It is a beautiful day, so I decided this morning to write a blog post and then go outside to enjoy the sunshine. Today’s topic is a brief history of La Via Parisienne jewelry by Catherine Popesco and French jewelry by Pierre Bex. The vintage art deco and art nouveau designs from both companies are not only similar, sometimes they are identical.
Catherine Popesco founded La Via Parisienne jewelry in the 1970s. Originally the jewelry was made from vintage molds and stamping she sourced in France. The jewelry was new but made from molds dating to the late 1800s through the 1940s.
Briefly the process began with a base metal that when heated was soft enough to stamp with the old molds. Then, preserving the art deco and art nouveau details, the jewelry was enameled and coated with a clear finish. Some designs included Swarovski crystals.
La Vie Parisienne remains in business today but no longer offers this type of stamped jewelry. The original studio was in the Loire Valley, France. Catherine Popesco now lives in Santa Monica, CA. Her jewelry is sold wholesale at many retailers and can be seen at lavieparisienne.com
Catherine Popesco jewelry from these molds/stampings was signed and has a distinctive “look”.
Vintage Popesco jewelry is available online for reasonable prices. The dragonfly above would sell for under $35.00.
Pierre Bex jewelry was manufactured in France from the late 1960s – 1980s. It was made using many of the same old molds and stampings with much the same process as the Popesco designs. The remaining inventory of Bex jewelry is currently available online at pierre-bex.com
I found the same dragonfly on the Bex site. It is listed under butterflies, but it is the same mold with the same details. Bex jewelry is also currently available on ETSY and it is unsigned. I do not know if it was ever signed.
This brings me to a tiny mystery. Who made the following unsigned earrings? I bought them at a flea market many years ago.
Answer: Sadly, I don’t know who made these earrings. They certainly appear to have been stamped from antique French molds. There are similar earrings on the Bex site, but not an exact match. I also do not know if any Popesco earrings were unsigned.
Signatures matter, so it is not surprising the signed Catherine Popesco jewelry is holding its value better in the collectible market than unsigned Bex examples.
Now that my dragonfly has been released from storage, I’m going to pin it to my denim jacket and see how much attention it gets. Fun!
Happy Collecting,
Love,
Julie