DELIZZA & ELSTER JEWELRY (JULIANA)

Introduction:

The excitement of the “hunt” is one of the reasons collecting vintage costume jewelry is a popular pursuit. It is fun to find a beauty on a flea market table, at an estate sale, or at an auction.

DeLizza & Elster jewelry is findable. It is beautiful, distinctive, and well made. It was also produced in great quantities for a long time. The challenge is not to find DeLizza & Elster jewelry. The challenge is to find and identify the “best” DeLizza & Elster designs.

Dates of Operation: 1947 – 1990

History: In the early 1920s William DeLizza began his jewelry career as a model maker at Trifari. He was self-taught often working at home. William and his business partner Renato Cofini opened R. C. Novelty during WWII making sterling silver designs. In 1947 William DeLizza parted ways with Cofini to partner with Harold Ester, forming DeLizza & Elster.

DeLizza & Elster was a rhinestone wholesale manufacturer. William designed the jewelry to be manufactured in the factory and Ester sold the jewelry to clients. Sometimes the jewelry was put on cards with the client’s name and sometimes the brand names were placed on the jewelry. Jewelry designed by DeLizza & Elster was often customized for a customer. William’s goal was to invent and incorporate new designs and manufacturing techniques to keep their line ahead of the competition.

Frank DeLizza started working with his father and Harold Elster in 1947. He remained until they closed in approximately 1989 – 1990.

DeLizza & Elster jewelry was never marked with the DeLizza & Elster name. For a short time in 1964 – 1966 DeLizza & Elster marketed their designs under the name Juliana Jewelry. It was also unsigned but sold with removable paper tags.

Resources

Several books have been written about DeLizza & Elster jewelry. Each reference offers a different, valuable perspective.

The DeLizza & Elster jewelry shown in Ann Pitman’s book Juliana Jewelry Reference DeLizza & Elster Identification & Value Guide was vetted by Mr. Frank DeLizza and several experienced collectors. Aside from beautiful photographs of jewelry, the captions provide accurate names for the stones and dates when the stones first appeared in the DeLizza & Elster line.

Author’s Note: I am fortunate to be in contact with Ann Pitman, the author of this essential DeLizza & Elster resource. She generously gave me her express permission of use information from this book in this article.

This hardcover book is rare and expensive. Fortunately for collectors Ann Pitman is selling this title in an eBook format. Go to her Facebook page for more information on how to obtain a copy.  (20+) JulianaJewelryBook | Facebook   

Frank DeLizza’s book Memoirs of a Fashion Jewelry Manufacturer provides detailed information on the day-to-day, year-to-year operation of the company.

Frank DeLizza has done the fashion world a huge service by providing an accurate, insider’s look at the jewelry manufacturing business. It is a fascinating memoir with industry stories and manufacturing details. While there are some pictures and illustrations in this book, it is NOT a picture book. It is a memoir. Read it slowly and bask in the amazing gems of information on each page about the costume jewelry industry.

This is a beautiful book by Katerina Musetti with large photos and a wonderful tutorial on the traits of DeLizza & Elster jewelry. There is also a large section on DeLizza & Elster figural jewelry.

Katerina Musetti is an opera singer who wore DeLizza & Elster’s designs on stage. In the preface Katerina writes:

It takes the place of my fine jewelry as it sparkles like diamonds under the stage lights. Juliana jewelry is the perfect choice for that little bit of “diva” within us all.

Musetti, Preface The Art of Juliana Jewelry

Juliana Jewelry The Last Generation focuses on DeLizza & Elster jewelry from the 1970s – 1980s. Co-authors Paula Knutson & Karla Wacker published this book showcasing DeLizza & Elster designs, from many knowledgeable collectors. These designs are vastly different from the 1960s rhinestone jewelry.

Wacker and Knutson also host a website at www.isitjulianajewelry.com that helps identify DeLizza & Elster designs by searching a database for specific traits: color, stone, beading, enamel, and more. Many designs shown in the database are from a Juliana Jewelry Study Group on Facebook.

