A Vintage Jewelry Mystery Maker – Part Two

Those who have read Part One of these posts about my 1930s vintage jewelry Mystery Maker will no doubt be surprised at the apparent difference in style between those pieces and the ones you are about to see, which I have dubbed Style B. In fact I was totally clueless that these were from the same design shop until I accidentally discovered two transitional pieces – which we will also see in this second post. (Part One can be found as an archived post here, and also directly below the end of this post.)

It was pure coincidence that I happened to purchase the first example of this Style B, (Example B1 below). I normally gravitate toward more delicate or smaller scale jewelry but the combination of the soft- and graceful-appearing central bow plus a box chain which I have always had a weakness for, inspired me to purchase that particular necklace. Some months afterward, the seller told me that another example of the identical necklace could be seen on Sheryl’s Art Deco Emporium website within the section devoted to Jakob Bengel jewelry, and that given its placement in that section it might be possible that it could be a Bengel design.  I was even more pleased at this possible attribution, and of course had no inkling that the necklace was indeed the product of my 1930s Mystery Maker shop. That discovery would come sometime later. In the meanwhile, I slowly began to develop – via happening to find variations of this first necklace – a list of characteristics common to these necklaces and related pieces. For clarity, these characteristics are compared to their counterparts in the Style A designs.

Characteristics of Style B:

* Only one chain; no more multiples.

* Larger diameter box (5mm square) in the chain, and a longer length (17” instead of 15”-15 1/2”)

* Larger scale/heavier “look” overall.

* The chain never goes “through” the central station, as is the case in all of the A styles, but is instead attached to each side of it.

* The bow design is soft and realistic instead of the more geometric forms encountered in Style A items.

* Enameling is reduced compared to the Style A jewelry; there is a much larger percentage of metal surface to enameled surface, whereas in Style A pieces the enamel predominates.

* The chains that do have enameling are no longer “dipped”, but instead have the enamel applied across the top surface only.

* There is a single drop/dangle element (if one is present) below the central station, instead of a “fringe”. The one exception may be the flat mesh chain necklace A-11 seen in my previous article, which originally clearly had a single drop element below the bow. This, and the minimal use of enameling, makes me think that necklace may well have been a transitional piece between Styles A and B, especially since the same chain is used in one of the definite Style B examples below.  The scale and length of the necklace is typical of Style A. Oh how I wish that I could find an example with the original drop!!

* Spring ring clasps (no more box clasps, except possibly for one flat chain style below).

Examples of Style B (description follows photo)

(B1) Single box chain in goldtone metal with fine black enameling in almost a “damascene” fashion. This is a thicker box chain than the ones used in the A styles. The ‘soft’-looking bow also has fine black enamel accents within its chevron-pattern design; similarly enameled reverse teardrop shaped drop matches. Spring ring clasp. Necklace is 17” long overall, and the central motif is 1 1/2” top to bottom. Sold in 2013 by my shop, ChatsworthVintage.

 (B2) The identical necklace as #B1 but done in silvertone metal. It is unclear from the photo whether this necklace has black enameling or not.  Sold by BoyleRPF Vintage Jewelry.

(B3) Flat double-row chain identical to the one used in the #A-11 choker, except that it is silvertone instead of goldtone. Identical bow and drop to #B1, #B2 and #B3; it appears to be a shinier silver metal than the chain. I cannot tell whether the reddish tints on the drop and part of one bow end are enameling or merely a reflection from the person photographing it. No idea what the clasp is like (there was only one photo) but assume it is the same as used for #A-11 although it could also be a spring ring clasp if both ends of the chain terminate in the same way as the front ends shown here.   This is the Sheryl’s Art Deco Emporium item mentioned earlier.  The description says that this is a “German Art Deco” piece and it appears in the same section as her Jakob Bengel offerings although that name does not appear in its description. I have contacted her to ask for a clarification but did not receive a response. Therefore I am assuming that these necklaces may be German in origin but am not sure whether they have anything to do with Bengel. Also please keep in mind that the attribution of a country does not necessarily mean, on her site, that it was actually made there. For example, she told me that the #A12 necklace is described as being an “American” necklace purely on the basis that she acquired it from an American source. If, as I believe, the same source produced all of these necklaces, it is clear that either the German OR the American attribution is incorrect.

 (B4)  Open flat rectangular link chain with dark green and bright white enamel accents. This appears to be the same dark green and white colors used on necklace #A5. This too is a “new” chain style. Central bow is enameled more heavily than in necklace #B1, and the faceted bead drop is clearly a replacement for its original reverse-teardrop. The clasp ring may be a replacement as well.  Sold by BoyleRPF Vintage Jewelry.

 (B5) Thick oval link chain goldtone necklace with black and dark green enameling applied to one portion of the links only. Bow and drop enameled likewise. We will see this identical color combination in another piece. This is the first example of this thick link chain that I have seen. Sold by BoyleRPF Vintage Jewelry.

 (B6) Round snake chain in plain goldtone. this is the identical chain that was used in the orange/yellow/bronwn enameled  #A9  + #A10 necklace/bracelet set in the previous section, but this necklace has NO enameling whatsoever.  Found on Pinterest, origin unknown.

(B7) The identical round snake chain as #B7 above, and also with no enameling on the necklace… but now made as a lariat necklace utilizing only the “tails” of the bow, and adding a pair of ornate finial drops! The bow element and finials are accented with white and medium-brown enameling. Length is unknown but it may be somewhat longer than the 17” overall length of the other examples. Sold by BoyleRPF Vintage Jewelry.

(B8) A brooch (the first I have discovered by this maker!) utilizing the same round snake chain and bow “tails” as the necklace above but with the use of a pair of snake heads instead of the finial drops seen in the #B8 necklace. No enameling at all anywhere on this piece. C clasp. This brooch was wildly misidentified by its eBay seller as being an “antique Victorian pinchbeck” item and thereby went for an exorbitant price to another bidder.

(B9) Box chain identical to the one used in necklaces #B1, #B2 and #B3; with medium-green and black enameling on the top surface of the boxes only (and not to every one of them). Instead of being a bow, this pendant is an off-center dome or circular pyramid shape formed by asymmetrical (not concentric) circles rising upwards in step fashion in alternate rows of solid green enamel and neatly accented  rectangles. This is a newly discovered pendant from this maker. Sold in 2012 by my shop, ChatsworthVintage.

And now, two examples of  what I have dubbed “Style T” because they are clearly transitional pieces between the “heavier” B designs and the “daintier” ones shown as A. Both of these necklaces utilize elements found in both A and B, as does #A-11 which I may well reclassify as transitional in the future. Unfortunately I have no idea which of the two styles came first chronologically!

(T1) Single box chain necklace in silvertone, with the triangles/fringe element used as a pendant. I am assuming that the box chain is the same as the smaller ones used for the Style A necklaces because there are still the same five lengths of fringe beneath the triangle; if this was the Style B box chain, five lengths would be too many to fit in that location. Therefore this must be the smaller-scale box chain.

Even though the chain and triangle pendant are identical to the Style A pieces, I classify this as transitional for two reasons: (1) there is no enameling at all on any of the chains and very little on the chevron; all of the Style A pieces except for the #A-11 choker have much more enameling than this (which IMHO reinforces the possibility that #A-11 might also be a transitional design) and (2) although the Style A necklace #A1 is also a pendant, that one still has its chains running through the bale. The method of attachment of this item’s pendant is the one we find in Style B pieces. If I had to assign this necklace to one or the other style, though, I would place it into the Style A category. This necklace was suggested by its eBay seller as being a “Bengel style” and thus went for a ridiculously high amount, especially for one with its enamel in such poor condition, to another bidder. I would have liked to acquire it but not at that price with this much wear.

(T2) This extremely interesting piece combines elements from A and B styles in equal measure while adding two new elements! This flat chain is one that I had not seen before and at first I thought it was a new chain for them. However, it’s equally possible that it is “one half” of the two-row chain used in the choker #A11.  This chain is entirely enameled which is a Style A technique. The pendant incorporates the bow tails from Style B, enhanced with the same neat precise enamel accents seen in #B1. The smaller of the two circles (circles are another new element! no open circle pendants were seen before) is the identical finding that serves as the clasp ring in necklace A4 (the triple round mesh chain in two shades of brown)! The two shades of blue enamel used on this necklace are virtually an exact match for those used on necklace #A2 (see photo below of them together).

However, despite its more delicate Style-A scale, on this necklace the chain length falls into the B category at 17” plus a 1 1/2” pendant drop. The top designs of the silvertone hidden box clasp forms a tailored-bow shape.

So in #T2 we have five elements from Style A pieces (the fully enameled chain, same blue enamel colors, use of an “A” finding within the design, use of a flat link chain, and smaller overall scale ); three elements from Style B pieces (half of the B bow, a side-attached pendant rather than the chains going through or behind it, and the longer chain length); and at least one new element (the large central circle motif).  IMHO this is a truly transitional piece between the two styles that this maker produced and I was delighted to find it!

And so to summarize all of the different design elements discovered to date in pieces from this Mystery Maker:

Eight different chains: 3 mm box chain, 5 mm box chain, round (tubular) fine mesh chain, snake scale chain, heavy oval link chain, single flat mesh chain, double flat mesh chain, and open rectangular link chain with zigzag design and enamel accents.

Six different clasps: hidden box box clasp with a diamond motif with a small flower in each of the four corners;  hidden box clasp, rectangular, top has three half-cylinders; central section is enameled to match chain; hidden box clasp, rectangular, top motifs form a tailored bow shape; hidden box clasp, rectangular, ends have top motif to match design of double flat mesh chain;  J hook with flat ring; spring ring clasp.

Eight different central station motifs:

* Triple-chevron/open diamond shape, faux marcasite effect, enamel/metal, solid flat back, hangs from matching bale; removable from necklace (example A1)

* Triangular shape with point uppermost; all or partly enameled; fringe drop made of 5 box chain lengths (examples A2, A3, A4 and T1)

* Tailored bow design resembling two of the above triangular shapes point to point, but cast as a single element; appears to have had a single (unknown shape) drop. (example A-11)

* Tailored bow with ‘pebbly’ or ‘faux bead’ textured surface; incorporates 8 semi- or quarter-circle designs, all or some of which have enamel accents. (examples A5 through A10)

* Soft bow, with reverse-teardrop shaped single drop (examples B1 through B6)

* Bottom half (tails) of soft bow only (examples B7 and B8)

* Combination of soft-bow tails and flat open circles (example T2)

* Asymmetric ‘stepped’ semi-bullseye dome with Greek key/Aztec motifs (example B9)

Two different lariat end caps: Snake heads;  textured and ribbed elongated finials

By the way, if any readers have photos of any of the above pieces in different colorways or different combinations of design elements I would be delighted to see a photo and include those versions in a future update of my “research”! I can be contacted through my Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/chatsworthvintage.

Archived blog posts can be found here.

A Vintage Jewelry Mystery Maker – Part One

Collecting vintage jewelry can often present quite a mystery when it comes to unsigned pieces. Not only are there unsigned pieces by known makers but there are often entire lines of jewelry that were never signed at all. Often they have a distinctive style which makes the mystery of their maker all the more intriguing and challenging to solve.

My own detective work on a ‘“mystery maker” came about in a rather special way. My mother owned hardly any jewelry but two pieces of hers fascinated me all through my childhood. One was the reverse carved Lucite bracelet that is pictured in my blog post “Not Your Daughter’s Plastic Jewelry”; the other was a red necklace: an enameled pendant on three enameled box chains. The chains reminded me of my favorite craft project as a youngster at summer camp. After my mom passed away I inherited both pieces of jewelry. Because the necklace was unsigned I had no idea where or by whom it was made, or anything other than my mom telling me it was the first piece of jewelry that she bought for herself when she moved to New York as a young woman of 19. This fact dated the necklace as from the very early 1930s.

Several years ago it occurred to me to see if I could find other examples of necklaces with similar workmanship. Not having a maker’s name or mark to search on, my only recourse was to look for necklaces fitting the search terms “enamel Art Deco box chain necklace”. Slowly but surely I began to find examples which were clearly made by this same Mystery Maker. Not only that, but I began to discover that whoever they were, they produced items in fascinating alternate versions both of enamel color and style elements.

I have been able to determine that this company made at least two distinct styles in the early 1930s, one of which was ‘daintier’ than the other and had more enameling. I call this “Style A” , and the heavier style with less enameling “Style B”. I have also found a third style, which I have dubbed “T” for “Transitional” because it appears to be transitional between A and B. This first of two blog posts will illustrate examples of all of the styles, beginning with Style A.

Characteristics of Style A

* Either two or three dainty box chains, 3mm square. However, one example used round fine-mesh chains instead.

* Usually all of the chains are fully enameled (dipped) but in at least one case only one of the three chains is enameled.

* Enamel colors are complementary; i.e. three shades of blue, two shades of brown, two shades of green + white, etc.

* The single central station is wholly or partly enameled to match the chains.

* Enameling is done by hand

* Central station designs are all classic Art Deco in style (bows, chevrons, triangles, etc)

* The box-chain necklaces all use a hidden box clasp. The one example with a round-mesh chain necklace uses a hook and ring clasp.

* The shortest chain length on all of these is 15 1/2” long.

Examples of Style A  (description follows each photo)

(A1) Double box chain, enameled in two shades of red. Enameled pendant is 2 1/2” long from bail to bottom, and 1 1/2” wide at the widest point. Although the pendant is a dark silvertone with a faux-marcasite effect, the bail and the hidden box clasp are a brighter silvertone metal. Top of box clasp has a triple-tube motif with the central section enameled in red to match the necklace. This was my mother’s necklace and definitely dates to the very early 1930s.

(A2) Triple box chain (same chain as #A1) enameled in three shades of blue. The triangular shaped central station and its five dangling chains are enameled to match. The central station measures 1 3/4” top to bottom including the ‘fringe’. Same hidden box clasp as on #A1 except that the central element is enameled blue.

(A3) The identical necklace to #A2, except that the enamel colors are creamy French-vanilla white, light blue, and pale dusky pink. This use of pastel in an Art Deco era design was quite a surprise because every other piece I have seen of theirs has used darker colors! Silvertone hidden box clasp; the design on top is a diamond shape with a small flower in each outer corner. No enameling on the clasp.

(A4) Triple round fine-mesh chain, enameled in two shades of brown (chocolate and caramel). Same triangle as #A2 and #A3 but this time only one section of it is enameled. It still has a fringe but because it is made of a narrower chain there are seven lengths of fringe chain (3 caramel, 4 chocolate) rather than five as in the previous examples. Has a J-hook-and-flat-ring closure in shiny silvertone metal except for chocolate enameling on the top of the inner loops. Central station triangle is the same shiny silvertone finish as the clasp. Notice the ring end, because it will be seen again later in a transitional piece.

(A5) Triple box chains (same as #A1, #A2, and #A3) enameled in dark green, light green, and bright white (but not the creamy white that was used for #A3). Central station is a horizontal very textural bow in a dark cast metal similar to that of the pendant in #A1; four of the half-circle elements, as well as the center, are enameled. Bow is 1 ¼” x 7/8”. Same hidden box clasp as on necklace #A3 (diamond/floral design on top, no enameling). Recently sold in my Etsy shop.

(A6) Identical necklace to #A5 except that only one of the three box chains is enameled. This is a brighter blue than any of those used in #A2. The bow element is also in a brighter shinier metal finish and matches the rest of the necklace. The enameling on the accent elements differs also: all of the semicircles are enameled, but not the central “tie”. Same hidden box clasp as on #A3 and #A5 (diamond/floral design on top, no enameling). Recently sold in my Etsy shop.

(A7) Bracelet to match the #A6 necklace. Sold by BoyleRPF Vintage Jewelry. Same clasp as matching necklace and two others.

(A8) Identical necklace to #A5 and #A6 except for the enameling format. Two chains are enameled green, but the third has a shiny silvertone finish instead of enamel. (This green seems to be darker than the color used in #A5 but may be simply bad photography). The central bow also appears to be in the darker metal (as in #A5) which seems odd considering that bright metal was used for the middle chain. The enameling pattern on the bow matches that of #A5. Same diamond/floral hidden box clasp as on prior necklaces and bracelet. This necklace is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and identified simply as “1930s Art Deco Necklace.”

(A9)  Triple round snake chain necklace, fully enameled in dark brown, orange, and bright yellow. Same necklace style as #A5, #A6, and #A8 except that it has a snake chain instead of box chains. Central bow enameled in the #A5 pattern and using the same hidden box clasp as previous examples. This same snake chain will reappear in some Style B designs. Sold by BoyleRPF Vintage Jewelry.

(A10) Bracelet to match the #A9 necklace. Sold by BoyleRPF Vintage Jewelry.

(A11) Flat mesh chain choker necklace with a central bow motif. This is the fourth chain style that I discovered from this maker. There are five very interesting things about this necklace: (a) It is the first choker (14”) length that I have found; (b) the clasp  appears to have been designed specifically for this chain, because the pattern on the top continues that of the chain; (c) although it appears now to be plain metal, the central bow originally had black enamel accents (see second photo) although there is no such evidence on any part of the chain; (d) the bow itself is formed by placing two of the triangular central station elements in necklaces #A2, #A3 and #A4 “point to point” – however, the bow was cast as one single piece. There is no solder or evidence that they were originally two separate pieces. And finally, something that I did not realize until after photographing this necklace: (e) The bow must have originally had a ‘drop’, because there is a small triangular loop cast into it. It is visible in the second photo and also in the first although the necklace is “upside down”. We will see a very similar bow-with-drop motif in the Style B examples, as well as a significant reduction of enameling in favor of plain metal. I still may eventually reclassify this piece as a transitional (Style T) design between Styles A and B.

(A12) The identical necklace to #A2 and #A3 (triple box chain and central triangle with chain fringe underneath) using the same two shades of green enamel as the textured bow necklace #A5; however the shade of creamy white used in this necklace is not the bright white as in #A5, but instead is the creamy white that appears on the pastel version #A3. No photo showing type of box clasp. This necklace is offered by Sheryl’s Art Deco Emporium; that description says “American necklace”. When I contacted Sheryl to ask what else she knows of its provenance, she told me that she does not know where it was made and that “American” indicates only that she purchased it from someone who lives in America.

My next post will examine this Mystery Maker’s “Style B” and also the transitional “Style T”.

By the way, if any readers perchance have any of the above pieces in different colorways or different combinations of design elements I would be delighted to see a photo and include those versions in a future update of my “research”! I can be contacted through my Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/chatsworthvintage.

Archived blog posts can be found here.

A Rogues’ Gallery of Garden Villains

Eventually every gardener compiles his or her personal ‘Rogues Gallery’ of garden villains – those plants which have proved themselves to be an unmitigated menace in one way or another. My own garden is no exception, whether a particular villain was in residence when I arrived or whether through sheer stupidity I introduced it myself. Some of my villains will undoubtedly be known to you already, while others may serve as a timely warning if you should ever be tempted to give them entry to your own garden.

HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera spp.)

