Kaleidoscope effect

Crystal flower brooch and clips. 1960s. Silver tone metal, rhinestones. Brooch 5 cm, clips 2 cm. Camelot vintage costume jewelry

Camelot vintage costume jewelry
The history of the American brand Camelot spans a fairly short period, from May 1962 to September 1987. Traditionally, the jewelers of this company produced figural brooches, pendants, but mainly sets of filigree design brooches and clip on earrings. The craftsmen used gold plating, sterling silver, faux pearls, enamel, and Aurora borealis rhinestones. Camelot jewelry is reminiscent of such fine high end designers of 60s, as Juliana.

Noteworthy, sold in the original boxes, few items were marked with “Camelot” on the back. In addition, the gold plated jewelry had the corresponding information printed on a paper tag inside the original box. Also, the box itself deserves special attention, with its beautiful design and multi-colored brocade, satin and velvet. The label inside the box included a sailboat and stylized Camelot script, or just the name. Thus, the products of this company were a perfectly decorated ready-made gift.
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Crystal Heart brooch. Gold tone metal alloy, rhinestones. 6 cm. 1950s. Signed Leru vintage costume jewelry

Signed Leru vintage costume jewelry
Providence, Rhode Island based jewelry company Leru Inc. began its activity in early 1950s. The company produced high quality stylish jewelry and advertised its products in many of the glamorous magazines of the time. In particular, Glamor, Harper’s, Mademoiselle, and others. Traditionally, the company’s craftsmen used an alloy of metals of gold or silver tone, as well as mother of pearl, moonlight glow lucite, thermosetting plastic and rhinestones. As a result, the company successfully competed with such well-known firms as Trifari, Coro, and Lisner. The slogan of the company was “The Luxury Look by Leru”.
Soon, around 1958, the company had a second office in New York, and its name changed to “Peltan & Leru Corp.”, New York.
Noteworthy, according to the Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the brand name is “Peltan & Leru Corp” and not “Pelton” as other sources indicate. In 1969, the company registered another costume jewelry brand, “Hope Creations”. Thus, the short history of Leru brand was over. In addition, “Peltan & Leru Corp” registered two more jewelry brands – “The Rainbow E.S.P. Jewel” (1975), and “Ivy Links” (1976). Peltan & Leru Corp ceased to exist in the early 1980s.
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Coral reef brooch. Gold tone metal, mother-of-pearl, resin. 1970s. Fabrice Paris vintage costume jewelry

Fabrice Paris vintage costume jewelry

Jackie Riss, a talented Parisian jeweler designer, created her own brand “Fabrice” in 1962. And since then, she continues to delight her old and new fans with wonderful jewelry, in a style inherent only to her. Jackie began her career in collaboration with such recognized masters as Karl Lagerfeld, Nina Ricci, Montana, and Issey Miyaki.
Uniquely handcrafted, all marked “Fabrice” jewelry is a mix of styles and materials. Along with plastic and metal alloys, she uses natural materials, such as mother of pearl, wood, copper, bronze, turquoise, smoky quartz, water pearls, amethyst, and more. A talented designer, she organically combines all materials, showing them from an unusual perspective. Traditionally, every season the designer creates new collections which bring her the fame and popularity beyond the borders of France. The shows of her collections are held with great success in other countries, and especially popular in New York. Noteworthy, Fabrice jewelry is not produced in large quantities, and has already passed into the category of vintage and collectible.
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Ancient “Book of Kells” inspired round shaped enameled brooch. 5.5 cm. 1950s. Irish Tara Ware vintage costume jewelry

