#Whatsitwednesday

Be the first to guess the pictured item by leaving a comment below. If you have your own whatsit, our editors may include it in a future post. Please email editor@kovels.com and attach a clear picture, the size, and any markings. Hopefully, we will be able to identify it for our readers!

This measures approximately 24″ in length.

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Jewelry by Trifari: The All-Star Selections by Collectors

By Pamela Wiggins-Siegel

Of all the topics I’ve covered in this column, I’ve never focused solely on Trifari. I’ve included some of the company’s jewelry in roundups of collector favorites a few times, but when it comes to covering Trifari as a whole, the topic always seems too daunting to tackle in a compact space. The company was, after all, one of the giants in the American costume jewelry industry based in Providence, R.I., and they sold millions of pieces of jewelry over many decades in business.

To remedy this, here’s an overview about what makes jewelry produced by this notable firm so popular with collectors and dating jewelry looking at the marks used over the company’s long history. And, of course, I’ll highlight several of the “all-star” jewelry categories avidly sought by Trifari fans.

What Makes It So Collectible

This might seem like a no-brainer when you look at these amazing jewelry pieces, but Trifari remains at the top of the heap among collectors for several reasons. First, the jewelry is high quality regardless of the era or the price point. From 1930s Art Deco pieces—many of which were designed and crafted by individuals who moved over from the fine jewelry industry—to mod jewelry made decades later, the metals have held up nicely. This includes the brand’s proprietary “Trifanium” gold and platinum simulants introduced in 1947. Additionally, Trifari’s components rarely break when pieces have been stored and handled properly.

Another factor driving Trifari’s popularity is that it’s one of the companies that patented many pieces in the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s. Alfred Philippe, the company’s head designer who previously worked for Cartier, filed many of those patents, but he was just one of many on staff who came up with Trifari’s famed designs. Trifari also advertised in many magazines during the 1950s and ’60s. These resources make Trifari much easier to research regarding production dates and line names compared to other companies.

And, of course, you have the eye-catching collections that stand out as some of the company’s all-star designs. There are many more, of course, but these are a few lines and styles that continually take the spotlight.

Clair de Lune Collection

Trifari Clair de Lune necklace and earrings set, 1950, $800-$1,000.

Clair de Lune—the French term for moonlight—was a collection patented by Trifari in 1949 and advertised in Harper’s Bazaar in 1950. It beautifully features simulated moonstone crescents and cabochons combined with rhinestones in clear and gemstone colors, including sapphire blue and ruby red set in gold-toned metalwork. This wasn’t the only Trifari collection incorporating faux moonstones, but these are some of the most desirable. A suite containing a necklace, hinged bangle bracelet, and matching earrings can easily sell in the $1,500-$2,000 range.

Jelly Belly Jewelry

Trifari Jelly Belly frog brooch, 1940s, $650-$850.

Trifari’s jelly belly jewelry remains popular with collectors, and prices are rising. Jelly Belly is a collector’s nickname for this type of jewelry; Trifari more generically called it the Lucite Group. These clever brooches were made with segments of flawed Lucite unsuitable for use as airplane windows during World War II, as former Trifari Vice President Irving Wolf shared during a collector’s convention I attended in 2005. Given the era, most of the settings holding these polished Lucite cabochons are made of sterling silver. Small examples like flies can sell for around $250-$300, while rare ones like parrots, elephants, and flowers can bring several thousand each.

Fruit Salad Pieces

Trifari Clip-Mates fruit salad brooch, mid-1930s, $500-$700.

No mention of Trifari’s most popular designs would be complete without including their “fruit salad” offerings. These little molded glass fruits and leaves mimic Cartier’s Tutti Frutti styles introduced in the 1930s. Trifari made all the popular styles of the day, including pairs of dress clips and wide bracelets set with fruit salad stones. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the company revived the use of these stones in updated styles and colors. The most elaborate Art Deco designs easily sell in the thousands, and even the newer pieces are increasingly more challenging to find at reasonable prices.

Something Wild and Garden of Eden Lines

Trifari Something Wild dragon bracelet, 1960, $600-$800.

When it comes to my personal wish list of Trifari pieces, my preferences always seem to gravitate toward the 1960s. For instance, I adore the “Something Wild” designs dating to 1960, including a hinged dragon bracelet. There are many others from this decade that I haven’t had the pleasure of owning yet, however.

Another line other collectors covet as much as I do is Garden of Eden. The pieces shown in an ad dating to 1968 feature coiled serpents with emerald green enameling and coordinating glass drops dangling from their mouths. They were made in other jewel tones as well, including red, blue, and topaz. These pieces sell in the thousands now, so unless I get extremely lucky, they’ll remain among my dream finds. Of course, there are many other interesting Trifari figurals that run the gamut in price, so I’ll plan on expounding on that theme the next time I write about Trifari jewelry.