This was a case of double stupidity. The east side chain link fence around my backyard was already covered in honeysuckle when I bought the house, but I compounded the fatal error during the first year here by allowing the fragrance to remind me of childhood memories. My friends and I had a favorite summer-evening meeting place at the corner of our street, and the house at that corner was surrounded by a honeysuckle hedge. So of course I decided to go my childhood memories one better by planting additional varieties along the other two fencelines in order to “ring” my backyard with the nostalgic fragrance. Needless to say, once my back was turned on the honeysuckle for a season or two it decided to not only cover the chainlink fence but also make a land grab for the newly made perennial borders immediately in front of it. However the honeysuckle did not gain its new horizontal territory without a fight; it had to contend with another villain, namely

ENGLISH IVY (Hedera helix)

Forget visions of ivy-covered walls – it can cover beds, borders, and lawn just as quickly. I can’t blame myself for planting this, because it was in place already underneath two huge linden trees in the front yard. It was sharing real estate there with pachysandra which at least has the virtue of not being able to climb. The ivy had climbed up the trees to a respectable height, but it was fairly easy to simply cut the vines at ground level and then yank them off the tree trunks. I left the ivy at ground level to duke it out with the pachysandra but there were also small plantings of ivy along some of the backyard fence perimeters. I made a mental note to dig those small plantings out “one of these days” but promptly forgot about it until I realized that the honeysuckle and the ivy had teamed up in an axis-of-evil pairing to smother the perennial borders along the fences. A planting of English ivy alone can be successfully eradicated using Roundup, but of course in a mixed border (which was rapidly becoming a mixture of only two plant species) that’s not an option. The only choice is to cut, pull, and dig by hand. I am sorry to report that the Devilish Duo lasted longer than my arm and back muscles did. Even the daylilies could not successfully get through the suffocating blanket they created. I have a mental picture of the daylilies slowly drowning, not unlike those old horror movies where one of the good guys sinks tragically to his death in a pit of quicksand!

THE SWEETGUM TREE (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Another villain that was here when I arrived. This is one of those plants where one needs to balance the good against the bad. The good is that they have the potential to be one of the most spectacularly colored trees in the world. Notice that I say “potential” and that is because this is by no means a sure thing. At least with a maple tree – whose leaf shape the sweetgum’s resembles – you have a fairly good guarantee of excellent autumn color. There may be some slight variation from one year to the next depending on temperature and rainfall during the summer, but otherwise it’s a pretty sure bet. Not so with the sweetgum, which has a large degree of variability not only from season to season but between one tree and another. A sweetgum with good color can rival any maple tree that you care to set against it, but the odds are fairly even that you could end up with a dud. I moved into my house early in the year and so had a good six months of anticipation to see how much of a “pillar of fire”(which a good sweetgum is often described as) I had inherited along with the house. Let’s just say that it ended up more resembling a candle in the wind. But I made excuses for it, rationalizing that I had only given it one season and after all I had probably disturbed the surface roots by clearing away the grass beneath it and creating a planting bed. The tree was in a corner and seemed to cry out for a planting of daylilies, hostas, and epimediums among other things.

A word to the wise: Do not EVER make the mistake of creating a planting bed anywhere near the Artillery Range of a sweetgum tree. Why? Because of the negative aspect of a sweetgum tree, which is very negative indeed: This tree produces the nastiest fruiting bodies that you will ever encounter.They are called “sweetgum balls” but in fact they look like a miniature version of the business end of a medieval mace. About the size of a golf ball, they are armed in every direction with spines which have the infuriating habit of grabbing everything they encounter. This is one of the plant kingdom’s best imitations of Velcro.

Because they are lightweight, they can be blown a fair distance in all directions from the tree rather than simply falling straight down in accordance with Newton’s Law. But once they come to rest, whether it be on one’s lawn or in nearby planting beds, they are determined to stay there.  If you try to rake them up, one of two things will happen. Actually both of them will happen because there will be so darn many of the miserable things. Some of them will lodge between the tines of your rake while the others will simply refuse to budge until you literally hack at them, cursing inventively all the while, in order to convince them to release their deathgrip on the grass. An alternate method of getting them mobile is to kick them individually with your foot and then rake them up. To add insult to injury, the sweetgum tree sheds these delightful little objects all year long and not just in the winter, although the largest crop is deposited during that season. Because they are hard, they are by no means a lawnmower’s best friend and so they need to be removed before mowing can commence. Trust me, your lawnmower blade has a better chance against a small branch than against these things. By the way, the sweetgum in my yard only somewhat approached pillar-of-fire status one year out of the past 10. Not the greatest track record and certainly not worth all those damn sweetgum balls.

RUBUS CALYCINOIDES ‘EMERALD CARPET’

You may see this perennial described as the ground cover in answer to many prayers. And on paper it does have an impressive list of supposedly positive attributes. It is evergreen; it has small, scalloped, highly textured leaves which are impervious to foot traffic; it has small single pure white flowers in early summer; it is a weed-smotherer par excellence; it will grow in pretty much any soil or sun conditions; it is impervious to pests and diseases; it spreads by runners and thus never needs to be divided. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? What they don’t tell you is that this plant has territorial ambitions that would make Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great look like shy shrinking violets. I had a difficult area along one side of my house wall and thought this would be the perfect solution. That was about five years ago. It behaved itself for about two years and then decided that it was hungry and needed to gobble up everything in its path. And although it is not a climbing plant, its runners began to investigate the underside of my exterior siding.

Another thing that the descriptions don’t tell you is that this plant is an absolute nightmare to remove if/when you want to get rid of it. After several fruitless attempts to cut into the ever spreading original planting which had already swallowed up my nearby Chocolate Garden (more on that in a future post), choked out the daylilies on the other side of the bed and was now invading the lawn, I resorted to chemical warfare. Even so, it took three separate heavy applications of Roundup to kill the surface growth sufficiently to let me cause my arms and back further damage by digging out the now-dead roots a few months later. If you have a few acres that you will never want to plant anything else in for the rest of your natural lifetime AND those of your grandchildren as well, you might risk planting this. (In idle moments I have wondered which plant would win in an invasiveness contest between this and bamboo. I think it would probably be a tossup.)

BISHOP’S WEED (Aegopodium podagraria)

You would think that the hybridizers would know better than to try to create a decorative garden plant from what is essentially a noxious weed. Admittedly, the variegated version of Bishops Weed is an attractive plant, with toothed leaves of clear true green bordered in white and eventually sporting umbels of white flowers resembling a miniature Queen Anne’s Lace. But it shrugs off difficult conditions of soil, light and moisture far too easily to be a safe resident in most gardens. It spreads both by runners and by seed which is always a dangerous combination. Give it a couple of seasons and it will betray the rampant territorial acquisitiveness acquired from its wild parent. Out of morbid curiosity I planted this along with two other supposed “thugs”, Vinca minor and a plain green mondo grass, in a narrow planting strip bordered on one side by a sidewalk and on the other by the roadway. I figured that unless any of these plants were able to colonize concrete, I would be safe as long as I didn’t allow them to set seed. Whoops. All it takes is a couple of those cute little Queen Anne’s lace flowers to broadcast its progeny far and wide. The only thing that seemed to stop it more or less in its tracks from spreading into the nearby lawn was the recent flooding of the property by Hurricane Sandy: it doesn’t seem overly fond of saltwater bathing. Even so, its two thug companions seem to have gotten the worst of their salty dunking compared to the Bishops Weed. As bishops go, this plant is very far from saintly!

In fairness, what is a villain in one garden may not be quite so in another. For example I have often seen Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) described as an invasive pest and yet this is the third garden in which I have been trying to get it even to attempt to establish even though I have given it the soil, moisture and light conditions which it supposedly prefers. After 10 years my original planting of a several dozen pips has just barely spread over an area approximately 2’ x 5’ wide. And in the other garden locations in which I tried it, the plantings rapidly dwindled into nothingness within the first four years. I can’t blame pests or other critters for their disappearance and can only assume that this is one of those plants that simply dislikes me personally. I will try it yet one more time in my next garden but if it still hates me then I will give it up for good.

Also in fairness, there is one member of the honeysuckle family which I suspect may not share the rampant invasiveness of its relatives – this is the winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, which I have had in my last two gardens.

As its name suggests, this plant has late winter flowers with the most delightful fragrance all the more welcome because of the time of year. In my Zone 7 garden and depending on temperature conditions, this is usually sometime anywhere from late February to the middle of March although in an exceptionally mild winter it has begun to bloom as early as the week before Valentine’s Day. It happens to be against a south facing house wall which I’m sure helps it along. But in any case it has not tried to take over the planting border, nor crawl underneath the siding nor invade the nearby lawn even though it does widen with age by suckering somewhat from the base. It will form a large shrub if left to its own devices but I always cut it back every April in order to neaten it up and to create denser growth with more blooms next winter. It does not have the long twining canes of most honeysuckles and so perhaps it might safely be planted among more well-behaved companions. My current shrub sits in the middle between a rose and a mock orange and thus obligingly starts off the gardening year early with a lovely scent wafting into the adjacent windows.  I would venture to say that this is the one white-hat good guy within that particular family of villains!

(Lonicera fragrantissima image from Curtis’ Botanical Magazine 1914; in public domain) 

Archived blog posts can be found here.

Click here to visit the ChatsworthVintage storefront on Etsy

Jewels That Play with Light: Cats and Tigers and Stars, Oh My!

The final instalment in our series on jewels that play with light examines three different gems that, while they do not change color, have a unique internal structure that allows light to produce interesting optical effects. Two of them, popularly known as cat’s eye and tigers eye, are well known. The third family of stones exhibit asterism, an effect that produces a star on the surface. Let’s look at the “feline” stones first.

CAT’S EYE

The only stone that can be properly described as being a cat’s eye is the variety of chrysoberyl known as cat’s eye cymophane. It is formed of beryllium aluminum oxide and appears as a relatively small percentage of the chrysoberyl stones. Although cymophane is often found in Brazil, Africa, and Madagascar the largest and best examples come from Sri Lanka. It is rated between 8 and 8.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness which means it can take a fairly high amount of abuse compared to some other stones often used in jewelry. The color range of cymophane runs from a golden honey color to a mint green, but the highest value colors are a rich gold. There are also stones as pale as yellow and as dark as brown. The usual size seen in the trade is somewhere between 0.10 carat and 3 carats, although there is an 85 carat stone on display in the Museum of Natural History in New York. That is one big cat!

The popular name of this stone is taken from the optical effect known as chatoyancy, a term derived from two French words: “chat” meaning cat and “oeil” meaning eye. This reflectance effect occurs because of very fine fibrous inclusions within the cymophane stone. When light hits these inclusions it creates a bright, visually almost white, stripe that appears and runs perpendicular to these internal inclusions. As either the stone or the light source is moved toward one side or the other this narrow white stripe appears to follow it. A stone that is cut as a cabochon oval particularly resembles an actual cats eye with the iris narrowing in response to the ambient light in which the animal finds itself. There is a legend in some Eastern countries that if one brings one of these stones out into the light of a full moon on a clear night, the light reflected by the stone could show you the way to a hidden treasure. Some others stones such as alexandrite, tourmaline and moonstone may occasionally exhibit something that appears to be the chatoyancy effect but the only stone in which it is produced in this particular way is cymophane. Sometimes these other stones are called cats eye but they are properly described differently than in the actual real cats eye which is always called (or should be) cats eye chrysoberyl. As you can imagine, this technicality often causes much confusion!

A particularly desirable attribute of some cymophane is what is called the “milk and honey” effect. When you direct the light source at one of these stones, one side of the cats eye stripe will be a milky whitish color while the other side of the stripe will remain gold. As the stone is moved in relation to the light source, these two colors will swap positions. This milk and honey effect is especially important in evaluating the overall quality of the stone.

Also, the thinner, straighter, and more contrasting the white stripe, the more valuable the stone in question. Some people prefer the green variety because the color is more similar to the actual eye color of many cats. However, the golden tones are more valued in the marketplace. It should be mentioned that there is no such thing as a transparent cats eye, and that the only cut that will produce the desired effect is a cabochon.

Some stones exhibiting less than optimal chatoyancy or color can be irradiated. Such a treatment can indeed bring the the color of a rather wishy-washy stone up to the desirable honey brown, and this particular practice was quite popular in the 1990s in the Asian jewelry market. A good stone, from Sri Lanka for example, should never need to be irradiated but if the stone has been treated it should always be disclosed to the potential buyer. Although cymophane is a relatively tough stone it should not be subjected to excessive heat, ultrasonic cleaners or steam jewelry cleaners. It is best cleaned using warm soapy water and perhaps a very soft brush if there is any dirt lodged in its setting. Make sure that it is thoroughly dry before putting it into its storage space.

There are a few other stones that are sometimes mistaken for or sold as true cats eye chrysoberyl, such as cats eye tourmaline, apatite and fibrolite which is also known as sillimanite. This last stone was discovered in the early 1800s in Connecticut and was named after an American chemist Benjamin Silliman; it’s alternate name comes from the fact that the interior looks like a bunch of fibers twisted together.

Cats eye quartz is also fairly commonly seen but does not deserve the technical appellation. In fact, it is one of these quartz stones that is discussed in the next section.

TIGER’S EYE

Tigers eye is also a chatoyant gemstone but the effect is not the same as that of cymophane. First of all, tigers eye is a quartz although some of the honey colored tigers eye stones are sometimes sold as the true cats eye cymophane, especially if the stone in question does not have significant banding. This banded effect of the lighter and darker areas is reminiscent of the striping on a tiger’s coat.

It is a popular stone for men’s jewelry as well as being often formed into beads for necklaces and earrings. It is a bit softer than cymophane, having a hardness of 7 as do most of its quartz family relatives. It has a silky luster and takes a nice high polish easily.

The greatest number of mines for this stone are located in Africa but it is also found in somewhat smaller quantities in India, Burma, China, Brazil, Canada and even the USA. It is often found near iron deposits. The technical name for the type of quartz that forms tiger’s eye is cryptocrystalline and indicates its very fibrous nature. The attractive and unique rutilated quartz ring shown below is a perfect example of how the interior of a stone can contain numerous parallel fibers.

Tigers eye comes in a fairly wide range of color but the most common is from golden to reddish brown often in a single stone.

There is a gray-blue variant which is known as Hawks Eye, and a multi color swirly variant from Africa known as Pietersite.

Buyers should be aware that there is a synthetic version of the typical banded variety of tigers eye made from plastic materials and even sometimes from a type of fiber optic glass.

 THE STAR STONES

A gemstone that exhibits the trait of asterism (from the Latin word for star) is sometimes referred to as a star stone. The two most commonly seen are star sapphire and star ruby. In order to produce the star effect on its surface, such a stone must be cut as a cabochon and even then it takes a very skilled cutter to bring out the best star on any individual gem. This asterism is caused by inclusions within the stone, just as chatoyancy is produced in cymophane, but in the case of the star the light is reflected in more than a single band or direction. As a result, any given stone may have as few as four rays in its star or in the case of some really spectacular gems as many as 12 rays – such stones are known as double stars because the most common number of rays is six.

Star Ruby

A ruby can be classified as a star ruby if when light hits the stone it produces a crisp clear star effect. Although in most gemstones the presence of inclusions is considered to be a detriment, in the star stones this actually is an advantage because otherwise this unique effect would not appear. A star ruby of fine quality overall may be worth more than a ruby that does not have the required inclusions to produce this effect.

The Smithsonian Institute houses an extremely large and fine quality star ruby weighing 137 carats. However, the world’s largest star ruby is the Rajaratna, weighing 2475 carats. But perhaps the most amazing star ruby of all is the famous Neelanjali Ruby which is known as a double star ruby because it has a 12 pointed star; it weighs in at an impressive 1370 carats. Although such wondrous specimens do exist, nowadays most star rubies today are synthetic stones rather than natural ones.

Star Sapphire

Most people are more familiar with star sapphire than with its cousin the star ruby. Star sapphires usually display a three ray star which produces six individual points. Just as with the rubies of this type, these stones are always cut in a cabochon. Star sapphires are most often found in shades of blue, but there is a type that is sometimes called a black star sapphire which in reality is an extremely dark brown or very dark green when closely inspected. Although sapphires in nature also occur in orange, yellow and pink, it is rare to find these colors with asterism. Natural star sapphires are hardly ever treated to enhance or change their color, because the application of heat carries a high risk of destroying the internal inclusions of rutile that produce the star effect. In any case, the most typical sapphire blue color of the natural stone is usually the one most desired in the star versions as well.

In 1947 the Linde company patented a process to produce star sapphires in a laboratory. These stones became extremely popular and back in my high school days I was very proud of a Linde star ring of my own. Unfortunately it was lost over the years but it was one of my favorite pieces of jewelry as a teenager. They were extremely well-made and many of these synthetic star sapphires were and still are mistakenly sold or regarded today as natural stones. However, there are a few ways to check on whether a given blue star sapphire is a natural or a synthetic stone made by Linde.

First, look at the bottom of the stone if it is visible with in its setting; if there is a capital L on the stone then it is a Linde star. You will probably need a magnifier of at least 10 X to see it, especially if the stone is not a large one. The next thing is to look critically at it for imperfections. In the case of the Linde stars, the stone will probably appear too perfect to be true. The underside of the Linde stones are almost always perfectly smooth and even, which does not always occur with a natural stone even with the best cutter and polisher. But you may not be able to see the underside and so the next thing to look at is the star, using a flashlight or other strong concentrated source of light to examine it. Are all of the rays of the star absolutely consistent in their length, thickness and straightness? If so, it is probably a synthetic stone because Nature is rarely that precise. But just to make sure, try moving your light source around the stone in a circular motion. In a natural star sapphire, the star itself will shift to almost follow the source of the light. A synthetic star will stay at the top center of the stone with a little or no shift of position of the star’s rays. If you are still uncertain and the price of the stone warrants it, you can take it to a jeweler for a professional gem testing which will tell you whether or not the stone in question is corundum (sapphire) or not. If I recall correctly, Linde also produced a black star sapphire as well as their trademark blue.

Occasionally some other gems can exhibit an unexpected degree of asterism. This trait has been found in quartz, sunstone, aquamarine, blue topaz, spinel and quite a few others. A very interesting collectors forum gallery of such unusual star gems may be found on this page of the gemologyonline.com site.

Whether your taste runs to cats, tigers or stars there is sure to be just the right stone for you among the jewels that play with light!

 Many thanks to the Etsy sellers who kindly gave permission for me to use their photographs to illustrate this article; each of those images is a live link to that item’s listing.

Archived blog posts can be found here.

Click here to visit the ChatsworthVintage storefront on Etsy

Jewels That Play With Light: Amazing Alexandrite

By far the rarest of all the “jewels that play with light” is alexandrite. Despite the fact that it is the precious birthstone for June as well as for a 55th wedding anniversary, it is not well known by the public. It may surprise many people to learn that this gem can be far more expensive per carat than diamonds.… that is, if it is indeed the original old-mine alexandrite that one is talking about. So what exactly is alexandrite, anyway?

THE FAMILY

Alexandrite belongs to the chrysoberyl family of gems, of which there are three varieties: the typical chrysoberyl usually seen in shades of yellow to light green; cymophane which is commonly known as cat’s eye; and alexandrite which is the only one of the family that exhibits a definite color change. However, unlike opal and moonstone whose change in appearance is dependent upon the angle of view of the person seeing the gem, alexandrite’s color change is dependent upon the type of ambient light – whether it is daylight or artificial.