Hardware Traits:

Today the unsigned DeLizza & Elster and Juliana jewelry is identified/verified from books, online resources, and hardware traits.

The following hardware traits are clues that an unsigned piece may be DeLizza & Elster. To be certain, it must be verified by a book, a reliable online source or an established DeLizza & Elster expert.

The following are a few examples of DeLizza & Elster links, connectors, earring backs and clasps.

Links: Most links are either oval or rectangular in shape. There are usually five links in a bracelet, but not always.

Connectors: The following connectors are some of the most often seen designs used in the construction of DeLizza & Elster five-link bracelets.

Definition: In jewelry a connector is a finding that connects two elements together.

Clasps: DeLizza & Elster clasps are sometimes decorated with stones, plain, or etched.

Earring backs: DeLizza & Elster used several earring back styles. The two below are the most frequently found designs.

Five-Link Bracelets and Link Earrings

Sets including a five-link bracelet and link earrings are the easiest designs to identify as DeLizza & Elster.

Many collectors buy beautiful link earrings in hopes of finding a matching bracelet.

Brand Trait: Wire-over details are a recognized brand trait for some DeLizza & Elster designs.

Two additional views of the wire-over detail.

These DeLizza & Elster 1″ oval-link earrings have beautiful dark amethyst emerald cut stones but no wire-over detail.

The light rose and golden topaz sets below include carved marquis or navette stones. This “pinwheel” shaped jewelry is an easily found and recognizable design. It was made in several colors including light rose, yellow, and blue (not shown).

The distinctive five-link bracelet found with the yellow pin further establishes this as a DeLizza & Elster design.

Both of these pins also exhibit a distinctive DeLizza & Elster brand trait called figure eight or rhinestone puddling.

Brand Trait: As part of the construction, two or three cup lengths of preset rhinestones are soldered to a design. In this case, a solid line of three cups is attached to one of the “arms” of the pins. When the cups are plated, the plating puddles around the cups, like a figure eight.

Not all DeLizza & Elster designs have rhinestone or figure 8 puddling. However, it is an often-found trait in DeLizza & Elster designs and an important identification clue.

Rare, Beautiful, Distinctive Stones and Stone Placement

Many highly collectible DeLizza & Elster designs incorporate beautiful stones in the design. It is important to identify the stones frequently used in DeLizza designs and to study the placement of the stones in the designs.

The next section showcases beautiful and recognizable DeLizza & Elster jewelry designs.

Stippled Cabochon Stones

The following three DeLizza & Elster sets feature large, oval, cabochon stones in various colors all “splattered” with lumps of gold paint. A stone decorated in this way is called a stippled cabochon.

Definition: Stippling refers to decorating a surface with dots, splatters, or random bits of material. In painting, stippling is often used to create shadows and add texture.

Although stippled cabochons are found in designs from other brands, DeLizza & Elster jewelry is strongly associated with stippled stones. DeLizza & Elster combined stippled cabochons with colorful rhinestones of various shapes, colors and sizes.

Brand Trait: Colorful designs with stippled cabochon stones are a brand trait for DeLizza & Elster. The way the colorful rhinestones accent the stippled cabochon stone colors is distinctive and recognizable. One vibrant, eye-catching color often stands-out in the designs.

The shape of the following pin is round. The oval stones are called blue stippled cabochon. (Pitman, p. 19) They are arranged in a trio around the crystal aurora borealis center stone.

The accent stones are fuchsia, crystal aurora borealis, sapphire, and Indian sapphire (a smokey sapphire color). In this design, fuchsia is a strong color used to add interest and vibrancy in a predominantly blue color palette.

Brand Trait: DeLizza & Elster designs often feature open-backed stones, especially marquis-shaped stones.

Many collectors refer to the cabochons in the following DeLizza & Elster set as “Easter egg” stones. The correct name is coral gold splattered. Stippled cabochon stones first appeared in the DeLizza and Elster design book in 1963. (Pitman, p. 18)

Once a design was perfected, DeLizza & Elster manufactured it in various color combinations. In this case, the necklace has slightly different eye-catching accent stones than the pin and earrings. The pin and earrings have hyacinth stones outlining the shapes. The necklace features bright golden topaz stones.