A lacy patterned filigree circular pin of sterling silver
turquoise center with matching earrings from Trifari. Getty Images

Dating Trifari Using Marks

Now that you know about some of the fan favorites made by this costume jewelry giant, you should learn how to date Trifari using marks. Many pieces can be researched through patent resources and vintage advertising, but not all of them. The company was founded in 1910 by Gustavo Trifari with his uncle as Trifari & Trifari. After Leo Krussman and Carl Fishel came aboard, the name changed to Trifari, Krussman, and Fishel in 1925. This information is important because the earlier pieces of highly collectible jewelry made by Trifari in the 1930s are marked TKF (with a larger T in the center of K and F). By the mid-to late-1930s, the mark changed to Trifari with a crown over the T. Pieces made after 1955 can have a copyright symbol as part of the mark. In the 1970s, the crown over the T was dropped. TM for trademark was added to Trifari in the 1980s.

Trying to differentiate old and new, online marketers tend to call everything “Crown Trifari” these days. Should you call all jewelry made from the late 1930s to the early 1970s Crown Trifari? In my opinion, no. The name of the company is Trifari, period. With that said, focusing on Trifari’s unique designs in all their glory is more important—and way more fun—than quibbling over semantics.

Photos by Jay Siegel

PAMELA WIGGINS SIEGEL has been buying, selling, and collecting costume jewelry for over 30 years. She is the author of Warman’s Costume Jewelry and the co-founder of Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l, an organization dedicated to hosting events and providing educational resources for collectors. Visit her online at Chic Antiques by Pamela and Costume Jewelry Collectors International.

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#Whatsitwednesday

Be the first to guess the pictured item by leaving a comment below. If you have your own whatsit, our editors may include it in a future post. Please email editor@kovels.com and attach a clear picture, the size, and any markings. Hopefully, we will be able to identify it for our readers!

This measures approximately 20″ in length.

Note: For those of you who signed up to get notified of each response (by checking the “Notify me of follow-up comments” box in the “Add Comments” section) and find it’s generating too much email, you can unsubscribe to the “Whatsitwednesday” comments by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the “Whatsitwednesday” email you receive.

Spatterware vs. Spongeware

The Votes Are In!

Collectors declare Hake’s political memorabilia auction a runaway winner.

For more than 230 years, political campaigns have relied on attracting voters partly with material items, including campaign buttons, delegate badges, jewelry, lapel ribbons, pamphlets, posters, and more that document the history of our country’s political landscape.

Collectors avidly seek political memorabilia for its historic value. It is a particularly rich resource for understanding the transformation of American politics across the 19th and 20th centuries. It documents shifting political party platforms, the culture of nominating conventions, and expanding avenues of activism and electioneering.

When Ted Hake founded Hake’s Auctions in 1967, political Americana was its foundational category. Since then, the auction house has sold thousands of items, often setting world-record prices.

Hake’s showcased more superb political memorabilia at its premier Auction 241, which closed on July 31 and Aug. 1. Day 1 offered more than 500 items that stirred the patriotic spirit of bidders and represented a cross-section of American politics, including banners, buttons, posters, and more.

Campaign button, William McKinley and Garret Hobart, 1896. 1 1/4 in., $17,587.

Memorabilia from 1776 to the late 1800s is some of the most prized by collectors, as are campaign buttons. The top lot of political items combined both: an important campaign button from 1896 for Republicans William McKinley and Garret Hobart that sold for $17,587, thousands above its high estimate of $10,000. The button features the pair riding a bicycle to the White House, and the rim slogan reads, “Gold Didn’t Get There July 7th/But Watch Us Take It There Nov. 3rd.” The first part of the slogan refers to the date of the Democratic National Convention, where William Bryan made his famous “Cross of Gold” speech. The button is among the hobby’s rarest and most desirable pin-back designs.

Left to right: Rare Roosevelt campaign button, 1912, 1 1/4 in., $9,735.
Hughes & Fairbanks furled flag jugate button, 1 1/4 in., $13,758.
Roosevelt Capital & Labor “Equal Protection” campaign button, 1904, 1 1/4 in., $13,629.

A trio of other pin-back buttons were also top-selling lots: an exceptional furled flag jugate button for Charles Hughes and Charles Fairbanks sold for $13,758; a rare 1904 Theodore Roosevelt Capital & Labor Equal Protection campaign button fetched $13,629; and a rare 1912 button for Theodore Roosevelt with the slogan, “My Hat is in the Ring. Let the People Rule,” brought $9,735, or nearly double its high estimate of $5,000.

Factors that help determine the value of a piece of political memorabilia include age, rarity, condition, and popularity. For presidential pieces, the president’s identity can matter. Some presidents are more popular than others, at least in the context of historical items, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

Figural head of John F. Kennedy, 1960, 33 in. h, $7,607.

Another hot lot was a massive figural head of Kennedy from the 1960 Democratic National Convention that sold for $7,607. The papier-mâché head, 33 inches high, was meant to be affixed to a pole and waved by supporters on the convention floor. Two examples were made for use at the convention, with the one Hake’s offered as the only surviving example.

