Jewelry Design Art

Morning Glory Antiques & Jewelry
presents
~

JEWEL CHAT
Costume Jewelry Magazine

Jewelry
Design Art

Some jewelry designers first developed their ideas on
paper, thereby using material that was meant to be temporary. Because of that, we
are fortunate to have any of these miniature art works remaining. They
demonstrate the development from an original idea to the finished product, and lend
insight into the creative process.

The art work and designs on paper
shown below are from the DeRosa, Haskell and Barclay companies. The first rows show
actual jewelry made from each design, and the other rows show jewelry that
is similar or in the same style.

BARCLAY brooch
of green
enameled leaves, red enameled ladybug and clear rhinestone pave pods, 3-5/8"
by 3", Barclay by Rice-Weiner Alvin and Robert Rice, Louis Mark, circa
1950, Rhode Island. This brooch comes with the BARCLAY
original design art work for this brooch. It is interesting to see that the
original idea was for the pods to be green enamel, but in the finished
brooch leaves are green instead. The process of jewelry design is
documented here. To see more jewelry design art work, click
HERE.
View
#X23718

BARCLAY
original art work
for a fawn brooch.

DeROSA
bouquet of violets fur clip, 2-1/2 inches.
View
View View
#d18705

De Rosa original art work design for the clip shown at right… the note at the bottom
reads "violets", and the clip was indeed done in violets instead of
the forget-me-nots originally illustrated. #140

DeROSA sterling
cream and green enameled floral fur clip, 2-1/2".
View #d23488

De Rosa #103

The real but unsigned De Rosa
brooch made from the design at left. #d20435

The De Rosa original art work design
for the bird brooch shown at the right. #174

DeROSA arrowroot
floral clip.
View
#d21160

De Rosa Arrowroot design art work for the clip shown at left.
#146

BARCLAY art work
for a brooch design. It’s not the brooch at the right, but it is similar.

DeROSA sterling
vermeil bow fur clip with red and clear rhinestones and artificial pearls.
View #d23729

BARCLAY art work
for a brooch design. It’s not the brooch at the right, but it is similar.

DeROSA sterling vermeil 3" bow
fur clip. View
#d21837

BARCLAY
art work for a brooch design. It’s not the brooch at the right, but it is
similar.

FLOWER
3-1/3"
brooch in gold tone with green enameled leaves and glass ball stamen. View
#Y21843

GOLD TONE leaf with silver
tone accents and clear and red rhinestone flowers, a large 4" brooch.
View #Y23339

BARCLAY
art work for a brooch, earrings and rings designs.

BARCLAY art work for a brooch design.

BARCLAY art work for a
brooch, earrings and rings designs.

UNSIGNED large purple and clear rhinestones brooch, 3-1/2".
View #Y22107

De Rosa design for a fur
clip.

De
Rosa 2-1/8" fur clip with aqua rhinestone center. View
View
#d19070

CORO
green emerald-cut and clear rhinestones fur clip in gold tone, 2".
View #C23602

BARCLAY art work for a brooch design.

Clip marked only "sterling".
Courtesy of Deborah Kosnett

BARCLAY art work for a brooch design.

CLEAR
rhinestones 1-1/2" retro style pin set in silver tone. It also
has a loop on the back so that it can be worn as a pendant.
View #Y21751

BARCLAY art work for a brooch design.

BARCLAY art work for a brooch, earrings and rings designs.

BARCLAY art work for a ring
design.

De Rosa design for a fur
clip.

RETRO rose gold toned pin with pink and blue rhinestones, 2-1/4″. View
#Y22999

De Rosa design for a fur
clip.

BARCLAY art
work for a ring design.

DE ROSA 2-1/3"
fur clip with a large oval faceted red rhinestone center and clear
rhinestone accents. This clip also came in another color,
VIEW here.
View #d19834

DEROSA retro
purple rhinestone and artificial pearl brooch, 2" by 2-3/4".
View #d23931

DeRosa design art work.
Marked in pencil "Done 3-13-44" #230

RETRO
aqua-blue rhinestone clip, 2-1/8".
View
View #Y8143

Jewelry
Advertising Art

Jewelry makers also used artists’ renderings of finished
jewelry as advertisements in stores and magazines. The Miriam Haskell
original watercolors shown here were hung in shops and distributed to buyers
at department stores. Most of these are thought to have been painted by
Larry Austin, an illustrator about whom little is known other than this
wonderful work.

In November 2004, Brenda, a long-time jewelry dealer and collector, wrote:
My husband and I are just back from at trip to New York City. We had the
opportunity to see two fabulous jewelry shows in progress at the
American Folk Art Museum. Both are of fine jewelry.

The first show we saw was "Seaman Schepps – A Century of New York
Jewelry Design." Much of this jewelry was designed from the early
1930s to the late 1950s. He catered to a celebrity clientele from
Hollywood to royalty. The jewelry was often pictured in glamorous photos
in old Vogue magazines.
Over and over, I saw how fine jewelry was the direct inspiration for our
vintage costume jewelry, particularly in Trifari, Coro and even K.J.L.
I had to keep reminding myself that what I was looking at was REAL, as I
have almost line for line copies in vintage costume jewelry. I realized
that my beloved Lucite jelly bellies were copied from figurals
originally done in gold and rock crystal. One example is the
Trifari jelly belly bird brooch, shown at right.

The second show (right across the street) was "Masterpieces of
American Jewelry". These fine jewels were by the best of the best –
Tiffany, Cartier, etc. Tiffany did a series of enamel and diamond
orchid brooches in the 1890s, and Coro mimicked them in the enamel and
rhinestone orchid pins done in the 1940s, like the one shown at left.