A quick look at how chrysoberyl is formed helps to explain how this effect occurs. The subterranean magma that ultimately forms chrysoberyl has a larger percentage of water in it and also has a higher concentration of rare elements; if one of those elements happens to be beryllium crystals then either beryl or chrysoberyl are likely to form. Confusingly, beryls and chrysoberyls are entirely different gem families – we can blame the gurus of mineral and gem naming for that one!

So if all three types of chrysoberyl contain beryllium, why don’t they all behave like alexandrite? The difference lies in the amounts of yet another element – which in this case is chromium in alexandrite, versus iron in ordinary chrysoberyl and cat’s eye. Of course Mother Nature does not always do things in a precise scientific manner and so sometimes a slight color change may be observed in an ordinary chrysoberyl, leading it to be incorrectly classified as alexandrite; however, examination will show that a chrysoberyl will not florescence under a UV light, whereas alexandrite will do so.

THE DISCOVERY

There are a few different stories about the discovery of alexandrite but all pretty much agreed that it was first found in 1830 in the Ural Mountains of Russia. It was officially named in 1839, from the Imperial Russian military colors of red and green which were the actual colors that the stone exhibited according to the ambient light in which they were first viewed. You can imagine that this new gem was seized on with delight by the Russian aristocracy and jewelers – and that furious mining proceeded apace!

An interesting theory has been proposed about the portraits, shown below, of Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, which were painted in the mid 1830s.  One portrait shows her jewels as being all red, another painting shows them as being all green, and the third one shows them as several of each color!  The theory (which can be found here -scroll down a bit for the English translation) states that the gems are actually alexandrite rather than being either rubies or emeralds; interesting and actually possible, given the fairly recent discovery and naming of alexandrite.

As you can also imagine, by the late 19th century the stone was pretty much almost entirely “mined out” at its original locations. This is why all examples of the true, original, fine Russian alexandrite are now only found in (or taken from) antique pieces or long-standing collections spanning multiple generations.

THE COLOR CHANGE

The simplest description of the color change seen in alexandrite is that it appears green in daylight but red under artificial light. However, such a description does not give any idea of the wide range in color variation this gem can exhibit. When people see a natural alexandrite they may even be disappointed in what they perceive as its dull coloration because it might seem like some shade of not-very-exciting green and they may well wonder what all the fuss is about! In fact you may think at first look that the stone is rather boring but nothing could be further from the truth. The secret lies in the type of lighting in which the stone is viewed, as well as the natural structure of the human eye.

The color change between red and green in alexandrite depends on the color spectrum of the rays of light that strike it. This change is called pleochroism, and stones that exhibit it are termed pleochroic. Examples of light sources that contain a larger amount of red are candlelight and incandescent light. Natural daylight contains more blue. We see this effect every day in our homes when we go into a room with painted walls illuminated only by the light coming in through the windows, and then go into the same room at night and turn on a light fixture that contains an incandescent bulb: That same wall paint color now has a distinctly warmer or more yellowish tone, especially in the areas closest to the light fixture. The perceived change in paint color is due to the fact that incandescent bulbs emit light that contains more red and/or yellow rays – and is why the popular Reveal light bulbs, which have a special blue coating to neutralize the “warm” light coming from their incandescent filaments, are rightly advertised as maintaining the true color of the room surroundings when the light is turned on.

But how does the human eye itself come into all this? And if natural daylight contains more blue than red, then why do we not see alexandrite (in daylight) as being mostly blue? It is because the human eye is more sensitive to the green color wavelength than it is to either blue or red. The two colors most predominant in natural daylight are blue and green, whereas other types of light are higher in red. Alexandrite itself reflects both green and red light predominantly, with a smaller percentage of blue… Thus, when a stone is placed in daylight it has a higher proportion of green (and some blue) to reflect, but when it is exposed to candle or other artificial light which has a greater red component the stone will now reflect more red to our eyes. This tug-of-war between the blue and red ends of the spectrum in human vision is why flowers in shades of pink and blue are so notoriously difficult to reproduce in photographs exactly as they appear to the human eye in real life. It is almost impossible for any photographic medium to exactly duplicate the action of the human eye and brain when it comes to these two wavelengths.  Certain stones in shades of green that have a secondary blue component (chrysoprase for example) can easily cause a photographer to invent extremely creative combinations of words when she views the resulting picture (speaking from personal experience here! LOL)

In a perfect world, a natural alexandrite should look green or blue-green in daylight or under a “daylight” flourescent bulb (remember, daylight is predominately green and blue) and then appear as a rich ruby red or purplish red under incandescent, mixed artificial, or candle light; the colors should be intense or at least relatively vivid instead of being washed out and weak looking. It is said that the modern era alexandrites from Brazil often perform best as far as color change percentage. In the best stones the change of color should be uniform and fairly complete over the entire stone; those that have sections in which one color seems to predominate over the other while both are visible are known as having ‘color bleed’ and while this is fairly common it also does reduce the overall value and price of the stone. A more realistic evaluation of a very good quality natural alexandrite would be to say that it could be blue-green, emerald green, or even a dark teal color in daylight and would change to a purple-red, garnet-red or ruby-red under artificial light.… keeping in mind that it is perhaps not realistic to expect most modern stones to look equally good under both kinds of light.

The one of a kind engagement ring below exhibits a nice rich consistent blue-ish green daylight color.

If I were buying a piece of alexandrite jewelry I would think about under what type of lighting conditions I would be most likely to wear it: If primarily in daylight or under “daylight fluorescent” lighting, I would look for a stone that exhibits the best color under those conditions but if I knew I would be wearing it mainly under incandescent or mixed artificial lighting (such as when going out for dinner) I would probably opt for a stone that looks best in that environment.

THE SOURCES

When the original Russian alexandrite mines were finally depleted in the late 1800s, it was thought that this might literally become a “lost gem” but then in 1987 alexandrites were discovered at a place called Hematitia in Brazil. They exhibited good color and color change although neither as strongly as the old Russian stones did. It is a fact of life that no stones from any other location exhibit all of the wondrous qualities of the original 1800s Russian gems.  During the last several decades alexandrite has been mined in such disparate locations as Ceylon/Sri Lanka, southern Tanzania, India, Burma, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. The stone in the ring shown below comes from Madagascar.

Each location has its characteristic pros and cons as far as the appearance of the stones; for instance most stones from Sri Lanka have a good green level of color in daylight but are at best a brownish red in artificial light.

Nowadays most newly mined alexandrite comes from India and in particular there is a mine dating from 2005 located in the town of Narsipattnanm that produces stones with good clarity and color and of a slightly larger size – however the majority of the stones from India show only a moderate color change. A notable exception were the stones that came from the Samunda mine which sadly closed in the early 2000s after only a few years of production; these stones had a beautiful bluish green color in daylight and dramatically changed to a deep plum-red-purple under incandescent. An unusual property of some of the stones from Brazil and also the mines near Araku in India is a cat’s eye effect similar to that of one of alexandrite’s “sister” stones in the chrysoberyl family.

QUALITY, VALUE AND COST

Alexandrite is one of the hardest stones, rating 8.5 on the MOHS scale which means that the only two stones harder than alexandrite are corundum and diamond! In the case of alexandrite the two important C’s are color and clarity. Naturally, the closer the colors approximate pure green and pure red the higher the value; another color consideration is the percentage of color change. The official color change percentage rates were set by the American Gem Lab and state that a stone in which all of the facets completely change color is considered to have a 100% color change; if only half of the facets change, that stone would have a 50% color change… etc. etc. Alexandrite with a 90% or higher color change is typically considered fine or gem quality. It is easy to see how the color change of any given stone will be highly influenced by the lighting under which it is examined by the buyer and the seller – a stone that might have looked emerald green under the precisely calibrated daylight fluorescent lighting in a jewelers shop environment will not look as vivid a green when the buyer gets home and looks at it in her living room while standing in front of a window. Thus a clear understanding of how much (which is in fact considerable) the ambient light will affect the appearance of an alexandrite is critical in order to avoid disappointment.

Clarity also comes into play but for most people it takes second place to the color properties of a stone. Within the GIA grading system alexandrite is considered to be a Type II which means that inclusions are expected.

Due to its rarity, the market prices of fine gem quality natural alexandrite are sure to bring on acute sticker shock in all but the most well-heeled of purchasers. As a ballpark example, for a faceted (cut and finished) alexandrite weighing anywhere from 1/2 to 1 carat and exhibiting the most intense colors and color change properties one would expect to pay from $5000-$15,000 per carat; the same stone weighing over 1 carat could sell for as much as $100,000 per carat depending on its actual size and other properties. The same stone with a less desirable color change or intensity might range from $3000-$9000 per carat if one carat or less, and as much as $70,000 per carat for a larger stone. One with a color intensity or change classified as weak would be in the relatively affordable range of $100-$1000 per carat… still not exactly the sort of thing you might be likely to add to the office holiday grab bag items!

The 1.73ct Brazilian alexandrite and Madagascar ruby ring shown below was put up for auction in 2010 with a pre-sale estimate of approximately $10,000.

It should be mentioned that most alexandrites tend to be of one carat or less in weight. The old Russian stones tended to top out at about 30 carats max, and were typically no more than 5 carats.

CONFUSING LOOK-ALIKES, SYNTHETICS, and IMITATIONS

You’ve probably noticed that I have used the adjective “natural” many times when discussing alexandrite in the sections above, and that was deliberate because there are quite a few stones that look or act like – and thus may be either mistaken for or deliberately sold as – the real deal. Let’s take a look at the natural stone look-alikes first.

Color Change Sapphire: Some sapphires from Tanzania exhibit a visual color change similar to that seen in true alexandrite. The most common appearance is a sort of brownish green in daylight and red under incandescent; for this reason, these particular stones are often called “alex type sapphires” in the trade. They are attractive stones and interesting, especially if one understands that what they are buying is a sapphire rather than an alexandrite. There are actually two different color change categories of this kind of sapphire: the green to red type, which is the one properly called an alex type sapphire, and also a blue to violet or purple type.

Color Change Spinel: These stones are currrently found in mines in Sri Lanka in relatively small quantities. There are two slightly different categories of color change in this stone: either from violet or blue-purple in daylight to a sort of violet-red under artificial lighting, or from the violet/blue-purple in daylight to a truer blue under artificial lights. In either case some level of blue is always present, which means that the color change is not really the typical alexandrite type spectral opposite of red-to-green. The pair of earrings shown below exhibit nice deep blue and purple tones in the respective ambient lightings.

Andalusite: This is another African-origin stone that is sometimes called the “poor man’s alexandrite” because it does exhibit a type of color change although not to the extent or intensity of alexandrite. Confusion often results because true alexandrite is also mined in some locations in Africa.

Color Change Garnet: The best natural stone approximation of alexandrite, and often worth acquiring in its own right, is natural color change garnet. Many of the best of these stones are from southern Madagascar and often the colors are quite rich and vivid. This is an unusual garnet because although both the red and green (known as demantoid) garnets are known in the trade, it is not that often that one finds a stone that can exhibit each color under specific lighting.

The apple shaped pendant below offers nice deep color under either kind of lighting.

However, color change garnet is not always limited to only green and red.  This very unusual stone, mined in Africa, has a daylight color of teal blue instead of green; in artificial light it appears a fuschia-red.

Color Change Chrysoberyl: An article published in 1994 by Mr. Ron Campbell of the Central Coast Gem Laboratory and entitled “The Misconception and Erroneous Marketing of Alexandrite versus Color Change Chrysoberyl” mentions an “influx of” this type of stone from mines in South America, East Africa and Sri Lanka and that such stones were being marketed and priced as true alexandrite. His short but excellent article, a copy of which may be found online at http://www.gemsociety.org/info/igem13.htm , includes a very detailed but easy to read specific color shift chart for alexandrite, for purposes of comparison with other similar appearing stones. It is well worth reading if you are at all interested in alexandrite and wish to protect yourself against buying something that may look similar but is not the the real thing.

Synthetic Alexandrite

Synthetic gemstones are nothing new; the process dates back over 100 years. A synthetic stone is manmade but has the same appearance, chemical formula and crystal structure as the true gemstone that it is intended to imitate; a simulated or faux gemstone may look like the natural stone but does not have any of the chemical or internal physical properties of the real one.

Synthetic alexandrite can be created by one of two different methods, both of which are properly and correctly described as lab created or lab grown alexandrite. One method is called “flux”, and the other “Czochralski” after its Polish inventor in the early 1900s.  These stones have a color change very similar to natural alexandrite.  Microscopic examination may reveal inclusions or bubbles depending on the method that was used to “grow” the synthetic crystal.  The synthetic process not only produces alexandrites, but also similar stones such as corundum, ruby and sapphire. 

One thing to be aware of when shopping for a lab grown alexandrite is the use of the term “Russian Czochralski alexandrite”. As you now know, Czochralski in a description is a clear indication that it is a lab grown stone; however, to the uninitiated the word “Russian” might give the impression that it is a natural stone mined in Russia.  A reputable seller will always clearly disclose the fact that the stone was created in a laboratory rather than being a natural gem taken from the ground.

A good laboratory can produce synthetic alexandrite that is extremely difficult to differentiate from a natural stone. These stones will also command premium prices.  Many are fully worthy to be set in metals such as platinum and accented with diamonds, such as in this dramatic engagement ring.

To increase the general confusion (as if there wasn’t enough already) many gemstones that are described in the trade as lab grown alexandrites are in fact lab grown corundum infused with vanadium which enables the color change effect.  The typical daylight color of these corundum based stones tends to be either purple or purple mauve. Vanadium-infused corundum is often available in large size stones rather than the more typical lab-alexandrite size of 1 to 2 carats.

Many synthetic alexandrites were sold to tourists in Mexico and the Middle East in the 1940s; as a result many of them have been inherited by baby boomers from parents or grandparents and the heir often mistakenly assumes (simply because of the age of the jewelry) that these are natural alexandrites even though they are in fact lab created stones.

Imitation Alexandrite

Two forms of popular faux “alexandrite” are rhinestones and glass beads.  Swarovski produces a deep lavender crystal rhinestone which they market as their Alexandrite color, and some of the lilac tinted rhinestones produced in Eastern Europe are called alexandrite rhinestones.  They are very attractive but of course do not have the color change property of the actual gemstone.

The bracelet below exhibits the typical fiery sparkle and brilliant refraction of the Swarovski ‘alexandrite’ rhinestones.

Czechoslovakia-made glass beads are found in the alexandrite color category of lilac to purple.  Again, as in the case of the rhinestones, the word is being used only to reference a color and somewhere in the item description there will be an indication that the beads are made of glass rather than being a natural, mined stone. Alexandrite colored glass beads are available in multiple forms and shapes to suit almost any project in jewelry making.

Due to its extreme rarity, the original Russian mined alexandrites will probably always be the most mysterious and elusive of the jewels that play with light.…  as well as the most expensive!  :-)

Many thanks to the Etsy sellers who kindly gave permission for me to use their photographs to illustrate this article; each of those images is a live link to that item’s listing.

Archived blog posts can be found here

Click here to visit the ChatsworthVintage storefront on Etsy

Blog Status Update

Just a brief apology for the long hiatus between blog posts. Unfortunately I have been unable to use the computer for a number of weeks, and even at this point my time online is still drastically limited; however I do plan to continue the Chatsworth blog, and the next post will be the third in the Jewels That Play With Light series.… Hopefully in the not too distant future! Thanks so much for your patience in the meanwhile. :-)

Jewels That Play With Light: Mysterious Moonstone, Luminous Labradorite and Scintillating Sunstone

Second in our series on jewels that play with light is the mysterious moonstone, along with its two “sisters” labradorite and sunstone. All three are feldspar stones, a family that comprises about 60% of all minerals found on earth. A shared characteristic of all the feldspars is that their internal structure is crystalline. It’s this crystalline structure that allows a very select few of them to display an active and beautiful interplay of light and color.

MYSTERIOUS MOONSTONE

The moonstone has been known and loved since very ancient times. The Romans thought it was composed of frozen moonlight and it has been found in Roman jewelry dating as far back as 100 A.D. Both the Romans and Greeks associated it with their moon goddess. Some Asian cultures believed that moonstones contain a live spirit whose ghostly movements were seen within. In India they are often called “dream stones” and tradition has it that wearing a moonstone to bed or placing one beneath a pillow will bring beautiful dreams. During the Edwardian and Art Nouveau periods it was extensively used in jewelry.

The chemical composition of true moonstone is potassium aluminosilicate (potassium, aluminum and silica) and it is classified as an orthoclase feldspar. If you look at a moonstone through a high powered microscope you will see that its internal structure is made of tiny crystal platelets arranged in layers. Distributed within these layers there are also inclusions of tiny platelets of sodium feldspar. Since the body of a moonstone is either colorless or highly translucent, light travels into its interior and thus inevitably strikes some of those tiny platelets of the sodium material. When that happens, the light is then directed back outward instead of passing completely through the stone. The scientific name for this bouncing-back action is schiller. Depending on the precise color of the body of the stone, its precise chemical composition and the thickness and depth of the layers, the visible color of the schiller may be either white or blue. Blue is the most prized, and the darker shades most of all. As the stone is moved, the blue sheen appears to shift and float within the interior of the stone (much like the behavior of precious opal) as the light interacts with the inclusions inside. This specific play of light and color within a moonstone is called adularescence. 

Moonstones are graded and priced according to their body color, internal clarity, the color depth of the blue sheen, and of course size as well. Because adularescence is a result of interaction with light, it is very important that moonstones be cut so as to maximize its effect. An incorrect cut can greatly impair or even destroy a stone’s adularescence. The optimal cut for a moonstone is a high domed cabochon which is why the great majority of moonstones are cut in this shape (either round or oval). Skilled cutters can also facet a stone in order to enhance the schiller effect if its internal structure needs a bit of extra help to show at its best.  Stones that display a white sheen (or extremely pale blue)  are often carved into “man in the moon” faces.

Moonstone always shows to its best advantage when worn or displayed against black; much like the effect of an opal doublet, a dark background enhances the intensity of other colors within a light-colored translucent or transparent stone.

The colorplay of moonstone is not always limited to just the blue shades; flashes of yellow, gold, and even aqua may also be present, as can be seen in the two earrings below. The pear shaped stones have been cut in the same way but the “internal color scheme” of each is quite different.

The most sought-after moonstones (nearly transparent and with a decided blue sheen) usually come from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Moonstone is also mined in Myanmar (formerly Burma), South America, Madagascar, and India. The earliest commercial mines were located in the Adula mountain range in Switzerland… whence came the name for its characteristic sheen, adularescence.

Moonstone and its close relatives fall between 6 and 6.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, which makes it a relatively soft stone (a fact that enables it to be carved as well as faceted). This also means that the best cleaning method is to simply buff it with a soft cloth. Moonstone is an alternate birthstone for June and the traditional jewelry stone for a thirteenth wedding anniversary.

There is no current chemical or irradiating treatment to enhance the internal color play of a moonstone; however, if you see an extremely bright or deep blue moonstone at a too-good-to-be-true price, that stone may have been surface-coated.

