It's been the thrill of a lifetime to get to explore the vintage archives at 1928 Jewelry Company. Not only was I allowed to spend days studying over their library of over 35,000 castings....but now, we are working on exploring all the old catalogs, samples, recipe boards of finished goods. That would be, finished jewelry the company released long ago, or old prototype models that just never got into production.
Ingrid Anderson is a jewelry artist who also loves to collect 1928 jewelry. She is privileged to own quite a few rather rare pieces. The beautiful heart-shaped magnifying glass in the photo above is part of her collection and the photo is also hers. From this photo, Mr. Bernie and his assistants at the company were able to locate the mold and reprise the necklace just exactly as it was originally made. This allowed me the privilege of being able to offer it again as a very limited edition piece.
(I sold quite a few of the magnifying necklaces from the reprise run, but I do still have several left in stock. They are 68.00 each)
We are currently reserving custom made necklaces made from another wonderful old casting. The mold goes back to very early times for the company; on my very first visit to the factory in Burbank, California, I had the opportunity to 'discover' it. Intrigued, I asked Mr. Bernie for a price so that maybe, we could put it into the B'sue by 1928 line.
Here is a shot of the original mold, just as I found it:
Here is a collage of photos of the finished piece:
Because of the way the stone has to be mounted into the mold, we felt it just was not going to work for B'sue by 1928. The artisan plater that I use would not be able to apply our special finishes correctly to make it a good fit for the line.
As a result, we decided to release it as it was originally made back in the day--- complete with barrel clasp and tag, just like all the older 1928 pieces. Just the same, this time, we shortened the chain to 26 inches so that it could be a great layering piece. It just looks better on a bit shorter chain! (Original was 30 inches.)
If you wonder what the original looked like, it is in the collage above in the lower right section. Again, this piece belongs to Ingrid Anderson. The original was antique gold finish with an opaque black glass stone.
Since we were changing it up a little bit for this piece, we decided to really customize the pieces. We offer antique gold OR antique silver finish. You can have it in the black stone, or a crystal, see through stone. We also offering it in several vintage glass moonstones: amethyst, pink, green, blue or white pearl moonstone. The customer may choose plating shade as well as stone!
So far the best seller is silver finish with white pearl moonstone! After that, gold with white pearl moonstone, and then silver with the amethyst. And the price is NICE. 39.95---PPD in the US! If you miss the pre-sale reservation, not to worry, I am getting some extras for my stock.
Another piece that Mr. Bernie reprised for me in very limited edition was this spinner.....and there's a nifty little story to go with it!
My friend Ellen Gonchar sent me a photo of a piece that she suspected was 1928. She was bidding on it at auction and wondered what I thought. She sent me quite a few photos of it, and I felt very confident that indeed, it WAS an vintage 1928 piece.
So I shot the photo over to the factory by email. Mr. Bernie said, "No, Brenda, I do not think we made that!"
But I had the evidence!
He and his assistants searched all morning to find the mold. His secretary stayed in contact with me all the time to report progress. He couldn't remember the piece at ALL....but he WAS going to find that mold by hook or by crook!
And THAT, he surely did! He still could not remember it ever being in the line, and they had nothing on it. So, the guess was that it may have been a prototype piece that never did go beyond samples. Nonetheless, triumphant, Mr. Bernie made me a short run of them in the original gold and also in silver. When I released them on my Facebook page, my allotment sold out in literally hours.....
As did this nifty little pill bottle necklace:
The initial run that I had was quite large, so was quite relieved to sell over 80 of them the first couple of days on Facebook. I did so well that I got a second run, and we still have some in stock in silver at 38.00 plus a tiny shipping charge.
The original was shared with me the first time I went out to the factory, last summer. I couldn't forget about it! In fact, I discovered that it, itself had been copied from a very old mid-Victorian silver chatelaine:
Yep, there it is, same exact thing, except the one made by 1928 had a much more ornate pattern.
When I went out again last winter, we started making plans to get busy ferreting out the old archived pieces. The pill bottle was, I think, our first reprise. Originally, I wanted the bottle for B'sue by 1928, but it just didn't work out right to put it in that line. I sure didn't have them long when they finally came in from California.
We have done so many pretty pieces since then.....here's a little picture show for you!
The perfume pendant above was so much fun! I was just out there visiting again May, and that's when I saw it!
Mr. Bernie said he would make it again for me, if I would go out into the factory and find the right decal. Well, that was something I actually knew where to go, and get it for him. As soon as I came home, we did the pre-sale. It took about five weeks to get them, but the work to make this hollow vial was intense. Casting filigree so intricately as this is quite an art.
Everyone that got one agreed, it was worth the wait!
Here is the mold for that piece:
The purse locket below was in the 1928 line for a long time, but it is being re-made as a short run for B'sue Boutiques again:
I also had him try the stamps locket that is currently in the ANTIQUITIES COUTURE line, in silver. Normally it is only found in gold.
I still have a very few of these in stock as well.
Some that we are currently or will soon be working on:
This perfume pendant was a beautiful gift from another collector and jewelry artist, Suzanne Valeriano:
Here is the mold for it!
We will also be working on this book locket:
One that was just recently finished:
These, I have in stock in limited amounts.....mostly silver, some gold and a few in rose gold. The top of the heart pops up to open the locket! Very unique! They are 42.00 each.
And there are so many more....a seahorse magnifier is in production right now and my sample should be coming in soon. There is a fabulous Art Nouveau pendant locket to do, it's one that also was in Ingrid's collection. There is almost not a day gone by that we are not talking about bringing certain old pieces back in limited editions, just to see what happens...or working on revamping an old design. Mr. Bernie likes to share his current projects with me, too.
It won't be long now til my next trip to the 1928 Jewelry Company in September. I'll be there for a week. For two of the days, I will be joined by ten inquiring minds, students, colleagues and customers....all who love the company. We will be allowed to use the conference room there to conduct a master seminar. There will be some spirited and lively discussions!
Don't worry....We will take LOTS of pictures! And if I don't get worn out by the excitement of that, I'll be back checking the archives for new ideas and experimenting with a few new ideas that we have been discussing during the rest of my stay. We might work on learning to etch glass for one of the ideas...but who knows where that will go.
For sure, it will be FUN!
If you are interested in any of the items in this blog post, you can contact me by calling 1-800-868-4393 9-5 Mon-Sat and 2-9pm Sundays, or at my Facebook page for B'sue by 1928: https://www.facebook.com/bsueby1928/
