Friday, December 3, 2010

Vintage Holly Christmas Bling

signed Trifari gold holly pin with red
Enjoy getting ready for Christmas!

I haven't started decorating for Christmas yet, so I decided to post something from my costume jewelry collection that was seasonal.  The gold toned pin shown above is a 'Trifari' pin from probably the 1950's or 1960's.  What is fun about this pin is that I have this pin in 3 different styles or configurations of metal and rhinestones and pearls. 
designer signed Trifari gold holly pin with pearls
Silver Trifari holly pin with pearls
I like the holly pin with red berries best.  
Silver Trifari holly pin with pearls

I first saw this pin in 2001-2002, when I started buying costume jewelry on Ebay.  I liked the pin but didn't get one.  After several years of seeing the gold and silver configurations, I bought them because they were cute and affordable.  The gold with pearls (and no rhinestones) is the style I see the most on Ebay, and the silver one with pearls and rhinestones is 'rarer'.  But the style I liked most, with red berries and rhinestones I didn't see again until 2009-2010.  I began to think some clever restorer had substituted red beads for pearls.  When I finally saw the pin again, I made sure I won the bid to finish out my group. 

I have more pieces of designer jewelry, and have watched the prices of some of the pieces go up over the years.  Unlike my stocks from the same decade.  Perhaps this is a sign that I should buy more things on Ebay?  ;)

A piece of jewelry is called a "signed designer piece" when the manufacturer or designer's name or symbol is on the piece.  You can see the stamped name Trifari on the back of this pin.  Trifari was a jewelry manufacturer that created good costume jewelry from the 1930's for many decades.  They created metal alloys that looked like gold and silver and didn't tarnish over time, and they used quality rhinestones an imitation pearls.      

vintage Santa line art
Click on the images to see them enlarged.



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I'm linking up to the following memes:
Shabby Chic for Transformation Thursday (I was entry 325 of 343).

Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingies Thursday (I was entry 49 of 52.)
A Picture is Worth for 2nd Time Around (I was entry 13). 
Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thur (I was entry 25 of 27).
Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday 92, (I was entry 91 of 97.)
Romantic Home for Show and Tell  (I was entry 100 of 227).
Jessica for Favorite Things Friday (I was entry 29 of 115). 
Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration 14 (I was entry 46 of 76). 
Linda for A La Carte Finds 5 (I was entry 14 of 24).
French Country for Feathered Nest Friday (I was entry 57 of 113).

11 comments:

Sue McPeak said...

I've collected Trifari pins and costume jewelry for many years. I'd love to have any of the pins you showed today. I'm always picking up pins at gargae sales, thrift and antique shops and checking out the backs. Thanks for showing the designer stamps. I'm visiting from Linda's Junkin Friday Finds.

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Your pins are lovely. I remember having Christmas pins when I grew up. We wore them on our coats when we went to church. Wish I still had them. Thank you so much for joining my meme Junkin Finds Friday!!

Bonnie@Creative Decorating said...

This reminds me of my mom. She had a gold leaf pin. Not sure what happened to it. Thanks for a memory!!

Marigene said...

What a cool pin, Jeanne!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful vintage jewelry!

Courtney ~ French Country Cottage said...

Really beautiful jewelry - I love the leaves and berries! Thank you for sharing at Feathered Nest Friday! :)

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage said...

Jeanne, your pins are terrific! They would make a pretty Christmas decoration displayed in a unique way.

Thanks for linking to my party each week.

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com

Debra@CommonGround said...

These area really gorgeous, love the berries and then the gold with pearls. Hope you've been able to get started with the decor! Thanks for linking up with VIF!
hugs,
Debra

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

All of them are so pretty. The last one is also my favorite. I need to do some research about vintage jewelry. I have a lot of my mother's and grandmother's costume jewelry, but I don't think any of it is signed. I'm so glad you linked to Favorite Things Sat. laurie

GardenOfDaisies said...

These holly pins are really pretty too!!! I love leaf shaped brooches.

Anonymous said...

I remember my mother used to have several Christmas pins. I wish she kept them! I actually just designed my first pin from my Nutcracker illustration. I'm so excited! Please take a peek at: https://mycreativeresolution.com/shop/ Thank you! Eileen