Faux Moonstone

Moonstone has been imitated in glass, acrylic and rhinestones, although glass definitely does the best job of it!  Although the overall effect is similar to that of fine natural blue moonstone visually, it is easily differentiated by the fact that the blue shimmer does not vary much with a change of viewing angle. It also does not appear to shift and move within the glass stone itself. The effect is hard to describe in words but is immediately apparent when a true and faux moonstone are held side by side. Nevertheless a well-made crystal glass faux moonstone is often a very attractive  piece of jewelry indeed, as evidenced by the vintage necklace below.

These frosty blue glass faux moonstones were created as domed rectangular cabochons.

This vintage Corocraft brooch combines faux moonstones with a Lucite “ruby” cabochon; clear and blue rhinestones simulate diamonds and sapphires.

The type of Lucite (acrylic plastic) known as “moonglow” was also made in a pale blue color and is sometimes referred to as “faux moonstone” or “moonstone Lucite”. These were often produced in cabochon shapes. Although they do have a characteristic satiny surface effect their appearance does not really change in response to light and so they are best appreciated for their soft, pretty pastel-blue color and attractive sheen, as in this vintage moonglow Lucite necklace.

Certain aurora-borealis rhinestones are sometimes called “moonglow rhinestones” if their surface coating contains a decided blue tint.

LUMINOUS LABRADORITE

If I wasn’t trying to be alliterative I would title this section “Confusing Labradorite” – because not only is labradorite often confused with moonstone, there is also confusion within the different types of labradorite! So it’s best to start by explaining how labradorite differs from moonstone.

Unlike moonstone, one of the main chemicals found in labradorite is not potassium but calcium. The action of light striking internal layered inclusions (of ilmenite, in this type of stone) and being bounced outward is similar, but because of the chemical differences in labradorite  – which usually has a brownish grey body color – the color effect is different and so is the name it is given: labradorescence. Labradorite is classified as a plagioclase and “calcium sodium” feldspar; moonstone is an orthoclase and “potassium sodium” feldspar. This is why moonstone and labradorite are “sister” stones… they are in the same family (feldspar) but gemologically they are different. Moonstone is moonstone, and labradorite is labradorite.

As you probably have guessed, labradorite was first discovered in Labrador. The Eskimos have a legend that when the world was young the Northern Lights were imprisoned in the rocks along the Labrador coastline. One day a mighty Eskimo warrior was walking along and heard a mysterious sound coming from the rocks, as if someone were calling for help. He struck a rock with his spear as hard as he could and split it in two, allowing the beautiful colored lights inside it to rush upward into the sky. He freed as many of the lights as he could, but could not break every one of the stones. The stones that he was unable to break were destined to forever entrap the “lights” within, which we see today in the shifting color sheen of labradorite.

The pendant below exhibits shades of green with a ‘splash’ of blue.

This circular labradorite pendant suspended from a necklace of faceted labradorite beads displays tints of silvery blue highlighted with dramatic black.

The grayish green body color of this pear shaped labradorite exhibits a central blue schiller in response to light.

Labradorite is also found in other places than Canada. The stones from Madagascar have inclusions that can produce a yellow, green, or bluish sheen; but the most beautiful type of labradorite was discovered in Finland in the 1940s.

Spectrolite (sometimes misspelled Spectralite)

This rarest and naturally most expensive variety of labradorite is mined in Finland and no matter how you spell the name, it’s quite dramatic. It is the only variety of labradorite in which fine specimens are considered to be of true gem quality. The body color appears as a transparent to highly translucent dark grey and the flashes of iridescent color produced within it are intense hues which can range from golden yellow to bright blue to turquoise/aqua to greens through orange to red – literally all the colors of the spectrum, hence its name. The most prized color in spectrolite is purple – and the deeper the better! It is the closest in the feldspar family to the opal in ‘color special-effects’. Some dealers refer to it as “black moonstone” because of the deep body color but of course that attribution is incorrect.

It’s important to be aware that true, genuine spectrolite is found only in Finland. There is a variety of labradorite that is mined in Madagascar which has richer colors than stones found elsewhere, and these stones may be sold as “spectrolite” because of the general resemblance. However, the genuine stone is mined only in Finland and excellent specimens are becoming harder and harder to find. The rich royal-purple stones below are true (Finnish) spectrolite.

This teardrop-shaped Finnish stone shows green striations so bright that they are almost chartreuse!

This interesting stone, also from Finland, displays a combination of teal, gold, orange and brown – perfect for use in creating a piece of jewelry to coordinate with the colors of autumn.

Unlike labradorite from all other regions (except one) the color play in spectrolite doesn’t result from light bouncing off inclusions, but instead from light reflecting from intersecting crystal planes inside the stone (rather like being in one of those carnival ‘mirror mazes’ on a microscopic and multicolored scale!). The one other kind of labradorite that plays with light in this specific way is also the type that has caused the most mis-identification:

“Rainbow Moonstone”

Now here is where things get doubly confusing! The stone commonly called “rainbow moonstone” or “blue rainbow moonstone” in the trade is neither a true moonstone nor quite the same as the types of labradorite we’ve just looked at. In fact it is a fairly recent discovery on the overall timescale of gemstones.

During the 1960s a new stone was discovered in a small mining area in southern India. It was definitely a feldspar with many characteristics of labradorite but also some significant differences. For one thing, the body color is very light – quite similar to that of true moonstone – because these newfound stones do not contain ilmenite which is the mineral that gives labradorite its darker color. So in “base color” these new Indian stones do resemble true moonstones. However…its internal structure is very like that of spectrolite labradorite, which means the color effects can be wide-ranging. Some stones display a blue sheen (the darkest of which is called “royal blue”); others display either as a multicolor (which the retail jewelry trade has dubbed “rainbow”) or as “rainbow” with blue being the predominating color (known as “blue rainbow”). These descriptive phrases were coined by the trade shortly after the stones were discovered, and they have stuck firmly ever since and are now widespread. But are these stones truly moonstones, as their commercial names imply?

Not according to Dr. Henry Hänni of the Swiss Gemmological Institute, they aren’t. Dr. Hänni was the first to publish the chemistry and formal identification of these new Indian labradorite stones, so he is definitely the top authority in this instance and he has stated: “People who use the term ‘labradorite moonstone’ or ‘rainbow moonstone’ are on a ‘red emerald’ track. The historical and global agreement of the term ‘moonstone’ is used only for orthoclase. Labradorite is not a moonstone….. There is no reason – except commercial – to call labradorite a moonstone; it’s confusing, and incorrect.” So there you have it: Not only is there no such thing as a “labradorite moonstone” (it’s either one or the other!) but the stones described as “rainbow moonstone” are technically “rainbow labradorite”. It was perhaps inevitable that the early dealers would create a connection to the more familiar (moonstone) gem, based on the new stone’s appearance – it does look more like moonstone than labradorite – and of course marketing is key in the industry …. as evidenced by the ever-growing list of “designer” diamond cuts!. This is not to denigrate the extremely attractive rainbow labradorites – far from it! – but simply to make clear that despite their description in the jewelry trade they are not true moonstones.

The ring below is an example of a blue rainbow stone, which shows off very nicely set in silver.

This lovely round cabochon flashes shades of blue, teal and coppery gold; the artisan has created a hammered copper flower for its setting which perfectly complements the similar colors within the stone.

In the very early days of the discovery of these particular labradorites, some dealers incorrectly called the more transparent ones “water opals” (as if the term doesn’t already cause enough confusion over there in the opal world???!)  because of their body color and multi-hued sheen. Thankfully the use of this particular misnomer died out, quite possibly due to pushback from sellers of the true ‘water opal’, properly known as hyalite. (If you would like to learn more about these and other opals, see the archived blog entry here.)

Another term for the unique iridescent effect that this family of stones produces is peristerescence (pronounced pear-iss-ter-essence) or alternately, peristerism. The word derives from the Greek word “peristera” which means pigeon… a bird whose neck feathers flash iridescent hues as they walk along gently bobbing their heads.

It should also be mentioned that not all moonstones and labradorites exhibit noticeable schiller; some have very little or even none at all. The effect depends entirely upon the internal structure of each stone and of course how they are cut as well. Stones that are very small and/or exhibit little or no schiller are often made into beads.

SCINTILLATING SUNSTONE

Although a gemologist would take me to task for not including these in the labradorite section, I believe that the sunstones (sometimes called heliolite, from the Greek god of the sun, Helios) are sufficiently different in appearance to warrant a section of their own.  Sunstones are a plagioclase feldspar which places them firmly into the labradorite group but they certainly would never be confused with their “cool”-appearing sisters.

In the case of sunstone, the internal inclusions that produce schiller are of a metallic nature. This causes the resulting sheen to have a noticeably spangled effect which is extremely pretty. As with any metallic, the brilliance of the sparkle depends greatly on the exact angle and intensity of the light; readers old enough to remember the wildly popular “heavy metalflake” custom car paint jobs will know exactly what I mean! The particular metal found within sunstone is copper, and the actual colors that any individual sunstone produces will depend on the percentage of copper in that particular stone. Although this unique metallic component makes all sunstones attractive, one particular variety stands out from the rest.

The specific type of sunstone found in Oregon and neighboring regions is commonly called Oregon Sunstone in the trade. Its typical body color is transparent to highly translucent; in fact sometimes at first glance the viewer may be disappointed at the apparent lack of “color interest”. But as the stone is turned at different angles there will suddently appear sparkling flashes of color reminiscent of glittering champagne bubbles. A property of Oregon sunstone is that its schiller tends to be more concentrated in the center of the stone and thus the color-spangles effect is more intense there, gradually diminishing as it moves outward in a sort of starry fireworks effect. The photo of this round brilliant-cut sunstone captures the effect beautifully.

In order to take advantage of Oregon sunstone’s exceptional clarity and unique metallic flash, it is often cut as a faceted gem rather than the more typical domed cabochons of moonstones and other labradorites. This rich deep orange-red sunstone makes a simple but dramatic 14k gold ring.

This deliciously peach-hued sunstone has been set in a pendant with a freshwater pearl.

Sunstone is not limited only to the warm-colors range, as can be seen in this soft sage green stone set in a cool sterling silver pendant.

The best way to describe the difference between the color effects of sunstone vs. its sisters moonstone and labradorite is to describe the first has having a “sparkly shimmer” and the other two as having a “satiny shimmer”. It is not unusual for stones to be quite large, sometimes several inches wide.  Oregon is justly proud of its resource and has made it the official state gemstone.

Perhaps some enterprising jewelry designer will one day create a line of “sunlight and moonlight” jewelry featuring sunstones and moonstones combined in a pendant, brooch or ring! :-)

My sincere thanks to the Etsy sellers who graciously gave permission for me to use their photographs to illustrate this article; each of those images is a live link to that item. Thanks also to Wm. Mazza Fine Jewelry for lending me several of their lovely earrings to photograph and for the link to their website.

** Coming soon: The third in our series of Jewels That Play with Light **

Archived blog posts can be found here

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Vintage Featherweight Celluloid Earrings, Identification Update!

In my blog post of June 29, 2012 about vintage Featherweight, Featherlite, Bubbleite circa-late 1940s/1950s jewelry (  http://chatsworthvintage.tumblr.com/post/26183704372/vintage-celluloid-jewelry-featherlite-featherweight )  I discussed the various brand names found within this genre. However, I recently discovered that a number of online sellers are attributing certain clip back earrings in this style (both with and without rhinestone and/or faux pearl enhancements) as being produced by or for Coro. These earrings (an example of which is illustrated below and will shortly be available at Chatsworth) are all signed “Featherweights” on the clipbacks.

Upon contacting each of the sellers to ask if they could direct me to a published source for this connection, they all told me that they had obtained the information from another online seller’s listing and had not personally encountered any reference book or vintage advertisement linking these items to Coro. That was enough of a red flag to make me embark on a mission to try to answer the question “Coro or not?” for these items bearing this mark.

An exhaustive online search turned up no connection between “Featherweights” earrings and Coro other than a number of extremely similar online seller listing descriptions. The vintage jewelry makers’ mark database maintained by the experts at RCJ (Researching Costume Jewelry) likewise does not list Featherweights as an associated mark or name for Coro in their page devoted to that maker. Neither did any other book or online list that I could find. Hmmmmm….

When I directly enlisted the help of Pat and Dot at RCJ, they checked their official US trademarked names list and the only entry for a “Featherweights” mark is a company called Florida Featherweights (1966-1984)… much later than the circa-1940s/50s mark on the earrings. And the Florida Featherweights mark is completely different from the one on the earrings discussed here and in my other blog post; it is a script mark on a rising curve, whereas the one on our late 1940s-mid 1950s earring clipbacks is in simple block letters. The database also mentions that a flamingo is part of the registered Florida Featherweights mark.

One database did claim that the “Featherweights” mark (which was not illustrated) associated with a flamingo was used by the Greenbaum Novelty Company of New York, from 1947 onwards. Obviously this is a mis-attribution of the Florida Featherweights mark.

Adding to the general confusion is the fact that Greenbaum DID in fact produce items during the late 1940s to mid 1950s in celluloid, in floral motifs, in a lightweight celluloid material. They were most noted for their celluloid belt buckles which were signed on the metal hardware “Greenbaum”. They made brooches to match some of their buckle designs but the brooches were not signed. It is possible that they also made earrings as well, but because they did not put their mark on the actual material but only on metal findings large enough to accommodate them, they would not have signed any necklaces or screwback earrings that they made. Whether they did produce clipback earrings that were signed (and whether they were signed “Greenbaum” or something else entirely!) is anyone’s guess. I will say though that the font used for the “Featherweights” clipback signature is identical to that of the “Greenbaum” on the buckles (many thanks to Beautifulliving on Etsy for the use of their excellent image). If Greenbaum stamped their own findings, perhaps that is a clue… but if they had a findings manufacturer do it, the matching font means nothing. :-(

One thing is certain, however: So far, in no known Coro reference book, or Coro section within a recognized reference book listing Coro marks, companies, patented designs or vintage advertisements, does any reference to these particular lightweight celluloid earrings appear. Coro did make some jewelry in a very lightweight soft plastic, enhanced with rhinestones, during the 1950s but the material and designs were entirely different: The flower petals were created in an openwork fashion and the clipbacks were actually signed Coro. My thanks to Etsy sellers Tintiara and lovebyleya for allowing me to use their listings to illustrate these genuine Coro lightweight plastic earrings:

Apparantly the attribution of the signed Featherweights earrings to Coro is merely a case of a single misattribution in a listing that subsequently went “viral” and has been picked up by numerous other sellers over time. If anyone does have a published, documented source showing that these are definitely connected to Coro, please let me know! But in the absence of such documentation, there appears to be no official recognized source to indicate that earrings of this material, design and signature ever had anything to do with Coro.

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Jewels That Play With Light: Opals, Real and Faux

Within the small family of jewels that “play with light”, opals surely claim top honors for variety as well as sheer beauty. The opal’s fascination deepens when one realizes just how many kinds there are and how they differ. From natural to synthetic to frank imitations, the range is nothing short of amazing. Let’s look at natural opals first.

All naturally occurring opals fall into one of two classes. Precious opals are the ones that produce flashes of iridescent color(s) when light strikes its surface at a various angles; this effect is called “play of color” or “colorplay”. Any opal that does not exhibit colorplay is classified as common opal.  Although both precious and common opals are made of the same material, hydrous silicon dioxide (SiO₂nH₂O) , it is the actual arrangement of all those microscopic crystals of silica that determines whether or not the stone will diffract light into various colors of the spectrum. Common opal does not have the optimum arrangement of crystals to produce this effect, but precious opal does. As the terms imply, precious opal occurs far more rarely in nature than does the other!

PRECIOUS OPAL: Within the class of precious opal there are various categories according to the nature of the stone, as well as categories for the patterns that the stones produce in response to light. Precious opal is first categorized according to body color, which can be thought of as the “background” against which the play of color “performs”; these categories are:

White Opal, aka Light Opal: Most precious opal stones are of this type. The body color may be anywhere from milky white to bluish white to various shades of cream or even a pale yellow. Within the body color are flecks, splashes or flashes of various shades of green, blue, yellow, gold and occasionally red, in varying percentages within the light body color. Solid (not doublet or triplet) stones are translucent when held up to the light.

Almost 90% of the world’s production of white opal comes from Australia, and the Coober Pedy mines in particular.  White opals are very versatile and look equally beautiful mounted in either white or yellow gold.

Some white opals have a single predominating colorplay rather than a mixture, as in this ring which displays almost all green with touches of blue.

Crystal Opal: When a white-opal body color is completely transparent (no opacity) and also has a play of color it is called crystal opal. Sometimes these are called water opal or jelly opal but those terms are more correctly applied to a form of common opal discussed below. The best crystal opals have a completely clear base color (the finest of these can be classified as Gem grade) but they can be any transparent color at all, including black. The defining characteristic for true crystal opal is that it has colorplay. 

Mexican Flash Opal:  This term is applied only to stones mined in Mexico. They are crystal opals (no opacity) having a play of color and the most valued ones are either colorless or orange in base color with a contrasting colorplay. As with crystal opal mined elsewhere, the defining characteristic for Mexican Flash Opal is the presence of colorplay.

Welo Opal: This new type of crystal opal was discovered in 2008 in the Welo province of Ethiopia. Unlike other opals, its base material has the unique characteristic known as “hydrophane” which as the word implies has to do with water. Stones with this characteristic will temporarily lose their color when exposed to water; as the stone gradually dries out (water evaporates) the colors usually return. Welo opals often exhibit very bright colors in its colorplay with red being more common than blue  (in Australian opals the reverse is true, with red being the most desired color because of its rarity).

Black Opal: The most prized of the precious opals, black opals have a black or dark grey body color. If a solid (not doublet or triplet) true black opal stone is held up to the light, little or no light can be seen through it. The play of color within black opal may range through the entire spectrum with red being the most prized because it is the least often found. However there are many spectacular black opals that exhibit only shades of blue and green. More than 99% of the world’s black opal supply comes from Australia and the finest are and have always been mined at Lightning Ridge.

The term “black opal” is often also used (even by jewelers) for light opal stones that have exceptionally deep, rich  colorplay covering most of its visible surface; in other words the lighter base color can hardly be seen. However, if held up to a light source the stone will be translucent (light will glow through it). This assumes of course that the stone in question is solid (not a doublet or triplet). These “black opals” are actually light opals that have an especially dark and consistent colorplay. The stone below is one such opal, visually classified as black but it is translucent when held up to the light.

Semi-Black Opal: These opals were discovered in Australia in the 1930s. They are distinguished from true black opals by the fact that they are slightly more transparent (more light will be visible through it from behind) because their body color is a medium grey rather than dark grey or black. Sometimes a black crystal opal may be described as a semi-black opal if it is more translucent than transparent.

Boulder Opal: Rather than being formed entirely of silica like the previous types, boulder opals consist of seams and patches of silica that have formed within a “host” or “parent” rock, often ironstone which is found especially in Queensland, Australia. Depending on the location, the host rock type can vary but the resulting finished gem is a mixture of the precious opal material plus the rock it is embedded in.