The DeLizza & Elster set below features stippled white cabochon stones. (Pitman, p. 26) All of the pieces in this set have the same accent colors. The long, thin marquis-shaped stones (called skinny navette) in golden topaz are the main accent color. Shades of aurora borealis stones add additional sparkle.

Rose Limoge Stone

The following DeLizza & Elster set features a beautiful floral stone called Rose Limoge first used by DeLizza & Elster in 1965. (Pitman, p. 42)

Rivoli Stones

The DeLizza & Elster blue rivoli stones in the set below have a completely different “look” than the lovely Rose Limoge floral above. The rivoli stones are so bright, the tiny floral details surrounding the center stone are overwhelmed by the color.

Filigree Beads

Manufacturers like DeLizza & Elster routinely sourced innovative, alternative materials for their designs. In his book Memoirs of a Fashion Jewelry Manufacturer Frank DeLizza discusses the challenges the company faced to compete in the busy, ever changing jewelry business.

As I look through my sketch books, I realize that they only represent part of a year’s work, because we would continually add new items to the line and we were always making confined items for one customer or another. Our line was always long and full of new looks, yet it was never enough. It was a fight to keep the factory fully employed and keep ourselves satisfied.

DeLizza, p. 65

The filigree bead elements used in the following leaf-shape pin were first introduced to the DeLizza line in 1963. (Pitman, p. 64) They give a leaf motif design an innovative and distinctive new look.

Brand Trait: A double rhinestone stem is seen in other DeLizza & Elster leaf designs.

Brand Trait: DeLizza & Elster produced several different designs featuring these distinctive filigree beads.

Paisley Beads

DeLizza & Elster designed many versions of a long leaf pin decorated with beads. The set below features a specialty bead called a paisley bead. The paisley beads were first seen in 1966, 1967. (Pitman, p. 77)

Green cabochon stones run along the stem, under the beads. A head pin, with a rose montée aurora borealis stone, is threaded through the bead setting and then through metal loops attached to the spine of the leaf.

In his book Memoirs of a Fashion Jewelry Manufacturer Frank DeLizza writes about the origin of designs with beaded elements.

In 1959 my father came up with the idea to link beads on top of jewelry…We had to buy looping tools to head pin and loop all the beads we were linking on to the jewelry.

DeLizza, p. 43

The adorable donkey pin below also features paisley beads. Due to the colors and the movement the beads are the central point of focus in this design. They are also a recognizable, distinctive DeLizza & Elster design element.

Geode Stones

Both pair of earrings below feature oval geode stones. The stones on the left are called oval stippled smooth. These stones were first seen in 1960. The earrings on the right are crystal aurora borealis geode quartz stones first seen in 1970. (Information about both pairs from Pitman, pgs. 87, 88.)

Coffin Stones (Hexagon)

Colorado topaz, hexagon shaped stones (also called coffin stones) are the stars of this eye-catching DeLizza and Elster design. It first appeared in DeLizza design books in 1958. (Pitman, p. 89)

The leaf brooch is slightly asymmetrical in shape. The star-shaped earrings are fully symmetrical. Eye-catching hyacinth stones outline the leaf shape.

Flawed Emerald Stones

Ann Pitman in her book Juliana Jewelry Reference DeLizza & Elster Identification & Guide, writes a beautiful description of a DeLizza and Elster flawed emerald necklace (not shown here). The brooch below is a piece from that collection.

One of the most superior designs from D & E, in my opinion, is this magnificent flawed emerald necklace. This was from 1964 and was also designed with Rubinite glass stones, the ruby imitation.

Pitman, pg. 111

Cat’s Eye

The oval cat’s eye cabochon stones in this design were first used by DeLizza & Elster in 1958. (Pitman, p. 112)

Definition: In nature, a cat’s eye stone is a gemstone that is cut and polished to produce a luminous marquis shaped band across the surface resembling the shape of a cat’s eye.

