Rice Weiner vintage costume jewelry

Rice Weiner vintage costume jewelry
The company that has made a very big contribution to the culture of vintage jewelry and has created wonderful collections, in fact, remained “nameless”. This was due to two factors. First, their own jewelry lines were marked only with the name of the collection. Second, custom-made collections were marked with the name of the customer.
The entire life path of Providence Rhode Island based company Rice-Weiner, which began in 1938 and ended in 1946, can be roughly divided into three milestones. Creation of own collections, collaboration with Alexander Korda and production of jewelry for McClelland Barclay.

In 1938, Louis E. Hirsch, general manager of Rice-Weiner & Co, filed the company’s first patent. In particular, the Eagle with Arrows Brooch, designed by Louis C Mark.
Between 1940 and 1941, the company created two wonderful collections “Etrusceana” and “Indo – Craft”. Jewelry pieces from these collections, which have survived to this day, amaze with their beauty, graceful lines and some kind of dream of distant countries. These collections were also patented by the designer Louis C Mark. According to the Brunialti catalog, the company also had collections in oriental and Asian motives.

Noteworthy, cooperation with the producer of the Oscar-winning films “The Thief of Baghdad” and “The Jungle Book” Alexander Korda brought real fame to the company Rice – Weiner. Commissioned by Korda, in 1940 and 1942, the company released jewelry collections, including brooches, necklaces and bracelets, in Arabic motifs. The Baghdad Thief collection was labeled Thief of Bagdad Korda, numbers and imitation letters, and the Jungle Book jewelry collection was labeled Alexander Korda. At the same time, the jewelry also bears a special copyright mark, which means that the company has exclusive rights to make jewelry based on the plots of these films.
The jewelry of these collections was made of jewelry alloy, with gilding and silvering, there were also jewelry with rhinestones and enamel. The quality of these decorations was so high that many of them that have survived to this day look simply amazing.

From 1938 to 1943, Rice-Weiner collaborated and created jewelry with designer McClelland Barclay. During this period, wonderful collections of geometric jewelry were created, as well as the famous leaves and wonderful silver brooches and bracelets. Unfortunately, the collaboration was interrupted by the sudden death of McClelland in 1943. The jewelry has marking McClelland Barclay.

In the mid-1940s, Alvin and Robert Rice, together with designer Louis Mark, create Barclay Jewelry Inc. The company continues to move on, attracting new designers, including Natasha Brooks. They created collections under the Jeray and American Beauty Pearls brands.

In the late 1940s, they made attempts to create collections of movie jewelry, but this was not successful. Collections created for designer Bel Geddes and writer Betty Betz, also didn’t have success. Undoubtedly, the golden age of Rice – Weiner came in the early 1940s, and they could no longer repeat it. In 1946, the history of Rice – Weiner ended.

Rice Weiner vintage costume jewelry