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Schreiner 1950s ProngSet UniqueGreen ABCrystals PaveCrystalLeaves Silver Brooch

About the Item

This colorful prong-set crystal spray brooch by Schreiner New York was made to compliment luxury clothing by a U.S.-based fashion designer, such as Pauline Trigere, in the late 1950s. This piece is special because it shows the unique decorative technique that Schreiner used for a period of several years in reaction to the limited availability of the first aurora-borealis (AB) stones by Swarovski in 1956, which had been designed for Christian Dior. In response to the availability of only the initial AB color that mostly reflected bright blue and the high demand from other designers, Schreiner's creative family soon applied transparent glass paint to create additional colors, such as the light-green painted AB crystals on this brooch. According to Henry Schreiner's late daughter who took over the business with her jewelry-designer husband, this enabled them to become the first to produce costume jewelry with AB stones in different colors, while Swarovski took several years to introduce similar colors. All original painted AB crystals are intact in this brooch, which is significant since a lost stone cannot be matched because each batch that Schreiner painted was a slightly different color. Also according to published interviews with the family, most Schreiner pieces were unsigned that were created for fashion designers instead of for a retailer. The designers most often attached jewelry to their clothing ensemble when available for sale. Like this brooch, all Schreiner jewelry in the 1950s and later was made from a brass base with hard silver solder. This brooch also features aspects characteristic of Schreiner designs: convex shape on the front, stacked layers enabling pave crystals to hover above larger crystals below, and a pin that spans the width of the concave back of the brooch without a bar. We price this brooch lower than another of our listings for Schreiner jewelry because it was not made by the founder Henry Schreiner, who died in 1954. However, it is priced higher than other 1stDibs listings made by the remaining family because of the hand-painted AB crystals that one-upped Swarovski until the end of the 1950s.
  • Creator:
  • Metal:
    Silver,Brass
  • Stone:
    Crystal
  • Stone Cut:
    Mixed Cut
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 2 in (50.8 mm)Width: 2.5 in (63.5 mm)
  • Style:
    Modern
  • Place of Origin:
    United States
  • Period:
    1950-1959
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1956-1959
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Chicago, IL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3244220330142

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