“I Am a Man” sanitation workers strike civil rights poster,
1968, 22 in. by 28 in., $6,490.

Other top sellers included a 1968 “I Am a Man” poster from the sanitation workers’ strike that sold for $6,490 and a James M. Cox ribbon badge highlighting his membership in the “Gem City Democratic Club of Dayton, Ohio,” that sold for $4,720.

James M. Cox ribbon badge 1920, 7 in. L, $,4,720.

For more results, visit the Hakes Auction website. Photos courtesy of Hake’s Auctions

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#Whatsitwednesday

Be the first to guess the pictured item by leaving a comment below. If you have your own whatsit, our editors may include it in a future post. Please email editor@kovels.com and attach a clear picture, the size, and any markings. Hopefully, we will be able to identify it for our readers!

This measures approximately 10-1/2″ H.

Note: For those of you who signed up to get notified of each response (by checking the “Notify me of follow-up comments” box in the “Add Comments” section) and find it’s generating too much email, you can unsubscribe to the “Whatsitwednesday” comments by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the “Whatsitwednesday” email you receive.

Find last week’s answer here.

Lovely Mystery Tray Identified

A reader received this tray as a gift nearly 50 years ago.

At the Head of Their Class

Maddy Gordon’s collection of lady head vases charm at Strawser Auction event.

Inarco lady head vase E-1904, 1964, 6 3/4 in., $300

Small ceramic beauties with beguiling personalities, lady head vases are popular mid-century pieces that “head hunters” have fun collecting today. With their glamorous style, these vases add charming kitsch to bookcases, shelves, tables, and any other space they grace.

Left: Lady head vase, 5 1/2 in. h, $500.
Right: Relpo lady head vase, K1678, 9 1/2 in., $225.

One super collector and renowned expert on these lovely ladies was the late Maddy Gordon, who acquired over 3,000. On July 22, Strawser Auction Group offered more than 200 of Gordon’s spectacular vases in the first in a series of sales of her collection planned over the next several years.

Gordon, who died in 2022 at the age of 81, founded the influential Head Hunters Newsletter and organized the annual Head Vase Conventions in Kissimmee, Florida, for many years. She was also a big fan of America’s first head vase creator, Betty Lou Nichols, and authored the book Head Vases, Etc., The Artistry of Betty Lou Nichols.

Royal Crown Japan lady head
vase, 3477, 7 in. h, $1,500.

Gordon’s extensive collection features head vases in many different styles produced by companies such as Lefton, Inarco, Napco, Relpo, Royal Crown, and others. The top lot was a seven-inch-high lady head vase by the English company Royal Crown, made in Japan, number 3477 that sold for $1,500. The pretty lady is wearing a bonnet, has a green bow on one side of her neck, and has a perfectly manicured hand framing one side of her face.

Head vases have roots in 19th-century Europe, but the vases Americans are most familiar with started being produced in the 1930s as marketing pieces for florist companies to sell more small bouquets. It’s estimated that more than 10,000 head vases in a multitude of styles and forms were made until the 1970s, when the demand for them dwindled, and most companies stopped production.

Lady head vases exude elegance with their mid-century fashions, perfectly coiffed hairdos, big, lush eyelashes, and ruby lips. They are sometimes adorned with pearl necklaces, earrings, other jewelry, a fashionable hat or gloves—and sometimes all three accessories.

Left: Napco lady head vase with green glass hat, 6 in. h, $950.
Right: Napco lady head vase with blue glass hat, 6 in. h, $1,100.

Vases with hats are desirable to collectors, and the other top-selling pieces in the auction all have them. They were made by Napco. They include a vase with a blue glass hat that sold for $1,100, one with a green glass hat that fetched $950, a vase with a light blue glass hat, 2P1938, that sold for $900, and one with a pink glass hat, 2P1938, that brought $900.

While some people limit their collections to beautiful ladies, Gordon was attracted to the whole universe of head vases, which includes animals, babies and children, brides, clowns, Madonnas, nurses, and characters like Uncle Sam. Some pieces are also not vases at all but ashtrays, lamps, and lipstick holders.

Left: Napco lady head vase with green glass hat, 6 in. h, $950.
Right: Royal Crown Les Girls lady head vase #3664, 5-1/2 in. h, $800.

Other hot lots included a Royal Crown Les Girls head vase, 3664, with a hat and earrings, that sold for $800, a Relco lady head vase with a hat and necklace that fetched $600, a Reis lady wall pocket that sold for $300, a red-headed Lefton lady ashtray/match holder that brought $275, an Uncle Sam head vase that also sold for $225, and a Picasso-esque glass head vase by Italian artist Walter Furlan that fetched $170.

For more results, visit the Strawser Auction Group website. Photos courtesy of Strawser Auction Group.

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The Kovels Donated Massive Research Library to Cleveland Museum of Art