Matrix Opal: Formed in the same manner as boulder opal, the difference between them is that in matrix opal there is less distinction between the opal material and the parent rock. Whereas in boulder opal the colors appear in patches and/or seams within the parent rock, in a matrix opal they appear as spots and flecks.

Yowah Nuts, aka Nut Opal: Having nothing to do with nuts, these are a form of boulder/matrix opal found specifically in the Yowah region of Queensland. These “nuts” are small globular accretions of ironstone that often contain an inner kernel of solid opal, or a fine network of thin veins and branches of opal all through the ironstone.

Cantera Opal: These are found only in Mexico and are formed in the same way as the Australian boulder opals except that the host rock is rhyolite (called “cantera” locally) rather than ironstone. See under “Faux Opals” for an imitation version of these.

PRECIOUS OPAL PATTERNS: The colorplay patterns found in precious opals have a nomenclature all their own, as varied as the wonderful designs themelves. A few of the best known are

Floral, aka Flower: This is the most often seen pattern, with the color patches randomly occurring like the pattern in a floral fabric or a small patchwork effect. The ring below is a good example.

Pinfire, aka Pinpoint, aka Twinkle: A constellation of small pinpoint-size dots that often change in color as the stone is moved. To qualify as a pinfire pattern, the dots must cover most or all of the surface area, much like those little tiny round multicolored sugar nonpareils on top of the butter cookies at your local bakery.

Straw: The color patches are longer than wide, have a somewhat striated appearance, and resemble bits of wheatstraw or hay crisscrossing each other.

Ribbon: Multiple narrow, slightly curved parallel lines or thin bands of color reaching across the stone from one side to the other. A single ribbon that appears to move across the stone is called a rolling flash (see below).

Palette: The sections of colorplay resemble a painter’s palette, complete with a brush-stroke effect.

Chinese Writing: Found mainly in Lightning Ridge black opals, in this pattern flashes of green and gold against a black or dark grey base color look like the brush strokes of a Chinese character.

Harlequin: The rarest of all opal patterns, it is only applied to stones in which the color patches form a checkerboard of squares or rectangles of alternating colors.

Flagstone: Second only to harlequin in rarity, in this pattern the patches are a mix of diamond shapes and rectangles (like a flagstone pathway).

Contra Luz: Literally, “against light”; this is a pattern effect seen only in some crystal opals and means that the colorplay is visible when the stone has the light source behind it rather than in front. Normally the colorplay in a stone will disappear in this orientation but if it does not, then the crystal opal has a contra luz pattern.

Face-up Color, aka Face-up Fire: This is a very desirable quality in an opal because it differs from how the stones often react. Normally an opal’s colorplay only shows to best advantage when light strikes it from the front diagonal (i.e., with the light coming over your left or right shoulder as you hold it up). Opals with “face-up color”, however, also can show a strong colorplay when viewed from directly above. Clearly this is a huge advantage for jewelry pieces and displays, and such stones may command a higher price because of this quality.

Rolling Flash, aka Mobile Flash, aka Directional Flash: Stones with this characteristic display flashes of color when viewed from different angles or when the light source moves. In a directional flash, the intensity of a given color increases or decreases within its own area according to the angle of light; in a rolling flash, a single color effect travels intact across the face of the stone regardless of what colors are beneath it; a mobile flash is one in which the flash effect transitions from one color into another as the light source shifts. The most desirable is a “rolling red flash”. The largest of this color-matched trio of beautiful Lightning Ridge black opals demonstrates the progression of a rolling green flash as well as a directional red flash, against a base colorplay of ultramarine blue and forest green. As the light source moves and the green flash completes its journey, the base colorplay shifts into and through the reds and violet purples before transforming the same areas that began as dark green and blue into orange and green. It is not unusual to have a ‘dead flash’ area at certain angles in opals that exhibit multiple moving-flash effects.

Before leaving the subject of precious opal, a quick definition is in order. A ‘solid’ opal is one in which there is nothing else but the natural stone. A ‘doublet’ is an opal (or a slice of an opal) that has been affixed to a thin layer of black or dark material – either a piece of opal matrix, black onyx, or obsidian – in order to enhance whatever color is in the white or light opal, in the same way as a moonstone’s color is brought out against a black surface. The pendant below is obviously a doublet; but when such a stone is mounted in a setting that does not allow it to be inspected from the side, misunderstandings can occur. If a white or light opal doublet is held up to the light it will “behave” like a black opal (allow little or no light to shine through) because of this dark backing material.

A ‘triplet’ is a doublet with the addition of a clear quartz “cap” on the top. These are often slightly curved so that the appearance of the opal beneath is magnified. As with a doublet, this is done to enhance the visual appearance of a light colored opal, and/or to make a slice of opal material appear to be a solid stone.

COMMON OPAL: Any opal that does not exhibit a play of color in response to light is classified as “common opal”. Unfortunately one type of common opal is often confused with precious opal and with an imitation opal….so we’ll start with that!

Fire Opal: The description “fire opal” is only correct when applied to a transparent-to-translucent opal that does NOT have a play of color. This term refers not to an iridescent colorplay (which in precious opal is indeed often called “fire”) but instead to the body color of the opal which ranges from deep yellow through all the shades of fire and flame to orange and orange-red. Some stones may be translucent enough to have a perceptible opalescent sheen but this is not considered to be “fire” in the sense of being colorplay.  Most fire opals are mined in Mexico. Water seeps into lava flows which are rich in silica and eventually as a result of heat and pressure this combination transforms into fire opal ‘pebbles’. Fire opal is unique among opals in that fine specimens can be faceted into sparkling jewels. The rings below show two of the warm shades and interesting cuts that can be found in high-quality Mexican fire opal.

Water Opal, aka Hyalite Opal,  aka Mullers Glass, aka Jelly Opal: Remember the mention of crystal opal waaay back there in the precious opal section? Any clear colorless transparent opal that does NOT show a play of color is known as water opal (calling it “crystal opal” is incorrect, despite its appearance). This type of opal is based on hyalite rather than silica, and has the unique property of flourescing green under blacklight – something that no other type of opal will do. Sometimes this stone will display a very faint tint or iridescence of color that could be misinterpreted as colorplay, but a quick check under blacklight will remove any doubt. There is also a Swarovski crystal color called “water opal” which, being a clear rhinestone, only adds to the general confusion about what water opal is. Again, a blacklight is your best friend, as illustrated below!

Potch Opal: These stones can appear in varying shades of milky white, any shade of grey from very pale to very dark, a blue-grey, or black; sometimes as a solid color and sometimes in a mixture. Stones exhibiting only white and black together are called “magpie potch”. These are often made into beads.

Pink Opal: This is another color often made into beads and cabochons for jewelry; much of it comes from Peru and Mexico. The colors can range from white with the barest hint of pink, through all possible shades of pink and rose, even into tints of mauve, lavender and lilac.

Blue Opal: Many blue opals are a very attractive shade of robins-egg or Wedgwood blue; another favorite for beads as well as jewelry cabochons.

Morado Opal: The Spanish word for purple is “morado”, and some of the common opal mined in Mexico is given this name if the body color happens to be in the violet or purple range. 

Treated Opals: It should be mentioned that some natural opals (both precious and common)  may be treated in order to improve their appearance colorwise or to correct a flaw. The color of a light opal can be darkened by the injection of a dye. An opal with inclusions or the potential to crack in the future may be impregnated with an oil, plastic, resin or wax to help stabilize it. Light stones might be backed with a layer of dark lacquer in order to avoid the telltale ‘bonding line’ that is visible in a doublet under magnification. A truly “natural” opal is a stone that has not been altered from its natural out-of-the-ground state by anything other than cutting and polishing.

SYNTHETIC, aka LAB CREATED, OPAL: There is a difference between “synthetic” opal and “imitation” or “faux” opal. Synthetic opals are made in a laboratory from the same chemical (silicon dioxide) that occurs in natural opals. The process was developed in the 1930s and thus synthetic opals have been around for about eighty years! Some of them look very much like natural precious opal but there are several ways to tell them apart: (1) The colors in synthetic opal are usually brighter and occur in larger patches, often with a sort of ‘snakeskin’ pattern (2) Under magnification the color patterns will appear more regularly geometric than those in a natural opal and (3) The overall pattern appears more ‘neat and orderly’ than those in the naturally formed stones. This sterling silver bracelet is inlaid with lab created opal.

Both natural and synthetic opals are used in opal-inlay jewelry. The amethyst ring below shows two squares of blue-green opal inlay on each side.

In these earrings, instead of one relatively large thin slice of opal, many small chips and slices are embedded together to form sections that are densely packed with color.

IMITATION aka FAUX OPAL: This category includes every “opal-appearing” stone that is not made of (or from) silicon dioxide, hydrophane (Welo opal) or hyalite (water opal) ….. which pretty much leaves us with the faux opals made of either glass, acrylic plastic, or resin.

Dragon’s Breath, aka Jelly Opal: This is a unique form of art glass stone developed in the early 20^th century. During the production process certain metals are added to the molten glass; they produce a base color in various shades of red, orange, and rose with streaks and patches of blues and purples suspended within. The intensity of these ‘breaths’ of contrasting colors changes with the angle of the light, similar to the colorplay response of precious opal. The typical shape for these glass stones is a round or oval cabochon so that the curved top can maximize the interesting color changes within. Confusion often results from its other common name of “jelly opal” which is sometimes also used to (incorrectly) refer to the natural water opal/hyalite and sometimes (even more incorrectly) to crystal opal. In my opinion it would be a good thing if the term “jelly opal” was retired forever! Other names occasionally applied to Dragon’s Breath glass stones are Mexican glass opal, Glass jelly opal, and Glass fire opal.

Faux Cantera Opals: As mentioned previously, cantera opals are mined in Mexico and are similar to the Australian boulder opals in formation and appearance. In recent years an imitation cantera opal was developed in which a textured and colored resin mimics the appearance of the natural rhyolite stone matrix. Thin sections or slivers of either natural or synthetic opal are inlaid into this faux stone base. If these stones are mounted into jewelry it is not easy to distinguish them from the natural stones because the resin/rock weight difference is obscured.

Glass and Acrylic Plastic Opals: These are the most numerous of the precious-opal lookalikes, and the glass stones were and are the most common. Pieces of colored foil are embedded within the molded glass cabochon during manufacture. The great majority of faux opal glass stones are in shades of pink, lavender, purple and gold with touches of blue. This circa-1970s brooch-pendant by Sarah Coventry is a very typical example.

Glass faux opals were already being made at the turn of the century using the internal-foil technique, as seen in this unusual gold-and-honey foil glass stone appropriately forming the body of a bee brooch with paste rhinestones decorating its wings.

Although acrylic (lucite) plastic was often made in a “confetti” style for jewelry, and in its clear formulation does a fantastic job of imitating glass, the bits of foil are usually too regular and too widely spaced to give the same faux-opal effect as the foil glass stones. Glass stones also offer the advantage (over acrylic) of being very scratch-resistant, although chips are always a possibility of course.

FINAL NOTES ON NATURAL OPALS

The history, folklore and myths surrounding the opal have been exhaustively covered in numerous other venues and so I won’t go into those. However, one misconception still exists about opal care and that is the oft-repeated advice to soak them in either water or oil in order to prevent “cracks” or “shrinkage and loosening in its setting.” Neither advice has any basis in fact. The only opal stone that will be at all affected by contact with water is hydrophane opal (see Welo opal above) and there is a 50/50 chance of harming the stone rather than helping it by so doing. If an opal develops a crack, it is because of an internal flaw and no soaking (or lack thereof) would have avoided it.

And lastly, don’t believe that old superstition that opals are bad luck! The Victorians loved them and considered them a good-luck stone no matter what month the wearer was born in (opal is birthstone for October) and even today in Japan an opal is considered a traditional good-fortune gift for a wedding. Opals – natural, synthetic, or faux – are for everyone!

Many thanks to the vintage sellers on Etsy who graciously gave permission for their images to be used in this article (each such image is a live link directly to the item shown) as well as to those who provided opals for me to photograph.

** Coming soon: The second in our series of Jewels That Play with Light **

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Repro Alert: Vintage Celluloid Flower Basket Jewelry

In my recent blog post about vintage Japanese celluloid jewelry I spotlighted the chrysanthemum flower basket brooches produced in the 1940s. These lovely pieces were hand painted in many color variations and all were produced from one of two quite similar base molds.

I have discovered that one of those two vintage flower basket designs is currently being reproduced in a cast resin material, hand painted, and then affixed to a reproduction of a vintage brass hair ornament or brass brooch mounting. Let me be absolutely clear: The creator of these items is being 100% up-front about the fact that these are reproductions of vintage pieces! They are NOT in any way trying to pass these off as vintage items, and in fact take great pains to make sure that a buyer knows that they are modern, newly-made pieces. The reproduction pieces are sold on eBay and also at the maker’s own website which offers a wider range of colors and styles than on eBay. In both locations the descriptions include repeated clarifiers such as “new, hand stained, made of natural pine resin”, “hand molded (reproduced from the original…)”,  ”..on a piece of reproduction brass” and “mounted on a reproduction brass hair pin”.  There is virtually no way that someone buying one of these from the original source would NOT be aware that they were recently made.

However, it is inevitable that over time many of these reproduction pieces will eventually make their way into the marketplace – both online and off – via tag sales, etc., and it’s equally inevitable that many of them will be (and in fact some definitely have already been) accidentally misidentified by those sellers as true vintage items.

This likelihood is increased by the existence of photographs of the genuine vintage celluloid flower baskets in several vintage-jewelry reference books and of course in past online sales. Normally a resin piece might be heavier than the same item made from celluloid, but in this case the basket is attached to another object (the brass comb or brooch mounting) and so it’s impossible to tell how much the basket itself actually weighs. Because the entire back of the basket is affixed directly to the brass element, someone might assume that the ‘Japan’ signature is there but simply not visible; as we know, the original Japanese item was signed either on the pinback or by impression into the celluloid itself.

The reproduction pieces are quite accurate; the molds are sharp and clean, and someone who is already aware that there are many painting variations of the original brooch could be forgiven for thinking that this is yet another (even though the coloration style is not truly a match for that seen in the vintage work), and that perhaps hair ornaments and more ornate brooches were made back then as well — or that someone has repurposed one of the 1930s-1940s celluloid brooches into a newer item.

The creators of the reproduction pieces (Heidi and Reed of whereonearth) have been kind enough to give me permission to put some of their images into this article for illustration purposes. Each of the images is a live link to the page on their website that contains their current offerings within which the flower basket items are included. I have linked to their website rather than to the eBay listings because there are so many more color variations on the main site; however, do be aware that some designs are also offered via their eBay store.

Here are a few examples of the 16 different colorways currently offered for the hair ornament; the full range of 16 versions can be found within this page of their website.

Below are some examples of the 13 different brooches that are also made using this flower basket element. See this page for the seller’s thumbnail section showing all thirteen versions. The baskets are attached to reproduction brass mountings which are ornate and varied in design. Notice that the fourth example, in a solid plain cream/ivory color with no shading or tinting, could easily be mistaken for the extremely similar original 1940s Japanese brooch illustrated in the photo immediately following it (that brooch is also illustrated in my recent blog post on vintage Japanese celluloid brooches).

compare the above with the very similar circa-1940s basket below, found in its basic cream/ivory version (as explained in my other post, there were two extremely similar vintage molds which at a casual glance are often assumed to be identical):

For purposes of comparison, below are a selected four different painting variations (of which there were at least 19 which I have discovered to date!) of the original circa-1930s vintage Japanese celluloid chrysanthemum basket brooch.  These are now for sale at Chatsworth Vintage on Etsy, along with five additional painting variations as well; the images here are now live links to the listings for the brooches shown.

Collectors and sellers of this type of vintage celluloid should simply be aware that there are modern resin reproductions of the original Japanese celluloid brooch in circulation as well, as both hair ornaments and brooches in multiple color variations.

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Vintage Celluloid Flower Jewelry from Japan

Among all the plastics used in vintage jewelry, celluloid usually claims pride of place in the category of intricate detailing – and in particular, the pieces produced during the first half of the 20^th century in Japan. Why and how did this come to be so?

The actual process for creating celluloid provides part of the answer. There are only three basic ingredients:  cellulose (obtained from cotton lint or tissue paper), acid (nitric acid and sulfuric acid) and a solvent (camphor). The reason why Japan became such a huge player in the celluloid industry lies in the solvent ingredient, camphor, which is produced from the essential oil distilled from the Cinnamonum camphorum tree. Nowhere in the world were these found in greater abundance at the turn of the century than on the island of Formosa (now Taiwan). Formosa was then part of the Japanese Empire and when the fledgling celluloid industry took off like the proverbial rocket in the late 1800s, Japan found itself with a world monopoly on what was suddenly a very hot commodity. They lost no time in establishing their own home-based industry as well as becoming the largest camphor supplier to the rest of the world. The first two celluloid manufacturing plants (Sakai Celluloid and Japan Celluloid Artificial Silk) were opened in 1908. Over the next ten years a plethora of new companies appeared and competition was fierce. The largest dozen eventually merged to form Dainippon Celluloid in 1919.

The “big three” celluloid manufacturing nations in the early 1900s were the USA (particularly in New Jersey), Germany, and Japan who had celluloid’s critical ingredient in their own backyard, so to speak. They had a brief trade/price war with Germany in the 1920s which the latter country lost resoundingly, with the result that Germany withdrew from the celluloid-sales arena. This left Japan with a huge market share and America remained its only real competition in manufacturing finished items.

A mind-boggling range of items was made from celluloid during the first half of the century, ranging in style from Victorian (and there were indeed many actual Victorian-era celluloid items) to Art Deco to whimsical. The ubiquitous Scottish terrier (Scottie) brooches were produced in huge quantities starting in the 1930s, inspired by FDR’s famous pooch “Fala”, by both American and Japanese jewelry manufacturers. However, it is in their floral motif jewelry items – brooches, bracelet, dress clips, earrings, and pendants – that the talent of the Japanese celluloid jewelry artisans really shines.

Creating the Jewelry

Because celluloid is a thermoplastic it can be reshaped more than once via the application of heat and pressure, and being a nonporous material it can also be painted. The Japanese firms excelled in not only the intricacy of the molds used for the secondary shaping of the “stock” celluloid material – originally formed into blocks, rods or sheets –  but also in the care taken in the decorative painting of their floral design pieces. Many of them, like these delicately tinted floral studies below, include a lace-like border surrounding the bouquet of flowers, buds, and leaves.  Chrysanthemums (an Imperial flower), roses, daisies, narcissus and forget-me-nots are frequently seen. (The triangular brooch is marked Japan; the oval brooch is marked Occupied Japan.)

Because each piece of jewelry was individually hand painted, the color versions can and do vary from the subtle to and entirely different look. For instance, an entire collection could be built around all the different color variations of the late 1930s-1940s chrysanthemum basket brooch below, which has been found in – as of this writing – at least fourteen different versions in which the colors of the basket, leaves, and single and pompom mums vary. (Chatsworth will be offering a number of these versions for sale later this year.)

