Kaleidoscope effect

Dewdrop on a leaf brooch. Textured sterling silver, gold plated, crystal. 1940s. Rodi Wienenberger vintage costume jewelry

Rodi Wienenberger vintage costume jewelry
The history of ROWI, or Rodi & Wienenberger jewelry began in Pforzheim Germany in 1885, when Eugen Rodi and Wilhelm Wienenberger founded their company. Initially, it was a small workshop with a staff of four to make medallions, bracelets and brooches. In 1904, they began to apply American gold plating technology, where two layers of gold plating were applied to a silver plated metal jewel. Thus, they could guarantee that their jewelry pieces would retain their golden luster throughout their life.
The company flourished in 1890, employing 80 people, and by the end of 1899 employed about 700 people. And five years later it was a joint stock company with a capital of 500,000 marks. Eugene Rodi retired in 1900, and Wienenberger became the head of the company. Already in 1910 they built a new five-story factory.
After the First World War, the production premises had to be expanded again by buying neighboring plots of land. In addition to jewelry, they began manufacturing pocket watch cases.
In 1924, Wilhelm resigned from the management due to his health problems and Karl-Wilhelm Katz, who was responsible for export, took over the business.
Noteworthy, the marking GR or OR means gilding, and R anchor W is an old marking used around the 1935-1940s.
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Autumn Leaf realistic design brooch pin. Bronze tone textured metal. 5.5 cm. 1980s. Signed CRA vintage costume jewelry

Signed CRA vintage costume jewelry
The history of American costume jewelry labeled “C. R. A.” spans not more than a decade. Incorporated in 1990s, Crimzon Rose Accessories, Inc. located in North Providence Rhode Island, ceased to exist in early 2000s.
. According to other sources, the company produced costume jewelry in the 1980s. Due to vintage look of these brooches, pins and rings, some indicate the date of their manufacture – the 1960s. In fact, it is impossible to refute or confirm this, as it is extremely rare in the vintage costume jewelry market.
The designs of these pieces range from Egyptian motifs to Art Deco, figural and heraldic, as well as classic flower and plant motif. The materials traditionally included gold and silver tone alloys, 925 sterling silver, faux pearls, art glass, rhinestones, and enamel.
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Victorian design gold filled watch pin. 1930s. Robert Fitz Simmons vintage costume jewelry

Robert Fitz Simmons vintage costume jewelry (1873-1952)
The history of Simmons jewelry dates back to 1873, when Robert Fitz Simmons, with his partners Joseph Lyman Sweet and Edgar L. Hixon, founded jewelry company in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Each of them invested $ 2,500 in the business, which then paid off. Fourteen years later, the company employed 200 people, and its offices and representatives appeared in New York, Berlin, Barcelona, ​​Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Sydney.
Initially, the company produced watch chains, eyeglass chains, key chains, bracelets, and even cane handles. Noteworthy, the company became the first jewelry house to publish a catalog (1881). Innovative jewelers, they were the first to stamp products with manufacturer ID and offer customers a quality assurance (1880s). They were also the first to use “combination – link chains” (1890s) and the practical Marlow lock bracelet in 1899.
Fine quality, gold-filled or sterling silver jewelry by Simmons is highly collectible now.
The RF Simmons Co founded by Robert Fitz Simmons (1842, New York – 1894, Attleboro MA) ceased to exist in 1952.
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Flower brooch. Gold tone alloy, Swarovski crystals. 5.5 cm. 1980s. Allison Reed vintage costume jewelry

