Berkshires - Earrings

Stamped "Made In France" on antique brass back-plates like the initial unbranded couture costume jewelry since 1924 commissioned by French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel for her foreign-cli...

This couture French Maison Gripoix-fabricated faux-sapphire-topped-pearl glass cluster brooch and clip-earrings set dates to around WWII, when Parisian fashion designer Elsa Schiapar...

Encrusted with enameled turbo shells shaped like miniature mollusks and mixed with iridescent crystals, this elaborately ornamented and intricately textured unsigned pair of yellow-g...

Vogue Bijoux drop earrings, the oval earpiece of a central mabe pearl framed by rhinestones suspending a ribbed, round blue stone topped by graduated ...

These pink conch 14mm near-round natural pearl stud earring pair with early-20th-Century clips stamped "sterling" each weigh 3 grams including mountings, for an exceptional 10-plus c...

Like the initial unbranded couture costume-jewelry since 1924 commissioned by French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel for her foreign-client ensembles, "Made In France" was stamped on their a...

In 1956 when Christian Dior's ultra-feminine New Look had dominated fashion for nearly a decade, Schreiner New York handcrafted these opulent unsigned earrings with 22 prong-set open-back crystals to accompany the eveningwear of an American high-end fashion designer. They may have been for client Pauline Trigere when her ready-to-wear collections with accessories including unmarked-Schreiner jewelry were sold by NYC's Bergdorf Goodman and worn by her clients including Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Elizabeth Taylor. Comparatively, Schreiner jewelry produced in the 1950s for direct sale to high-end department stores, such as Neiman Marcus, Henri Bendel and Saks Fifth Avenue, were the only pieces to include a brand signature. Using the best quality European crystals that were custom-made for him, the founder Henry Schreiner was among the world's leading glass-jewelry designers before he died in 1954, whereafter his daughter and her husband continued with their handcrafted production. The family shared this distinction with Western Germany-based Max Muller and Paris-based Roger Jean Pierre, who were commissioned to create haute-couture pieces for the world's leading fashion houses. Notably in 1949, Henry Schreiner was commissioned by Dior to create several exclusive pieces. We know these earrings were not created earlier than 1956 because of the use of iridescent coating on some of the crystals that produces a rainbow effect. Known as aurora-borealis (AB) stones, Swarovski initially produced them exclusively for a haute-couture collection that year by Dior. Shortly thereafter, the Schreiner team had access to such colorful stones, and most certainly used them as soon as possible to enable their American fashion-designer clients to compete with the new Dior iridescent-colors trend. At the bottom tips of the marquise-shaped pale yellow stones...

Signed FRM, these Art-Deco style mixed-metal drop earrings feature four bezel-and-prong-set faceted red garnets along with 16 hand-wired beaded thin chains. The 32 dangling teardrop-...

Distinguishing these couture Christian Dior Spring/Summer 1956 "Western Germany"-stamped silver earrings featuring the first Swarovski gold-foi...

This antique French Belle-Epoque-period set incudes eight rare ball-cut moonstones beaded on a delicate gilt choker necklace and wire-hook dangle earrings for pierced ears. The necklace features two 12mm gilt-filigree-capped moonstones with atypical adularescence that glows as a sharply defined wide bluish-white circle below the surface. The pearl-like grayish-white moonstones are among beaded stations of cut-glass crystal that are spaced with tiny gilt balls. The matching earrings each feature a 6mm moonstone like the additional four on the necklace. The luminous moonstone beads look like quahog-clam pearls...

French costume-jewelry glass-master Louis Rousselet was among a handful of paruriers favored by the leading Parisian couture houses, primarily Chanel in the late 1920s. Beyond the st...

In the 1950s while he operated an eponymous Parisian couture costume-jewelry boutique, Francoise Montague designed these unique handmade ornate pair of sparkly clip earrings featurin...

Two years before the brand signature first appeared in 1947, Miriam Haskell's first designer Frank Hess since 1926 designed these asymmetrical Baroque-style climber earrings. To be p...

This couture French Maison Gripoix ornate glass pair of faux-pearl-turquoise-and-diamond gold-gilt clip earrings are both stamped "France" on their convex ear-pads, which is characte...

While making similar mid-century haute-couture costume jewelry for Christian Dior, designer Max Muller based near Kaufbeuren, Western Germany, created these dramatic clear-crystal si...

Hattie Carnegie (1886-1956)--one of the leading American entrepreneurs of made-to-order and ready-to-wear fashion for four decades--began producing costume-jewelry parures around WWI...

Line Vautrin created "flame-radiating" resin mirrors in mid-century that are very similar to this sculptural resin edelweiss-flower set of highly-textural, hand-carved and enameled c...

Marked "Made In France" on their antique brass back-plates like the initial unbranded couture costume-jewelry commissioned by Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel since 1924, these early-handcraf...

On par with Castellani goldsmithing since the mid-1900s, which revived ancient Etruscan techniques admired for their highly intricate and ornate gilding and metalwork, these masterfu...

These Hattie Carnegie multicolor glass, crystal and gilt-metal earrings notably include her script last-name signature without copyright symbol that is found on clips produced before...

These mid-century platinum-like silver tassel chain drop earrings were designed by Trifari artistic director Alfred Philippe in an Art Deco style that recalls his earlier work for Ca...

While making similar Christian Dior haute-couture costume-jewelry since 1955, parurier Max Muller based near Kaufbeuren, Western Germany, created these exceptionally-clear crystal si...

Featuring five sparkly black opaque spinels with diamond-shaped facets and splintery vitreous surfaces, along with bezel-set champagne diamonds with yellow or peach reflections in su...