Japanese celluloid jewelry is usually seen in one of two forms: either a uniform solid color “as manufactured”, or as the ivory/cream as-manufactured base color shown below that was then hand-painted and usually lightly glazed. The glaze can vary from a subtle barely-there sheen to one with a definite pearlized effect. (True “pearlescent” celluloid is a different process and is part of the materials-manufacturing cycle rather than the materials-finishing one.)

Making celluloid was not only a dangerous process (nitric acid is highly explosive) but a tricky one, especially when it came to creating colored materials. Celluloid in its natural state is clear but can be colored by soaking the initially formed material in whatever chemical solution is needed to produce the desired color. The starter material had to be absolutely clean because even the tiniest trace of oil .. from even so much as a fingerprint .. could alter the result that came from the coloring agent. Most colors were produced by a specific chemical (black from silver nitrite, yellow and orange from potassium bichromate, etc) but red was more labor intensive: The material had to be cleaned off with nitric acid (always nasty stuff to work with, or around!) before being soaked in an aniline red dye. Because the extra step made the red articles more expensive to produce, not as many of them were made compared to other colors. The red rose dress clip shown below (marked Japan on the reverse, and soon to be available at Chatsworth) is an example of this color.

It is said that Japanese celluloid jewelry tends to have a more shiny finish than similar pieces made in the USA or Europe. I think it is less a matter of shine than of surface feel: the Japan-made pieces often feel “silkier” or waxier to the touch, especially those floral pieces similar in style to the two below.

There are also two distinct “weights” of Japanese celluloid brooches, according to the thickness of the material that was used in the mold; the more substantial pieces are 3mm-4 mm thick at their thinnest edges, while the lighter and thinner ones are only 1mm thick at the same location. The two flower basket brooches shown in the previous sections represent both weights, the solid ivory one being the thinner/lighter type and the decorated one the thicker/heavier. They weigh 5 grams and 10 grams respectively; quite a difference! By the way, the type has nothing to do with whether a piece was painted or not; a decorated version – not yet photographed – of the lightweight brooch is of identical weight and thickness to the plain one shown above.

Their marking methods also differ. On the thinner pieces the ‘Japan’ mark is found either on a one-piece pinback (silver metal, often oxidized) or ink-stamped on the back of the brooch itself. On the other hand, the thicker brooches often have ‘Japan’ actually impressed into the celluloid, usually somewhere near the center; it can also appear as an inkstamp instead, or on a one-piece pinback if that was used. These brooches were thick enough to accommodate an impressed Japan marking, whereas the thinner styles were not.

versus this one:

Which of these brooch styles is the older? None of the standard reference books address that issue although they all pretty much agree that the floral styles discussed here date from the 1930s and 1940s. I personally believe that the thicker ones are older circa 1930s; this theory is bolstered by my recent discovery of two identically painted versions of the thinner basket, differing only in that one is marked Japan and other marked Occupied Japan (thus made between mid-1945 and late 1952). Incidentally, the two flower basket brooches are NOT identical, although at first look they may seem to be. They have subtle but definite mold differences that close examination will reveal.

By the way, it is very common to see, under 10X jewelers magnification, within the recesses of an intricate design what appear to be minute specks of dirt that are not able to be removed by brushing or blowing-out. These dirt/dust motes settled on the piece while the paint and/or the final glaze was drying, and thus are not removable. Jewelry manufacturing plants of the day were not sterile “cleanrooms” and there was inevitably some level of material in the air at any given time. Most of the time these specks are not very noticable to the naked eye and if found under magnification they are not considered a deterrent unless present in extreme quantity. However, if any warping, splitting or cracking of a piece is seen, or any areas that are stained a brown or orange color not part of the original decoration, that is evidence of either decomposition from within or damage from an external source. Such items should be avoided because their condition will only continue to deteriorate.

“Carved” versus “Molded”

Vintage celluloid jewelry is often described as “carved”, especially the floral items. When it comes to celluloid this is not usually accurate because the majority of such jewelry was molded (casein plastic, however, was indeed carved because it physically could not be molded). However, the intricacy of the molds was so successful at duplicating the fine carving of the antique ivory and horn pieces that it was intended to imitate, that the techically incorrect description “carved celluloid” has become common usage and there was certainly some hand-trimming of each piece after it was removed from the mold and before it began to be painted.

Each brooch will differ in the amount of clear-through piercing that it may or may not contain, even within the identical mold design. In fact it’s more common to see translucent or transparent areas in such places (see areas near the stems in the plain ivory basket) than to find them all “cut clear through”. These brooches were not produced via today’s exacting computer-controlled assembly lines, and so individual variations not only exist but help to make each one unique.

“Japan” versus “Occupied Japan”

It’s quite possible that you may see two versions of the identical jewelry item, one marked “Japan” and the other “Occupied Japan”. Any item marked Occupied Japan was made between late 1945 and April 1952; but that does not necessarily mean that the other brooch was NOT also made during that same time period.

This is because only items that were intended for export were required to be marked Occupied Japan; items that were produced for sale within Japan did not need to be so marked. The intention of the regulation was not – as some may think – to insensitively or cruelly call attention to the painful results of the war; it was designed as a marketing strategy to help the country rebuild its shattered economy. Japan needed to re-establish its position as a manufacturing and trading nation on the world stage as quickly as possible and the Western world was its best potential customer. Unfortunately there were many consumers, especially in the United States, who were unable to separate the citizenry and domestic industries of Japan from the recent military conflict and were determined to boycott any item from that nation. However, an item marked Occupied Japan was apt to elicit a very different and more positive reaction, or at the very least offset what was (IMHO narrow-minded) a negative knee-jerk emotional response on the part of potential buyers. By the time the regulation expired in mid-1952, Japan’s economy was on its way to recovery – helped in no small part by the effects of this particular marketing effort.

Not every item that was intended for export was marked Occupied Japan, although the majority of them were if they intended for the American market. Items that were intended for shipment to European countries were probably more likely to bear a “Made in Japan” or “Japan” designation, or to be not marked at all.

Marked Japan vs Unmarked

Regardless of era, items produced for the domestic Japanese market, rather than for export, were not required to be marked ‘Japan’ although considering Japan’s overall export numbers during the first two-thirds of the 20^th century it certainly seems as though every product made there was destined to go elsewhere! There are many vintage Japanese-made celluloid jewelry items that are unmarked, either because of very small size (such as the hundreds of thousands of charms) or simply a decision on the part of the manufacturer to instead put the Made in Japan designation on a paper hangtag, or the brooch or earring card, or inside of the box. In most cases those items are long gone today, and we’re left with an unmarked piece whose origin can only be evaluated by materials, level of workmanship, decoration characteristics, or by hopefully finding an identical piece that was actually marked. Rings in particular seem to have a 50/50 chance of being marked Japan or not!

Were the 1950s “Lightweights” Made in Japan?

My recent blog post about the sub-category of vintage celluloid jewelry known as Bubbleite, Featherlite, Featherlight, Lite-Wate, et al., addressed the question of whether these were Japanese products. The answer is that overall we don’t seem to know for sure. Occasionally a piece bearing these characteristics appears for sale and is marked Japan. If the marking is on an earring clipback, we still don’t know whether only the clipback was made there, or the celluloid itself. It’s unusual to even find any of these pieces signed with the actual tradename, which makes them prime targets for confusion with early 1920s and 1930s pieces and being misrepresented for sale as such. Unless some items appear bearing one of these marketing names and the designation “Japan”, there’s just no way to tell. They may indeed be Japanese celluloid but they equally well might have been made in the USA. For an overview of what these items look like and potential confusion areas, see the June 29, 2012 blog entry “Vintage Celluloid Jewelry: Featherlite, Featherweight and Bubblelite” in the Archives section above.

Care of Vintage Celluloid

Celluloid by nature has the capacity to soften/be deformed by heat. Application of  sufficient heat will cause celluloid to emit the smell of camphor. But sources differ as to how much heat is safe to apply without risking damage to the item. According to Keith Lauer and Julie Robinson, authors of the most complete reference book on vintage celluloid articles of all types and eras:

“When celluloid is exposed to temperatures higher than 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the structure of the cellulose nitrate and camphor molecules begins to change. The evaporation of camphor molecules is believed to leave cellulose nitrate molecules in concentrated sites, and this accelerates crystal formation. Since celluloid is a thermoplastic, the shape of finished articles is affected by extreme temperature. If exposed to temperatures above 140 degrees, it will begin to lose form..” (Celluloid Collectors Reference and Value Guide, 1999)

The crystallization of cellulose nitrate is a deterioration process that causes the material to become brittle and crumble; it is commonly called “disease” among collectors. There is no remedy for it and it will only spread. It will also contaminate other celluloid articles that may come into direct contact with it.

Unfortunately many sources give instructions for doing an odor test on celluloid by bringing it into contact with water “just below the boiling point” to see if the camphor molecules will – as described above – evaporate and emit the odor. Even hot tap water is risky: Many domestic hot water taps, mine included, are capable of delivering water of 140 degrees or more. Mine tops out at 149F! Any time that a hot water test is done to a piece of celluloid, the item is put at risk for irreversible damage. It is far safer to rely on other factors to determine whether an item is celluloid or another plastic. (See our June 21, 2012 entry “Vintage Plastic Jewelry: What It Is… and Isn’t” in the Archives for an overview of the characteristics of vintage plastics.)

It goes without saying that a hot pin test, once widely recommended as a testing method for various materials including plastics, should never be done on anything suspected to be made of celluloid; the flammable nitric acid within the material will burn and the piece will be permanently damaged.

Never use a chemical cleaning agent on celluloid; this includes common detergents and “natural” citric-acid based cleaners such as GooGone, LA Awesome, etc. In most cases surface dirt can be removed by gentle cleaning with a soft toothbrush, either dry or with plain cool water. A very mild soap such as would be suitable for an infant is the strongest cleanser that should ever be used. Do not immerse in water any items that have metal components, and be sure to dry cleaned pieces immediately, gently and thoroughly.

If you need to remove glue residue left from an old price sticker, a light application of a pure vegetable oil (canola is a good choice) will soften the glue. It won’t be instant and you may have to rub it a bit, but it will work.

Common personal-care products such as perfume, cologne and nail polish remover all include solvents that will irreversibly damage celluloid on contact. Be aware of this if you  tend to put on jewelry first and spritz perfume or cologne on yourself afterward; you’ll probably find yourself wondering where the heck those ugly brown spots on your pretty pale pink celluloid earrings came from, or those orange streaks that appeared on the inside of your pale green floral bangle bracelet.

Do not wrap or store celluloid jewelry in any kind of plastic – especially those little mini plastic bags with pressure-closed tops. Acid-free plain white tissue paper is your best bet. But since these lovely vintage plastics are so unique and pretty… why not simply wear them regularly instead? ;-)

(Note: The vintage Japanese celluloid items illustrated here either are or will shortly be available at Chatsworth Vintage, at which time the images will contain a live link to the listing.)

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Vintage Celluloid Jewelry: Featherlite, Featherweight, and Bubbleite

Within the genre of vintage celluloid jewelry from the first half of the 20^th century, there exists a group known to collectors as Featherlite, Featherweight and Bubbleite (often misspelled as Bubblelite, with two Ls rather than one). As their names suggest, when compared with other celluloid items of similar size and age they weigh considerably less than their peers.

These “lightweights” can be quite confusing to potential buyers in several respects, not least because they are often described by sellers as being of an earlier decade than they actually are. This isn’t entirely the seller’s fault; many of these later designs were blatant copies of pieces made in the 1930s or even 1920s, with such subtle differences that a casual observer wouldn’t even think to closely check. However, these lightweight pieces date from the 1950s; they are definitely not Art Deco era jewelry. In what ways can they be differentiated from the originals?

The obvious answer is via weight, but that is no help when buying online or even in a shop if there is no similar celluloid item with which to do an in-hand comparison.  When there is such a benchmark, the difference is dramatic (at least in terms of celluloid, which is lightweight by nature!) and can be anywhere between one-half to a full gram or more.

Color and Finishing

The majority of the significantly lighter-weight celluloid jewelry items – which I’ll collectively call the Lightweights in this article – were made in what we’d today call a “shabby chic” finish: a matte or even slightly textured white paint over the naturally-clear celluloid base material. This is in marked contrast to the smooth and somewhat waxy handfeel of earlier celluloid jewelry. The bracelet shown below (courtesy BoyleRPF Jewelry) is a perfect example of this style which is colloquially referred to as “Wedding Cake Celluloid”. Often these “carved” (actually molded) white pieces were also studded with clear rhinestones –  a very bling’d wedding cake for sure! The presence of a quantity of rhinestones will naturally make the piece seem somewhat heavier than its natural weight, but it will still be lighter than if made from “normal” celluloid material.

Another finish was the ‘antiqued’ style, with a base color of off-white, cream/ecru, or sometimes even a pale grey-blue, with highlights in a darker shade. This paint technique somewhat resembles old sepiatone photographs. The set below (also courtesy BoyleRPF) is an excellent example of this finishing style which also is fairly often seen with rhinestone accents.

A third matte paint finish was the plain cream/ivory/light beige illustrated by this necklace recently sold by my Etsy shop. The finish is just slightly less textured than the white, but still not even approaching a semi-gloss. This colorway was intended to simulate ivory or bone. These were sometimes “bling’d” but not as often as the white or antiqued versions.

The necklaces seem to have a couple of notable consistencies. Their chains often look as if they “don’t quite match” the rest of the necklace, in either material or color. Another quirk of the link chain versions is that although they have a J-hook on one end they almost never have a clasp ring on the other! Apparantly they were made that way, and since the chain links are large enough to easily accommodate the hook it doesn’t reallly matter – but you’d think they could have put just one more little ring into the item manufacturing budget??! I’m sure that over the years some owners of these necklaces simply went ahead and added one on their own.

Designs

Here’s where it’s very easy to get tripped up and accidentally date a Lightweight as older than it actually is. The similarities to earlier pieces are startling and differences can sometimes be tricky to spot. Compare the central station on the Lightweight necklace to this standard-decoration celluloid brooch marked Japan (also recently sold by Chatsworth). Many people would say they are from the same source but on careful inspection two distinct differences can be found. (Do you see them? If not, the answer is at the end of this article. *) The size also differs:  The brooch is 1 1/2” diameter while the necklace station measures 1 1/4”. Therefore the two pieces were definitely not produced from the same mold design.

Marks, Trademarks, Brand Names, etc

Although “Featherlight”, “Featherlite”, and “Bubbleite” are not included in the list of trademarked brand names in Lauer & Robinson’s ‘Celluloid Collector’s Reference and Value Guide’, we know that at least several of them definitely were: Bubbleite (yes, the correct spelling only has one L), Featherweights, and Lite-Wate.

Shortly after this blog post first appeared, I was contacted by Treasures From Yesterday (one of the most impressive vintage costume jewelry resource sites on the internet) who have in their files two vintage ads for this type of jewelry and I am extremely pleased to be able to include them in this revision. Both of them show registered trademark brands. The first ad is from 1956, for “Lite-Wate” and mentions the fact that their designs are made both with and without rhinestones.

The second ad is from 1957 and is for Bubbleite (this is how I discovered that the common spelling, with two Ls, is actually incorrect!). Note the amazing range of colors in which it was produced: light blue, yellow, champagne, coral, turquoise, red, navy, lavender, avocado, pink, black and white.

I am indebted to Pat of Treasures From Yesterday and Researching Costume Jewelry for sharing these vintage ads. Her reference site hosted at http://www.illusionjewels.com/costumejewelrymarks.html has long been an invaluable resource for collectors and sellers alike. Thank you, Pat!

8/9/12: IMPORTANT NEW EDIT/ADDITION!
Please see my additional blog post dated August 9th, 2012 for new information regarding the mistaken attribution of some of these items to Coro! 

As for the other names within the Lightweights genre, it’s possible that those may not have been actually copyrighted but instead were used informally as brand or even “line” names for marketing by their manufacturers. Unless or until the other names are discovered as signed pieces, their status as actual tradenames remains unclear. Most of the Lightweights were not signed but probably originally came with paper hangtags instead; however, the earrings shown in the sepia-tone parure illustrated above are marked “Featherweight” on the clipbacks. I have also seen the occasional pair of earrings with the clip or screw back marked Japan, which inevitably begs the question:

Made in Japan, or Not??

This is a tough question to answer definitively! There is some level of assumption – which may or may not have a basis in fact – that these 1950s Lightweights (in general) were made in Japan. But we all know that seller-description information often gets picked up and  “recycled”, especially on eBay! The question is, was the item being described as Japanese truly a Featherlite, Bubbleite, etc piece? Unless items start turning up marked both ‘Japan’ and a particular one of the relevant brand names, there’s no way to know for sure. Or perhaps some brands were made in Japan and others in the USA (the only two countries still producing cellulose nitrate jewelry in any quantity by the 1950s). In the meantime, it’s best to err on the side of caution by wording any description of these items as “possibly Japanese-made”.

EDITED ON 20 JULY 2012 TO ADD: I have just acquired a signed Japan celluloid brooch of the same design as one of the Lite-Wate brooches seen in their vintage ad above; it is the single very dark brooch (the one that appears to have an “open spokes” border, which is in fact interlinked circles) positioned to the left of the ad text . The original delicately hand-painted brooch from Japan is shown below and will shortly be available for sale at Chatsworth.

There are also some marked Japanese celluloid brooches that are considerably lighter than other styles (such as the two hand painted brooches shown above) but are not in the commonly seen single-color paint “finishes” for the Lightweights being discussed here. Do those brooches belong to the Lightweights genre? They certainly qualify on the basis of weight alone. However, most collectors of this type of celluloid jewelry consider the capitalized genre names to refer only to the matte-painted designs (with and without rhinestones).

Caring for the Lightweights

Although the Lightweights do belong to the celluloid “family” they are not exactly the same in terms of chemical composition. As a result they are not only considerably lighter than normal celluloid but they are also softer and more brittle. The brittleness makes it more prone to damage from physical shocks; drop it on the floor, or whack the bracelet against a granite countertop, and it’s more likely to crack or chip than a classic celluloid. The softness factor means it’s more easily damaged by heat sources. Contact with water is, in general, probably not a great idea either; if cleaning is needed, a dry soft brush – and patience – is the best bet.

The main thing to remember when searching for celluloid jewelry and encountering any of the Lightweights –  and many will probably be not described specifically as such – is that they were NOT made in the 1920s or 1930s. They are of course vintage, having made in the 1950s, but they are not and should not be represented as Art Deco era jewelry. Enjoy them in their own right for what they really are: One of the very last chapters in the story of vintage celluloid adornments!

(*Answer: The six large flowers in the Featherlite necklace medallion are set closer together; their petals are almost touching each other, whereas in the Japanese brooch there is a row of tiny background flowers between them. Also the necklace’s bouquet extends farther out into the background ‘panel’ than it does on the Japanese brooch.)

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Vintage Plastic Jewelry: What It Is … and Isn’t

There’s a perplexing plethora of vintage plastic jewelry for sale that is described as being “celluloid”, “bakelite”, “lucite”, etc  – but what exactly IS it? and does it really matter? Actually it does but not for the reasons you might think.