Allison Reed vintage costume jewelry
Formerly known as A&Z (1909), WEH (1957), and Hayward (1970), Allison Reed jewelry history began in East Providence, Rhode Island, in 1964. The president of the company is Lawrence J Cohen (born 1955). Jewelry manufacturer and distributor, Allison Reed specializes in vintage design and antique treasures. Allison Reed’s company name is random and not associated with any living person. Noteworthy, for more than a hundred years of operation, Allison Reed Group, Inc. has registered several jewelry brands. In particular, Spencer (1962), S (1968), America’s Fashion Jewelry (1986), David Donahue (1999), Bamboo Jungle (2005), and Tupelo Hill (2007).
Traditionally, the company’s craftsmen create classic design costume jewelry with the use of mixed metals of silver and gold tone, Swarovski crystals, and enamel. Also, they use archive designs of early 1900s to create vintage look earrings, pendants, pins, bracelets, and lockets. According to their motto, everything old is new again. The markings on the back side of each piece include Allison Reed’s full name in stylized writing.
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Lion brooch. Gold tone metal alloy, rhinestones. 1990s. Cindy Adams vintage costume jewelry

Cindy Adams vintage costume jewelry
Known in New York for her witty and irreverent gossip column in the New York Post and across America for her weekly appearance on TV Gossip Show, Cindy Adams (b. 1930) launched her own trademark Gossip By Cindy Adams in 1997. Her company produced eyeglass frames, sunglasses, watches, paper napkins, greeting cards, calendars, drinking mugs and many more. Also, on 10 November 1997 she launched her perfume, Gossip by Cindy Adams, in New York. According to press, many celebrities and jewelry designers attended her perfume kickoff in New York. Among them were jewelry designers Ivana Trump and Joan Rivers, to name a few. Of course, in addition to perfumes and accessories, she released a limited collection of costume jewelry.
A former beauty queen, she first made her name famous and then made her name a brand. Passionate jewelry lover, Cindy Adams also designed costume jewelry. Among her interviewed celebrities were known jewelry lovers, such as Marlene Dietrich, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Joan Crawford, to name a few. Once she wrote that during interviewing Lana Turner, she stared at the actress’s brooch. She didn’t write down a word of the interview, but remembers herself running right home and sketching the brooch.
Noteworthy, Cindy Adams created exquisite high quality costume jewelry for a very short time from the mid 1990s to 2000. Thus, vintage jewelry signed with capital letters “Cindy Adams” (on a rectangular base with star) is hard to find and highly collectible.
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Nutcracker gold plated brooch pin. 8.5 cm. 1992. Sutton Hoo vintage costume jewelry

Sutton Hoo vintage costume jewelry
The history of the American jewelry brand “Sutton Hoo” spans three decades, from 1975 to 2002. Its founder – Katharine Carlton Ridge, born December 31, 1946 in Louisville. She studied art and teaching in Holy Spirit School and Sacred Heart Academy. Also, she graduated from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia in 1968. Beautiful woman and talented artist, she founded her own jewelry brand Sutton Hoo in 1975.
Traditionally, she used 24-carat gold-plated jewelry alloy, artificial pearls and art glass to create her brooches, earrings and pendants. The markings on the back side include the initials “SH” with the copyright sign and the year the product was created.
Katharine Carlton Ridge died 6 Oct 2015 at the age of 68 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA.
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Flower brooch. Brass, porcelain. 1940s. Denton vintage costume jewelry

Denton vintage costume jewelry
English antique bone china flower brooch carries the charm of the past and past eras. In Victorian England and Europe, many flowers had deep symbolic meaning. Such spectacular jewelry with precise detailing, painted and created by hand, is individual and unique. Undoubtedly, such brooch can be an exclusive gift or a worthy part of a vintage jewelry collection.
Traditionally, many English companies, such as Cara China, Aynsley Fine Bone, Coalport China Co, Crown Staffordshire China Co, Bone China Crafts Co, Paragon China Co, and Denton China Co produced jewelry in addition to china tableware.
The history of the British porcelain company Denton China began immediately after the end of the Second World War, in 1945. Initially, it was a family business of D M Lawson and Herbert Lawson, a former decorator and pottery wholesaler from Staffordshire. After his death in 1949, D. M. Lawson continued the business and worked until 1968. Previously Denton China mainly made bone china “fantasies” – flower arrangements, birds, brooches, earrings, and wicker baskets.
Noteworthy, in December 1968, a large English porcelain company John Aynsley & Sons Ltd. bought Denton and re-labeled its products to Aynsley.
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