned author of vintage jewelry, Harris Simons Miller is a dealer, art historian, appraiser, lector, consultant, and a passionate lover of jewelry. Noteworthy, she was an expert for the 2011 Elizabeth Taylor jewelry collection for Christie. Besides, she is the author of five reference books on costume jewelry including the book about Kenneth Jay Lane.
Her latest book is “Fashion Jewelry: The Collection of Barbara Berger”, whose exhibition she curated from 2013-14 at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.
In the 1990s, Manhattan-based jewellery historian Miller re-released a limited edition of a collection of collectible rarities from the 1940s. A designer of her own high-quality jewelry pieces, she labeled them with her initials “HM” or “HSM” and the year of manufacture (mostly 1992).

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