Vintage jewelry made of (or with) plastic falls into one of six groups: celluloid, casein, cellulose acetate, phenolics which include Bakelite, and acrylics which include Lucite. You’ll notice that I’ve only capitalized two of those names and there’s a reason for that. The words celluloid, bakelite and lucite have become so generalized that instead of referring to a specific material, often only a general group is meant. For instance, readers of a certain age :-) may recall when it was common to refer to any non-professional camera as a “kodak” even if it was made by some other company, or being asked at work to “make a xerox of this report” even when the photocopy machine was not actually made by Xerox Corporation. These generalized terms came into the language because at one time those manfacturers were the first and/or the most recognizable makers of a product. And so it was with Celluloid, Bakelite and Lucite … all of which in their capitalized form are trademarked names BUT in today’s marketplace are used as “shorthand” terms for all plastics falling into the same chemical category.

As Lillian Baker aptly put it in her introduction to ‘Plastic Jewelry of the Twentieth Century’, “unless a piece of jewelry is marked “Bakelite” or “Catalin” or “Celluloid” (or any trademarks cited in the article which is printed in Appendix A), it is virtually impossible to pinpoint the actual product used for jewelry collected today.”  (italics mine)

So now that we’ve clarified that a piece described as “celluloid” is referring to any one of a large group of vintage plastics, it’s important to know that ALL plastics – whether made 60 years or 60 days ago – fall into one of two categories: Thermoplastic or Thermoset.

A thermoplastic is a plastic that has been shaped in some way (cast, molded, cut, carved, whatever) and then hardened as it cooled. However, if sufficient heat is applied to any part of it – and that could be as high a temperature as boiling water or as low as 140F from tap water or being left in the sun – it will soften again. The word “plastic” derives from the Greek plastikos meaning something that is malleable or soft. Thus a thermoplastic is a substance that can and will become soft and malleable again (or damaged) via the application of heat.

On the other hand, an item made from a thermoset formula also begins life as a “plastic” (soft/malleable) substance that is then shaped and subsequently hardened as it cooled. However, it is now in a permanent form and even if heat is applied to it will remain “set” in that form and will not again return to its original soft (plastic) state.

Within these two categories of plastic fall the six major groups found in vintage items.

THE SIX GROUPS OF VINTAGE PLASTIC

1. Celluloid (cellulose nitrate). This is the original and very flammable material invented by the Hyatt Brothers in New Jersey in 1868. It is a thermoplastic which has very little heat resistance; pieces will be damaged by the use of a ‘hot point’ test and sometimes even by contact with very hot tap water.  It was often used to imitate ivory (ivoroid form), tortoise shell, amber, coral, and mother of pearl (an iridescent laminated form often used for 1920s and 1930s dresser sets).  It can occur in pretty much any color imaginable, from solid and dense to translucent or transparent. It was formed into sheets of various thicknesses, rods, and blocks. The existence of evenly spaced parallel grain lines, especially in the faux-ivory jewelry pieces, are a giveway that it is celluloid. It often yellows with age and so all those pale yellow/ecru-colored Deco era brooches seen today were much closer to either clear or white back then. True celluloid – made according to the original formula using cotton fibers, nitric acids and camphor – was not made after WWII except in Occupied Japan who had for decades held the world monopoly on the camphor trade. Celluloid jewelry made in Japan during the first half of the 20th century often included wonderfully delicate hand painting as well as intricate designs (our next blog article will focus on Japanese celluloid brooches).
Trademarked names for “celluloid” include Amerith, Celluloid, Cinelin, Duralin, Fabrikoid, Fiberloid, Herculoid, Isinglass, Keratol, Nitrol and Nitron, Nixonoid and Nixon CN, Pyralin, Pyroxylin, and Textiloid. Tradenames specific to imitation ivory often included that word, such as Ivorine, French Ivory, Ivorie Parisienne, celluloid ivory and vegetable ivory.
Characteristics: very lightweight; can have mold marks or not; can be solid, hollow or laminated. Can be pretty much any color, including transparent or black (though sometimes black paint was applied).
Testing: It is said that the application of heat to celluloid will produce an odor of camphor (mothballs); however due to the extremely low resistance of this material to heat, it is debatable whether the risk of damage is worth it. It is safer to become familiar with the other characteristics of true celluloid than to risk deforming a piece by applying enough heat to generate any odor. Also, the presence of paint or any type of glaze on the surface of the celluloid will act as a barrier to the generation of the camphor smell although not – unfortunately – to deformation by temperature.

2. Casein plastic was invented in the 1890s and was made from milk protein. It is a thermoset plastic. One trade name, Galalith, derives from the Greek words for milk (gala) and stone (lith).. literally “milk-stone” or “stone made of milk”. Unlike celluloid, casein plastics are not flammable. However, its use in larger articles was limited because it cannot be molded; it must be cut or carved, thus its use was effectively restricted to small things like jewelry and buttons rather than, say, boxes, brushes, combs, etc. Always opaque, like celluloid it could imitate ivory, bone, tortoise shell, coral, amber, etc. – but it could never be made as either a solid white color or as transparent or translucent.
Trademarked names for casein plastics include Ameroid, Casolith, Dorcasine, Galalith and Kyloid.
Characteristics: Can range from as light as celluloid to a bit heavier. Does NOT  have mold marks because it could not be molded; thus it can be either solid or laminated but never hollow. No white, translucent or transparent items.
Testing: Application of hot water will produce a sour-milk or wet-wool smell. Many Deco era necklaces were made of carved galalith beads, and so great care must be taken not to damage the stringing if testing such an an article with hot water. The noted German jewelry maker Jakob Bengel particularly favored the combination of Galalith and chrome for his “machine age” 1930s designs.

3. Phenolic plastics (aka “Bakelite”). The phenolics are thermoset plastics, i.e., once formed into an object that’s the shape in which it remains. The formula itself was developed in the very early 1900s and can be subdivided into “molded” and “cast” categories. None of the phenolics could be made in plain white, or colorless.

The molded type came first, around 1913, and is still in use today; although both types are heat-resistant, this form is slightly more so. The molded phenolics are most often seen in the darker shades of browns, deep reds/maroons, and black. The somewhat unpurified formula used in this type of phenolic prevents delicate pastel and other light tints from being produced. It is almost always opaque (never translucent) and vintage pieces are often seen in mottled or swirled colors with black or very dark brown being one of them. Trademarked names for the molded phenolics include: Aqualite, Arcolite, Arochems, Bakelite, Beckopol, Catapond, Catalin, Celoron, Coltrock and Coltwood, Consoweld , Gala, Marblette, Plaskon and Tego. Other non-patented names include crystle, formica (no, really!), indur, lamorok, and many more.

The cast phenolics appeared around 1930 but pretty much disappeared by 1950.  Cast phenolic pieces were relatively thick and could be produced in all colors including pastels and white. It could be opaque, translucent or transparent. Swirl effects were common.  Sometimes a single piece will show both transparent areas and swirly translucent ones. Not quite as heat resistant as the molded phenolics but is still a thermoset; for example, the top of an early 1940s radio cabinet made of a cast phenolic may be blistered from heat buildup while one of the same age but made from a molded phenolic will probably be fine).  Cast-phenolic items were expensive to produce because they could not be molded. Instead, each piece had to be hand-cast and then carved, buffed and polished. This high-cost manufacturing method ultimately led to its demise. Trademarked names for cast phenolics include: Aquapearl, Bakelite, Catalin, crystle, joanite, Marblette, opalon, plyophen, Prystal and textalite. An especially interesting cast phenolic was Bios Glace, made by Lisner in 1935, whereby a clear cast phenolic would be poured over a wood piece placed into a mold. The plastic would coat the wood and solidify into a thick glaze which – being a thermoset – could be then polished to a glass-like brilliance which also acted as a magnifier to bring out the grain of the wood.

Characteristics: The molded phenolics can, obviously, have mold marks whereas the cast items cannot. See above for the colors per type. Produces a low ‘clunk’ sound when tapped, especially if two phenolic pieces are tapped together.
Testing: The classic method for testing for bakelite plastics has been to use a small amount of Simichrome polish on an inconspicuous area; if the swab or other applicator comes away with a yellow or golden color, the item tests positive. However, Simichrome can now be hard to find in many areas of the country and the other testing standby (Formula 409 cleaner) no longer works after Dow changed its chemical formula years ago. Fortunately we can now test by using the widely available LA Awesome Cleaner (original formula) which is available in almost any of the “dollar stores”. A tiny amount applied to a cotton swab will perform the same test that Simichrome and the old 409 used to do.

4. Cellulostics (cellulose acetate). “Cellulostic” is a great word to describe cellulose acetate which is a thermoplastic frequently confused with – and misidentified as – celluloid. Created as a nonflammable alternative to the risky original celluloid, it appeared on the market in the 1930s and was often made in bright, saturated loud “neon” colors although it can also be transparent and can imitate the same natural materials that celluloid could.  Although it is not flammable, it has its own special bete noir: it becomes grossly distorted if exposed to water for any length of time. The surface also has a tendency to crack and craze as a result of exposure to light over time. There were some design challenges too, because it has to be molded rather than cast or carved. The collectible Lea Stein jewelry pieces were made of celluloid (cellulose nitrate) at first but then shifted to using cellulose acetate as the base material, resulting in quite a few pieces being offered as “celluloid” when in fact they are this “cellulostic” instead.
Trademarked names include: Bakelite C.A. (the C.A. designating cellulose acetate), Cinelin, Clearsite, gemloid, joda c/a, Lumarith, macite, midlon a, nixonite and nixon c.a., Plastacele, pyra-shell, Tec, Tenite, and vuepak. Lumarith, Tenite and Plastacele were the ‘big three’ wellknown names in cellulose acetate manufacturing.

Characteristics: Extremely similar to celluloid in weight, appearance, and ‘faux’ applications. Again like celluloid it can be solid or hollow BUT unlike celluloid it cannot be carved or cast; it must be molded. Thus, mold marks can often be present. Unlike celluloid, though, it can appear in bright Crayola-type colors whereas celluloid (with exception of red) is more muted.
Testing:  I would hesitate to test a cellulostic by using hot water, because although theoretically it should take more than just a few seconds of contact with H2O to damage the piece, why take the risk? It is safer to rely on other factors such as color (a celluloid would never be seen in neon green, screaming magenta, hot pink, etc) and weight (celluloid is noticeably lighter). However, if a heat test for odor is used, cellulostics produce a vinegar-y smell due to the presence of acetic acid.

5. Urea plastics (urea formaldehyde). Not widely recognized in its own right, a urea-based plastic under the name Beetle was introduced in 1929 by American Cyanamid. It is generally considered to be a thermoset plastic. The idea behind its development was to compete with celluloid on safety (urea is non-flammable) and with the cellulostics in color range. Urea plastics colors are bright but not loud and strident as the cellulostics were; and in fact it can hold color better over time than any of the celluloids. It could also be made transparent and also with chips of color on white. Urea-plastic faux pearls are made in Asia even today. Unfortunately this material is super-lightweight and very “cheap” in hand-feel, and because it was also relatively brittle it could not be used for intricate carved-look designs. Another entry into the “nobody’s perfect” plastics sweepstakes as far as jewelry is concerned, although ironically it is widely used in manufacturing applications ranging from laminates to paper to fabrics; some sources list it as a thermoplastic because in its liquid form it can be used as an adhesive.
Tradenames for jewelry applications include Arodures, Bakelite Urea, Beckamine, Beetle, Catalin Urea, Daka-Ware, Gala, Insurok, Lamicoid, Lauxite, Plaskon urea, Plyamine, Rhonite, and Richelain.
Characteristics: As light or even lighter weight than celluloid, and even more brittle. It lacks the waxiness of celluloid and the caseins. No grain lines. Can take on any color or combination thereof, or be transparent. Urea plastics are probably the culprit when people remark on “cheap plastic junk jewelry”!
Testing:  Because it can stand on either side of the thermoset/thermoplastic line depending on its exact formulation, no generally accepted test for urea plastics in jewelry appears to be agreed upon.

6. Acrylic plastics are generally referred to under the catch-all name of lucite and rather surprisingly are in the thermoplastic category which means they are subject to heat damage although it must in fairness be said, not nearly as easily as the earlier ones. Lucite itself was developed in the mid-late 1930s by Dupont and was first advertised as such in June 1937. A designer’s dream material, it was lightweight; could be produced in a huge range of opaque, translucent and transparent forms; could be molded, carved, layered, and painted; and was remarkably easy to curve. This last property led to its widespread use on warplane windows and canopies instead of the much heavier glass. Indeed, clear acrylic can do a marvelous job of imitating glass in jewelry.  It should be remembered, however, that not all transparent plastics are acrylics; celluloid, cellulose acetate, urea plastics, polystyrene and even an extremely rare type of Bakelite can also be found in that form.
Characteristics: Heavier than celluloid and the cellulostics, but lighter than the phenolics/bakelite. It has an extremely smooth surface and is room temperature to the touch (glass will be cold or at least cool to the touch). It also produces a ‘clunk’ sound when tapped but not quite as low a sound as does a phenolic; it can be very frustrating to tell the difference!
Testing: Because acrylics are extremely heat-resistant thermoplastics they usually produce no odor when heat is applied unless it is by hot point (never recommended for anything!) or boiling temperature water, in which case it might - or might not - smell slightly sweet. They are usually sufficiently recognizable without this form of testing.
Acrylic plastics have been marketed under the following names, among others: Acrylan, Acryloid, Cadco, Chrystalix, Fiberfil, Gala, Gering MMRW, Joda Acrylic, Lucite, Midlom M, Plexiglass, and Rhoplexes. Lucite and Plexiglass are far and away the most recognizable and both have evolved into being lower-case ‘household names’ although lucite is more commonly used in reference to jewelry and plexiglass when referring to larger articles.

So how important is it to know, when looking at a piece of vintage plastic jewelry, exactly what it is made of? In my opinion the primary consideration should be the overall quality of the piece itself, including the condition. I love old celluloid but have passed up quite a few beautifully detailed and painted old pieces because the photos clearly showed a “diseased” or a damaged area (a new blog entry specifically on celluloid here in the near future). If you fall in love with a brooch does it really matter whether it was made of celluloid, casein, or a phenolic?

If dating is important to you (the age kind, not the social kind, lol) then it may help to know the category of plastic but because there was considerable overlap – other than, perhaps, with the caseins – the plastic itself isn’t determinative. You’d need to add style, findings, and construction methods into the mix in order to get a clearer idea of its age.

In practical real-world terms the type of plastic is most useful in order to determine its care (including identification or testing methods) and for what I call “expectation of value”. In other words, given four late-1930s plain bangle bracelets made of differing materials – celluloid, cellulose acetate, a molded phenolic, and an acrylic – I would expect the one made of cellulose acetate to exhibit the greatest amount of vintage wear, and the ones made of phenolic and acrylic the least, simply by nature of what they are made of. My willingness to pay X amount of dollars for any of them would be influenced at least in part by my expectation of what condition it should be in, given its material + age.

You might also simply like (or hate) the look or feel of specific kinds of plastic. “Moonglow lucite” is a distinctive form and very popular with some collectors while others think it just screams “tacky pearl-wannabe”. Ditto with the plastic pearls found on quite a few multi-strand necklaces made in Hong Kong, Japan and Germany during the 1950s – most people either love them or hate them. Reverse carved/painted and confetti acrylics, carved/molded phenolics vs simple color blocks, painted celluloid vs. celluloid set with rhinestones …. the list goes on and on.  A veritable cornucopia of fascinating plastics to choose from – obviously, Mr. McGuire (in “The Graduate”) was right, even though clearly there is more than “one word” for them!

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Cybis Porcelain – Fakes, Copies and Forgeries, Part II – Part 6 of a Series

The most critical elements in detecting fakes and copies of Cybis porcelain involve the decoration, mould impressions, and applied marks.

PAINTING and DECORATION

This is the subtlest factor in determining whether a piece of Cybis is genuine or fake and is the most challenging to master. The more Cybis sculptures one sees (if not in person then by careful and thorough study of photos of genuine pieces) the easier it will become to recognize the style of painting which has been unique to Cybis through the decades.

There is a very specific and consistent use of colors, tints, and above all the detail of faces and clothing that can only be described as “the Cybis look”. And if there is one area that is make-or-break, it is how the eyes, lips, and face tints are done… most especially the eye area. There is a delicacy and accuracy of touch, and a consistency of style, that identifies a Cybis piece. If an artist could not produce the traditional “Cybis face”, that artist was not employed there very long (if at all).

There are certain colors and tints that may reappear consistently throughout the Cybis line, no matter what the subject of the sculpture, but there is one thing you can rely on without fail (put in caps for emphasis): THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SLOPPILY PAINTED PIECE OF GENUINE CYBIS. Such a piece would never make it out of the workroom door, not even (perhaps especially) with its own artist.

On a genuine Cybis, the lip color never extends beyond the edge of the sculpted lips.

On a genuine Cybis, gold paint is never used for facial features (lips, eyes, or eyebrows).

On a genuine Cybis, upper eyelashes are never painted as individual ‘hairs’; instead, they are merely suggested by a thin solid line along the upper lid… resembling “eyeliner” rather than eyelashes.  Lower eyelashes are never drawn or indicated at all.

On a genuine Cybis, there will be no spots or flecks of paint where they shouldn’t be (painting errors).

Cybis sculptures fall into one of three named (by the studio) categories of decoration:

“Bisque” , aka “white bisque” = plain white matte surface throughout, with no applied color. It should be noted, though, that the bunny ‘Mr. Snowball’ is considered to be a “bisque” sculpture even though he has very pale pink eyes. There is no other color anywhere else on the piece.

“Decorated”, aka “bisque decorated” = a sculpture that has a color, a tint, or gold leaf applied to the original plain white bisque base, in any quantity or location. The surface is still matte (with the exception of any 24k gold paint decoration which by its nature is not a matte surface; a larger gilt decoration such as a crown may also be lightly glazed).  The majority of Cybis sculptures are of this “decorated” type. A few pieces, such as the Madonna ‘Queen of Angels’, were made in both white bisque and decorated versions.

“Stained glass” = this is Cybis’ term for what most people would call a glazed porcelain. It is shiny and smooth to the touch. The glaze is applied to the entire sculpture, not merely to specific parts of it, and it is highly fired. The piece may also be decorated with gold as well. Often the colors are deeper and richer than the more typical shades. Many of the small madonnas and saints done as special commissions for local churches were done in this type of decoration, with gold paint also decorating a halo, a cross that the figure may be carrying, and so forth. The stained glass style of decoration was used far less often on retail pieces than the decorated matte or the all-white bisque (also matte) styles.

There was also “Cypia” which was very rarely used, and not on any sculptures produced during the past 40 years. It was a form of stained glass decoration in which the contours of a white bisque sculpture were subtly highlighted with a soft sepia-tone paint in order to give them even more dimension; the piece was then glazed and re-fired. There is no other color applied to a Cypia decorated piece other than possibly the 24k gold.

It should also be mentioned that silver was never used on Cybis sculptures – only 24k gold paint. Silver is not used for decoration on high-end items, mainly because it will tarnish. The silver band seen on china or porcelain dinnerware is either platinum or palladium. Less expensive items may be trimmed in aluminum leaf. Cybis never used any of these. A piece of Cybis with silver decoration is either a fake, or is a real one that someone decided would look nicer with “silver” trim and added it themselves (which would be regarded as major damage, rendering the piece worthless to any collector).
 