For Trifari by mid-century, its artistic director French-born Alfred Philippe designed this yellow-gold set including the seven-bar linked collar with central invisibly-set diamante,...

These antique early-20th-Century French poured carved and lampwork glass dangle earrings depict textured berries and leaves. On each earring, this fruit salad dangles on a single ring that drops from a round convex green "stem", which is attached to miniature brass clips...

Designed mid-Century by Austo-Hungarian Comtesse Cissy Zoltowska to feature her signature crackle glass, three multi-tone red balls are hand-set with nine claw-like elongated curving...

Beginning in 1939, American Miriam Haskell asked her first designer since 1926 Frank Hess to sparingly use metal in their costume-jewelry collections during WWII while war materials were needed. So not unlike the Spring/Summer 2024 floral appliques designed by Balmain artistic director Olivier Rousteing, hand-crafted rose-motif plastic never looked more beautiful in the 20th Century than such eye-catching glossy creations as these ballet-pink clip earrings by Hess. In this reflective and sparkling pair of lightweight slightly asymmetrical climbers, shiny film-like rhodoid is hand-cut, layered in three dimensions for irregular shadows, and riveted with clear roses-montees to a thin silver metal frame, which replaced Hess' characteristic wired Russian-gilt brass frame while still resembling his earlier construction (see our other Haskell listing for an early double fur-clip chain lariat). The earring clips, with tiny holes that were used for unsigned Haskell...

Made during the crossover Arts-&-Crafts and Art-Nouveau movements during the Qing Dynasty, these antique Chinese earrings feature rare Burmese natu...

In the early 2000 while French Jean-Paul Gautier remained the designer at his eponymous Parisian fashion house, a Paris-based haute-couture runway-accessory designer was commissioned by him to create this handmade decadent street-culture-inspired wire-hook earring with multiple tumbled semi-precious stones, gilt chain and cord, and multi-color sequins that suggest divergent international cultures. On both the front and back, an explosion of deconstructed couture-textile remnants...

A mid-century peer of modern jewelry artist Art Smith, studio metalsmith Otto Robert Bade (1921-2019) handcrafted this black-patinated sterling-silver openwork stylized-leaves set o...

These post-WWII Vendome hand-wired clip earrings each feature a spray of yellow-gold gilt-metal leaves with a stylized branch and five prong-set clear crystals among a cluster of fac...

Resembling a luxe punk-rock-style earring from contemporary Enfants Riches Deprimes, this signed one-of-a-kind sterling-silver elongated-hook e...

In the Art-Deco period when geometric, monotone and sparkly designs became fashionable, leading Paris-based couture designer Elsa Schiaparellli set trends with her artistic use of new plastic resins in bold costume jewelry. The progressive French style is exemplified by this unsigned antique black sphere-motif pair of a coiled bangle bracelet and two-tier crystal earrings. The heat-set curvilinear plastic, along with the silver screw-hardware of the earrings, date the set to no earlier than the 1920s and no later than 1930s. Each inch-diameter earring features 18 black molded bezels containing brilliant rose-cut crystals, while their filigree-like concealed black frames are riveted in back where they twist-fasten with very thin silver hardware. The rhinestones rise above the bezels to maximize their sparkle in rainbow colors, which is accentuated by the stacked frames...

Hobé earrings featuring clear, sapphire, and ruby crystals in a goldtone metal paisley shaped frame. Signed "Hobe" on interior of ear clip.

Rhinestone dangle earrings for pierced ears featuring five rows of sequentially curved stones at top and three free hanging rows at bottom, each row composed of round rhinestones ter...

Vintage Vendome set composed of a three-strand necklace and earclips featuring large faux pearls interspersed with faceted topaz-toned and iridescent crystals and white beads with go...

Rhinestone vintage drop earrings by Eisenberg composed of various-sized round and marquise stones in an intricate setting. Comfortable clip-on backings.

Dramatic rhinestone and ruby stone ear clips that follow the curve of the earlobe. The earpiece, composed of clear and ruby crystals, tapers at the top a...

Rhinestone-studded gold metal hoop earrings punctuated by three oval cabochons - green in center, red on one side and blue on the other. By Vogue Bijoux. Great for holiday.

Henry Schreiner, the Austrian-born blacksmith founder of Schreiner in New York in 1932, handcrafted this demi-parure of prong-set colorless crystal stylized-foliage sprays after he b...

Between 1948-1955 this early Vendome crystal set was made for a high-end line by Coro to include a three-strand tricolor beaded necklace with flowe...

Vendome semi-parure of dome-shaped brooch and clip-on earrings composed of large round green crystals, each surrounded by small lime-colored crystals in a floral manner, and each wit...

With the earliest brand signature from 1947-1949, these Miriam Haskell (1899-1981) hand-wired Russsian-gilt brass floral French-wire-clip earrings were created by her first designer ...

Vendome brooch and earrings set, the brooch of star shape consisting of large pear-shaped green crystals interspersed with sapphire blue round crystals ...

Unusual and sophisticated coloring in these c. 1960 Miriam Haskell earrings, featuring three smoothly faceted gray bead drops below rhinestone rondels, and suspended from a typical p...

Large and dramatic earrings by Vogue Jewelry of triangular shape and composed of large round and marquise crystals in a gold tone setting, each stone...

What fun! Vendome c.1960s necklace and earrings composed of hot pink beaded spheres alternating with pink crystal rondeles. The double-strand necklace fits c...

Crescent-shaped clip-on earrings by Robert, much of whose work resembled that of Miriam Haskell. These are composed primarily of white beads, some diminutive and smooth, the others ...