Irish Tara Ware vintage costume jewelry
The world famous sacred manuscript known as “The Book of Kells” is the main inspiration for the jewelry design of the Irish jewelry company Tara Ware Ltd. An old Irish manuscript is the most valuable piece of medieval art. The monks did their best to fulfill the murals, decorating each page with illustrations and ornaments. Written in black, red, magenta and yellow ink on parchment, the book contains 340 pages. Unfortunately, another 30 pages were lost.
Enamel jewelry is the art for which the ancient Irish were famous. The subtlety and intricacy of patterns used in jewelry work amaze with exquisite weaves and curls hand painted in bright colors. Using vibrant multicolor Guilloche enamel, copper, bronze and gilding, the craftsmen created medieval Celtic designs depicting birds and snakes. Traditionally, the marking includes the initials “TW” inside shamrock, or word “Tara” on the back. Accompanied by paper tags or postcards, each jewelry piece told a history of ancient Irish jewellery art, “as old as Ireland herself.”
The company produced costume jewelry for five decades, from 1935 to late 1980s.
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Blue peacock brooch. Porcelain, gold tone alloy. 5 cm. 1970s. Aynsley bone china vintage costume jewelry

Aynsley bone china vintage costume jewelry
The oldest and most famous English porcelain company in the world, Aynsley was founded in 1775 by John Aynsley. Located in Staffordshire, the factory produced tableware, souvenirs and collectibles. When John Aynsley retired, his son James took over his father’s business and was able to expand and improve the family business. First of all, he changed the direction of the company from ceramics to fine bone china. The use of this material has made the porcelain more durable, translucent and exceptionally white. The business expanded, new factories appeared, and the company with a two-century history gradually became known all over the world.
From the middle of the last century to the 1990s, the company produced high quality fine bone china costume jewelry. Such costume brooches, cameos, earrings, pendants and bracelets were produced in addition to porcelain sets, and the drawings on them repeated the main floral motifs of wonderful tableware.
Traditionally, English brooches are full of charm, delicate and soulful. Large forms, plant and landscape patterns, as well as touching field and cottage garden flowers in the spirit of an old English village. Made entirely of high quality porcelain, these decorations are hand painted and often gold plated.
The company craftsmen marked their pieces with the Aynsley company name and Fine Bone China, as well as the country of manufacture – England.
Noteworthy, the company is the favorite supplier of the British royal family. Specifically, Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales, chose Ainsley porcelain as wedding gifts from the British porcelain industry.
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Yellow rose brooch and earrings. Handpainted bone china. 1960s. Staffordshire Cara China vintage costume jewelry

Staffordshire Cara China vintage costume jewelry
The history of the English company Cara China spans not more than 3 decades, from 1945 to 1970. Located in the county of Staffordshire, the company produced dazzling array of color porcelain costume jewelry. Traditionally, craftsmen labeled the products “Cara China Staffordshire Made in England”, and also sold them in a branded velvet boxes.
In the middle of the last century, many English porcelain companies produced not only china, but also fine high-quality costume jewelry. Crafted from bone china, the colorful, hand-painted jewelry was unlike the usual ones made of metal, bronze, sterling silver or gold. A wearable art, this jewelry is very popular both in the last century and now. Even made 60-70 years ago, the colorful floral design brooches, earrings and bracelets have survived to this day.
Among more than a hundred companies producing such jewelry, the most famous are Aynsley China Co, Coalport China Co., Crown Staffordshire China Co., Bone China Crafts Co., Paragon China Co., and Cara China Co.
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Maple leaves sterling silver enamel brooch. 1950s. Andresen Scheinpflug vintage costume jewelry

Andresen Scheinpflug vintage costume jewelry
The history of the Norwegian jewelry brand Andresen & Scheinpflug spans exactly three decades, from 1936 to 1966. Founded in Oslo by silversmith Jens Ingvald Andresen (1901-1974), the company produced high quality enameled silver jewelry.
Andresen was an apprentice at the Hjortdahl & Meldahl workshop from 1915 to 1919 and continued to work there for many years. In 1931, Meldahl left the workshop to start his own company, and Andersen followed him. However, already in 1936, he co-founded his own Andresen & Scheinpflug workshop for the production of silver and enamel jewelry. Initially, the company’s address was Vognmannsgata 8 and later Storgata 7, Oslo. The company ceased to exist in 1966.
Mid-century Norwegian silver enamel jewelry is now quite rare and highly sought after by lovers and collectors of vintage jewelry.
Traditionally, the craftsmen of this company marked their products on the reverse side with 925 S and the initials TYA.
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