In addition, the eyes on a genuine Cybis piece are painted as ‘focused’ in a normal manner. There will never be one eye looking straight at you while the other eye is painted as if it is looking upward or downward or sideways. That is a foolproof diagnostic factor. Bad eyes = fake Cybis. You can bet on it.

If a piece has applied decorations such as flowers, ribbons, and so forth, this is another area that is almost impossible for a forger to imitate successfully. It takes great skill to properly fashion those elements and that is not what these knockoff companies are about. Such elements cannot be included in the main mould but need to be applied separately after the initial firings. Compare the workmanship of such elements with the delicacy and style shown in a photo of a genuine piece and you will always see the difference in a fake.

IN-MOULD IMPRESSIONS

The location of the mould impression(s) varies by sculpture and it is important to note that there are sculptures  – especially older ones – that have no mould impression at all. On pieces that are not attached to a base and have a flat underside offering sufficient available space, the mould marks are often on the bottom where they are readily seen against the plain white bisque surface. However, this is not a hard and fast rule because some freestanding pieces do have their mould impression elsewhere (such as on the hem of Lady Macbeth’s skirt, where three impressions appear along the edge as shown below). All sculptures that are attached to a base are designed so that the mould impressions are in a visible location. Likewise the occasional design (such the pair of foxes) produced with felt covering the entire bottom (rather than only individual small circles) will also have the mould marks elsewhere.

The mould impression of the Cybis name, unlike the handpainted signature discussed in the next section, typically is in block (non-script) letters. Depending on the piece, the mould may or may not also bear the copyright symbol. Many of the more recent sculptures are also marked either USA or U.S.A. in the mould. You may also find (again according to the specific sculpture) one of several versions of the Cybis logo which is a stylized phoenix. The exact shape of the phoenix has evolved somewhat over the decades but it always faces to the left. Again it is the newer sculptures that are the most likely to have one or both of the latter two mould impressions; older pieces were often made with simply the Cybis name impression, often but not always with the addition of the copyright symbol.

Some sculptures (not all) also have a year mould-mark. This represents the year that the sculpture was first introduced, not the year that the individual piece was actually created! This is an important point to remember when dealing with long-running open editions and limited editions that can often take several decades to be completed. It is impossible to know (by its impression or markings) in what year an individual sculpture was actually made.

Thus a given sculpture may possibly have as few as only one mould impression (the Cybis name) or as many as five (the Cybis name, the copyright symbol, a year, USA or U.S.A, and the phoenix logo).

SIGNATURE

Although any given Cybis sculpture design may have any combination of signature, limited edition number, or in-the-mould impressions, it is important to remember that every sculpture that left the Cybis studio in a legitimate manner was hand-signed in paint with the Cybis name. The location of the Cybis signature will vary by sculpture but it will always be in the same location in all such pieces. For instance the signature appearing on all of the original 1960s/70s ‘Head of Girl’ sculptures is always located behind her left shoulder: It will not be in the center, nor behind her right shoulder, nor in the area where her arm would be if the bust was longer. The signature on every ‘Baby Harp Seal’ is always on the underside of the piece, never anywhere else. The signature and sculpture number on every ‘Lady Godiva’ are always found on the undecorated side of the part of her horse’s trappings that touches the ground, even though that area faces the viewer (an atypical location for a markings, which normally are on the “back” or on the underside, but on that particular sculpture that is where it always occurs); it will never appear on the shorter end of the trappings nor on the end of the horse’s tail. And so on. If the Cybis signature — no matter how similar in style the writing may appear — appears in a location differing from that shown on photos of a genuine sculpture, the authenticity of that piece should be immediately suspect.

At some point the Cybis studio began adding U.S.A (sometimes written USA with no periods between the letters) to the painted signature on some sculpture designs.  Not all designs will have this designation and its absence should not be cause for concern unless all of the other pieces of its type do have it but the one in hand does not. However, it was never ever written as “made in” … if those words appear on any piece, it is without doubt a fake Cybis.

The complete absence of the Cybis signature is a huge red flag; this important point cannot be stressed enough! One of the studio’s cardinal rules has always been that the signature (or limited edition sculpture number) is the last thing added to any piece that leaves the workroom for retail sale. Until very recently (2009/2010) the studio’s policy was that any piece in less than perfect condition would be destroyed; is it possible that an artist could have decided to keep a piece that did not “pass inspection” for his or her own collection or to give to a friend or relative? No doubt that did happen from time to time even though it was against the rules but there would also be no reason for the artist to not add the Cybis signature to it, especially if it was intended as a gift. Why would he/she even further diminish the piece’s value by omitting that? It is also true that the senior artists might do “trial pieces” in varying colorways or decorations initially, but the studio director would always decide whether any of these artist’s proofs were to be kept in the archive rooms, destroyed, or the artist allowed to keep it. However, if the piece was either kept in archive or taken by the artist, it was still always signed Cybis. The lack of a signature will indicate a fake Cybis 99% of the time. The Cybis studio is a very small one (the actual workroom is much smaller than any visitor ever expects); it is not a large retail mass-production facility where things can “disappear” or “walk out of the back door” or “fall off the back of a truck”.

The actual number on a limited edition sculpture can be written either with or without a # symbol preceding it; either is legitimate. The photo of the Lady Macbeth markings shows the # symbol preceding the number, while the example below is on “Elaine, the Lady of the Lake” designating that the sculpture is number 14 of that limited edition. The lack of the # symbol is no cause for concern.

Likewise, an artist’s proof sculpture can be designated with either an AP or an A.P. … even, in at least one instance, written as # A.P. , as it appears on this genuine obtained-from-the-studio artist’s proof  of ‘Beatrice’.

One of the two most critical things to remember about the Cybis signature is that it is always, without fail, hand painted … never ever stamped. Other than the occasional stamp-applied copyright symbol (see next section) all marks that are not in the mould are applied by hand with paint, and the Cybis name is written in a cursive or semi-cursive hand (not in block letters).

The other critical signature factor is its paint color. All genuine marks are always painted in some shade of brown (light brown, golden brown, dark brown, medium brown, an extremely dark brown that appears almost blackish, etc) or in gold gilt. On limited editions it is very common for the sculpture number to be in a darker shade than the Cybis name; this does not indicate a fake or a “fake limited edition”, it is simply because the numbering is always done as the absolute last step in its production.  However, no genuine Cybis mark is ever done in colors such as blue, green, red, purple, silver, etc. Gold gilt is the only legitimate mark color other than some shade of brown, and even that (gold) is not often seen. Gold is typically used when the signature must be on the sculpture (rather than the underside) and the color of the sculpture itself is in shades of brown.  An example is the reddish brown color of the pair of foxes shown in an earlier part of this series; because of the completely felt-covered underside, the five mould marks (Cybis name, copyright symbol, year of introduction, USA,  and phoenix logo) appear in the same area on the body as the signature and number. Whether or not the painted signature appears immediately adjacent to any mould impressions is something that will vary between sculptures and is often based on available space as well as artistic design.

REFERENCE LISTS OF REAL AND FAKE CYBIS MARKINGS

The following is a list of legitimate “applied” (meaning not a mould impression) Cybis marks. With just the one exception, they are always written by hand, with a brush, in paint:

Cybis
Cybis U.S.A. or Cybis USA
the copyright symbol (may be either handpainted or stamped; this is the only legitimate “stamped” paint mark on a Cybis)
AP, A.P., ‘A.P.’ or (rarely) #A.P. or #AP  (all designations of an artist’s proof)
on limited editions, the sculpture number (which may or may not be preceded by a # symbol; either is legitimate)

The following is a list of FAKE Cybis markings. There may well be others… forgers are creative beasts! … but all of these are marks that I have seen on phony pieces. If any of the following designations appear anywhere on the sculpture — no matter how real it appears to be otherwise — it is not a genuine piece of Cybis!

Made in America

Made in USA or Made in U.S.A. (as noted above, it is the “Made in” that brands it as a fake)

Trenton, NJ

Trenton, USA

Made by Cybis or Made in USA by Cybis

Limited Edition or Ltd Ed or Ltd

Cybis Porcelain

Cybis China

Cybis Ltd or Cybis, Inc.

Fine Porcelain

Fine China

the Cybis name stamped rather than handwritten in paint with a brush

the Cybis phoenix logo either handpainted or stamped (i.e., anything other than an in-mould impression)

the actual word porcelain anywhere

the actual word china anywhere

and finally,

any mark whatsoever in an illegitimate paint color such as blue, green, red, purple, silver or any color other than some shade of tan, brown, or (rarely) metallic gold. Note that the very darkest brown may appear to be black but when inspected under at least 10X magnification it will be found to be actually an extremely dark brown.

No matter what any seller may claim to the contrary, any Cybis item bearing any of the above designations is not genuine. Copyists think they are impressing potential buyers by inserting these marks, which are common on other types of decorative ceramics, but in fact they are a dead giveaway that the piece is not a real Cybis.

It should also be mentioned that Cybis never, ever, put a “brand sticker” on any of their sculptures, nor was any kind of Cybis sticker ever created or used. Many years ago I saw an excellent knockoff of the child clown head “Funny Face” in a nonstandard decoration color. The painting quality was fine enough to make me think it may have been a special edition gallery-event item (Cybis did use this piece for more than one of those) and the signature was the right style, location and even paint color…. but when I lifted the sculpture up to examine the underside for mould marks, there as plain as day was a small oval black-and-silver adhesive sticker with a reproduction of the Cybis signature on it. Busted!! There was no point in even looking for mould marks after finding that. It still amazes me that someone could have expended so much effort to create a very professional-looking copy of a Cybis piece only to unwittingly brand it as an undeniable fake by adding a phony sticker….. clearly a case of being too smart for their own good.

This is the final instalment of our series on Cybis porcelain art sculptures; I hope you have enjoyed learning about them!

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Cybis Porcelain – Fakes, Copies and Forgeries – Part 5 of a Series

Just as with many other collectibles, fakes and forgeries of Cybis porcelain do exist and may not be apparant at first or even second glance. The most common “knockoffs” found are of sculptures that do not have any delicate applied elements. The popular busts made in the 1960s, 70s and 80s (such as the Head of Boy, Head of Girl, Eros, Psyche, madonnas wearing a veil, etc) as well as the one-piece animal sculptures (such as many of the bunnies and several of the cats) are very easy for a forger to reproduce. All that is needed is to create a mould from one original piece and in turn use that to make copies. Naturally most forgers lack the same paint tints or artistic style of decoration as the Cybis artists, but I have seen several examples of copies that would definitely fool someone who is not familar with the authentic Cybis “look” and simply relied on the piece being marked Cybis in some way (The examples mentioned are not meant to indicate that those sculptures are usually forgeries, but only to illustrate the sculpture design that is easiest for a forger to successfully replicate.)

Cybis also made quite a few sculptures that do not appear in any literature anywhere; these Special Editions and Special Commissions are discussed in Part 2 of this series. So if a particular Cybis piece – especially if religious-themed – has never been found on eBay or anywhere else, that does not necessarily mean that it is a fake. If the religious piece is relatively small, chances are that it was a special commission for a local church; if it is also glazed rather than bisque, that is even more likely. This is not to say that Cybis never did bisque (matte-finish) special commissions for churches… only that glazed ones seem to have been done more often. Also, not all special commissions were religious pieces although the great majority of them were. An example of a non-religious special commission is the large ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ that was done for the Rolls-Royce owners club and does not appear in any Cybis literature because it was a privately commissioned limited edition.

Another thing to keep in mind when considering any limited edition piece that is marked as an Artist’s Proof (A.P.) and also with a handpainted sculpture number is to question why the sculpture bears both designations. Theoretically an Artist’s Proof is supposed to be one of a kind and thus should not also bear a number in way that all the sculptures in the retail issue do: It should be one or the other (A.P. or normal limited edition) but not both.  Unfortunately the Cybis studio itself has been guilty of adding an AP designation to an already-numbered limited edition piece – especially if the piece was being donated by the studio to a charity auction, in order to hopefully increase its hammer price. So be aware that there are sculptures that came from the studio bearing both designations BUT it would also be easy for an unscrupulous reseller to add an AP designation in the proper color of paint (which is another reason I deplore the studio ever adding AP to an already-numbered piece, thus making it almost impossible to differentiate from a faked artist’s proof).

One must also be aware that certain sculptures were re-issued in a very slightly modified form as ‘Hall of Fame’ editions (see Part 3 of this series for a discussion of these) and to know which sculptures they were, to avoid mistakenly branding a HOF piece as a fake or downsized knockoff.

It’s important to pay close attention to certain key elements when encountering a sculpture that appears at first or even second glance to be Cybis, or is represented by a seller to be Cybis but differs in any respect from reliable photographs of the “genuine article”. A discrepancy in even one should raise caution flags as to the item’s authenticity; more than one simply increases the odds that it is a fake. Let’s begin with the sculpture mould itself:

THE MOULD

An understanding of how most “faux Cybis” are created is key. As mentioned above, the most likely candidates for fakery are sculptures that are produced using only one design mould, have no delicate applied decorations such ribbons, lace, tendrils, leaves or flowers, and are mainly rounded shapes.

The “knockoff maker” will acquire a genuine Cybis sculpture and then make their own mould(s) from it. However, in most cases (unless they are extremely stupid or extremely confident that they will never get caught) they will deliberately make some very small and/or subtle change to the mould that they create. For instance, the company that produced the bogus unsigned Head of Boy and Head of Girl sculptures fairly often seen on eBay chose to add a small wavy lock of hair to the right front of the girl’s hairline; neither the genuine Head of Girl nor its HOF version have any such bit of hair. However, all of the bogus pieces have it because it was deliberately added to their mould. If you compare a photo of the two side-by-side, the difference is easy to see; there is also a slight difference in the shape of the faces – the lower face of the genuine Girl is modeled more delicately and the bogus one is slightly wider. There is also a subtle but detectable difference in the shape of the lips. However, anyone taking only a cursory look at a photo of the genuine piece, without taking the time to compare a bogus one to it in detail, might well assume it is an “unsigned Cybis” and list it for sale as such. These occurrences are not by any means confined to eBay; quite a few auction houses and antiques and estate item sellers are guilty of failing to perform a detailed comparison before offering a sculpture as a genuine Cybis.

The manufacturers of such knockoffs, imitiations, and copies — call them what you will — often make these subtle changes, and/or produce the pieces unsigned, because they believe that if their products are discovered and they are sued for copyright infringement they will be able to claim that their items are “not exactly the same as the Cybis pieces” and that by omitting the Cybis signature “there was no intent to deceive”. Depending on the judge, this specious defense may or may not be effective; in most cases it is not, because clearly these are an unauthorized use of someone else’s copyrighted design.

BASES

Cybis traditionally used specific colors and finishes and shapes for their bases and very rarely departed from those norms. When they did do so, all of those sculptures were produced with the same base. For instance, Cybis did not often use a black wood base but there are a few exceptions. The regular open edition of the George Washington bust is attached to their traditional brown wood/matte finish base, but the separate 1976 Bicentennial edition of that sculpture is mounted on a black/satin finish base onto which is affixed a special silvertone medallion. The ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ special commmission run of 75 sculptures is mounted on a black semi-gloss wood base which was specifically designed for that sculpture. Also, the Hall of Fame editions of the “Head of Girl” and “Head of Boy” are mounted on a very dark, almost-black wood although the original 1963-1970 sculptures are on a brown wood base. Thus for any of the HOF versions of these, a black wood base is “legitimate”… however, a genuine ‘Beatrice’ (below) would never have a base differing from the one shown.

Even more rare were bases with any kind of routed top edges. The vast majority of Cybis bases are plain squares or rectangles. Again the exceptions are consistent: the limited editions ‘American White Buffalo’ and ‘Charging Buffaloes’ all have an accompanying large heavy mahogany base which does have a beveled top edge. Several of the very early 1940s “papka” sculptures have routed bases but these would never be confused with any of the 1950s and later studio pieces. And they never produced a base with any kind of incised carving on the sides, no matter what shape or size of the base itself. Nor did any base ever have any sort of painted or gilt decoration. The only decorative element ever added to a base would be (in specific cases) an attached medallion (e.g., Bicentennial George Washington) or engraved placque (e.g., ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ and ‘Columbia’).

There are occasional instances of a sculpture having a base that is neither rectangular or square. The madonna and child sculpture ‘House of Gold’, and the Skylark pair,  are excellent examples, their bases being a modified oval with a front edge that curves in and out and also is contoured with a gentle inward curve below the top edge before flaring outward again. This would be described as a “contoured” base. Also, a few of the bird/botanical pair sculptures, such as the ‘Blue Headed Vireos with Lilac’, have low bases that are a freeform shape.

For sculptures that originally came with an accompanying base, rather than being physically attached to one, the matter of legitimacy comes down to personal preference. Take for example the ‘Pinto Colt’ from the 1970s which depicts a pinto colt lying down with one forefoot slightly bent and a pair of feathers woven into his mane. The base that accompanies this sculpture is a rarity among Cybis because it has a velveteen fabric top. In fact to my knowledge this is one of only two sculptures that Cybis ever produced with a fabric-topped base (the other was the base that accompanied another horse sculpture, called ‘Darby and Joan’; that base was topped with green velveteen). The Pinto Colt’s base is rectangular, dark brown wood, and the fabric top is a golden brown color (what most people would think of as topaz). The colt is not attached to the base; he is simply placed upon it. The ideal would be for this piece to come with its original base. But suppose you saw a genuine mint condition Pinto Colt, or Darby and Joan, for sale but with a plain wood base? The base is clearly not the original, and so while the sculpture is genuine the base is not. Or perhaps it has no accompanying base at all. Are both of these still genuine Cybis? Yes they are, but the lack of its original base means that they are not “as produced.” Depending on how much it matters to have a piece exactly as it was when it left the Cybis studio, its value to a buyer may or may not be lessened (especially in the cases of the Pinto Colt and Darby & Joan, due to the uniqueness of their particular base). However, the sculpture itself is still genuine.

FELTING on the UNDERSIDE

It’s worth mentioning that the presence or absence of felt circles (or even completely felted undersides) is not an indication of either fakery or damage. Cybis was wildly inconsistent as to which pieces were produced with any kind of felting applied to the underside, but for each sculpture the felting (if any) was always the same. The photos below show the undersides of three bunnies, all similar and all first introduced during the 1980s,  and how the undersides can legitimately vary between sculpture designs. The first  is ‘Jellybean’ which has small green felt circles (Cybis typically used only green or grey felt).

The second bunny is ‘Snowflake’, introduced in 1985 and which has no felt circles at all.

And last we have ‘Bunnykins’, introduced in 1989 and produced with felt circles. Also note that ‘Bunnykins’ also has “paw pad” mould impressions which is extremely rare for any Cybis animal sculpture… or any design for that matter. However, for this sculpture this impressed detail is legitimate.

The topic of how to recognize Cybis fakes and copies will conclude in the next instalment and will cover painting, decoration, signatures and marks.

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