In costume jewelry, cat’s eye stones are oval glass opal stones. They were available in many different colors. The opals in this bracelet are dark blue or black opal glass cabochon stones.

Hematite

The DeLizza & Elster set below is recognizable by the use of hematite teardrop stones accented with Siam and light Siam aurora borealis stones. The shape is round with an asymmetrical placement of stones in the center. The large teardrop hematite stone framed by light Siam stones is the point of central focus. This design was first seen in 1963. (Pitman, p. 173)

The elegant set below is another example of a DeLizza & Elster design featuring hematite stones. In this design oval and marquis shaped stones are set in an elegant bed of black diamond rhinestones.

The DeLizza & Elster hematite necklace below measures 17 1/4″ with a 2 1/4″ attached pendant. It was first seen in the DeLizza line in 1966. (Pitman, p. 227)

The pendant earrings are a well-known DeLizza shape featuring skinny navette or marquis shaped stones accented with black diamond rhinestones.

All of the stones in this design are in closed-back settings.

Etched Floral

DeLizza & Elster designs featuring etched floral stones are highly collectible. This double bloom pin is a well-balanced asymmetrical floral design.

Givre stones dominate the design of this next pin. Givre refers to stones, usually glass, with an opaque color in the center.

Rhinestone Designs

This lovely ruby and crystal aurora borealis pin is shown in topaz on page 218 of the Pitman book. It is the same design as the book piece in a different color combination.

It is important to look for shapes and patterns in the design over and above the colors when matching jewelry.

The following pin matches DeLizza & Elster flower spray pins featured on pages 198 – 200 of the Pitman book.

Brand trait: Thick heavy rivets, like those shown above, are a recognizable hardware trait in some DeLizza & Elster designs.

This well-known DeLizza & Elster set is a sunburst design consisting of a symmetrical round shape with lines radiating from the center. It first appeared in the DeLizza line in 1962. (Pitman, p. 210)

One of the rarest and most beautiful DeLizza & Elster sets is called the pennant flag group by Ann Pitman on page 219. Triangles are the star in this pin consisting of alternating long marquis stones with triangular stones. Each point is outlined by aurora borealis rhinestones topped with a fuchsia stone.

This following set is an especially colorful DeLizza & Elster design with large, faceted golden topaz stones accented with orange and green stones.

Author’s Note: I reach for and wear the following DeLizza & Elster long-stemmed flower pin more than any other flower in my collection. It never fails to attract admirers and is light enough to wear all summer.

“Skinny” navette stones in pin wheel shapes comprise this light-weight lovely DeLizza & Elster design. The navette stones are black diamond (gray) with crystal aurora borealis centers. It is a dimensional design measuring 2 1/8″. The clip earrings are 1 1/4″.

DeLizza & Elster Figural Jewelry

Popular with collectors, DeLizza & Elster figural designs are distinctive, colorful, and full of personality.

Author’s Conclusion:

The jewelry shown in this section has been carefully researched. To the best of my knowledge, it was designed by DeLizza & Elster. I assume full responsibility for any mistakes in identification. As an experienced collector, identifying DeLizza & Elster jewelry remains a challenge. I consulted the above books, knowledgeable experts, and online resources before posting this section.

DeLizza & Elster sold and manufactured designs for other brands including Hobé, Alice Caviness, Kramer, Celebrity, and many more. They often customized their designs to meet the needs of each brand. This is why there are so many signed pieces with DeLizza & Elster design and hardware traits in the collectible market.

It is important to remember that some brands (like Alice Caviness) also operated their own factories. Jewelry was designed and made in their factories and other designs were acquired from DeLizza & Elster or other manufacturers. There were hundreds of jewelry manufacturers in New York at the time. Sweeping conclusions that DeLizza & Elster designed ALL of Kramer jewelry or ALL of Hobé jewelry are inappropriate. Each design must be individually vetted.

All of these factors – and the sheer beauty of the jewelry – makes collecting DeLizza & Elster jewelry tricky, challenging, and rewarding. Do your due diligence and this can be a fun collecting adventure. There is nothing more sparkly than a box of DeLizza & Elster jewelry!