The family of Schreiner Jewelry Post

[beekeeper_42]

The family of Schreiner Jewelry are still alive and kicking.  Mom, Terry, is 89, and can't believe how my parents, and grandfathers creations have become so collectable.  My dad's , Ambros, famous ruffle pin retailed for $7.50 in the mid 1950ss.  It now often sells for over $750.00.  She is also very unhappy of crooked dealers claiming they have unsigned Schreiner, when it's not even close to anything we produced.  I have written a dealer in Cal. several times to remove things that are clearly not Schreiner.  She accused me of being another dealer trying to make her look bad... really!  Buyers beware of anything unsigned unless you have experience identifing Schreiner pieces, and don't believe them if they claimed it's verrified.  Sometimes I will post on a piece if it is clearly a Schreiner piece, and allow the seller to use my post.  Many books have poor information about my family's business.  One dealer claimed Sphinx is a hallmark of Schreiner, and listed some book from the 70ss, that stated it.  Schreiner Jewelry was only made in NYC, not in Europe, or any place else.  We did design for many of the best ready-to-wear, designers of the 30ss- 70ss, that was sold to them unsigned, but only made by us in NYC.  These pieces were sold with the garment.  Hope this helps new collectors, and best of luck to you!

SOME POSTS IN THIS THREAD HAVE BEEN EDITED.  ALL EDITES WILL BE IN CAPS AND IN RED. - SANDY, BOARD MODERATOR.

[beekeeper_42]

Mom keeps saying this so I thought I would add it to the post. She is so glad my grandfather, Henry, bought up other manufacturers going out of business, stone inventory's. Henry was able to use some of the stones, but it wasn't until my dad, Ambros, came along to make handmade settings, were they able to be used. Many of the odd size, or shape stones could be more easily used in castings, but once Henry switch to settings, he was not able to use many of them. Mom thought it was great that most of the old stones, made by master glassmiths were used, as a tribute to their legacy. Most were long dead by the time my dad started fitting them into his handmade settings. Sadly, many never made it into production, and were lost when the barn burned down. I remember as a kid, going through the old stock boxes to look at the cool, old stones. One old stone was a Montana blue sphinx head, with a threaded post on the bottom. There were only 2, or 3 gross of the style. Dad said he could never think of a use for that stone, but he said, one day. He died before he could work that one out, though. Most of the stones had been reboxed several times, over the years, so their manufacter's were never known, but craftsmen they were. Sad to think they are all gone, and only commercial manufactured rhinestones, are all you can buy now. Times change!

[scifidaughter64]

That is one of the things that I love about some of the old jewelry. It was as much an art piece as a piece of jewelry. You don't find much of that anymore.

[beekeeper_42]

Stone manufacturing was a real cottage industry before WW II. The men of a family would do the molten glass work. The women, and children would apply the mirror backing, and prepare them for shipment. These were often an extended family setting. So, each household made one, or two styles that they were known for. Mass production took over for individuality. I'm sure there are still old glass molds in old farmhouses, that the grandchildren, and great grandchildren live in now, that they keep on shelves as keepsakes. Times change!

[alexincal]

Hi Beekeeper, I've enjoyed all of this information and thank you for taking the time to share it with us.

I want to know if it's alright to quote a line from one of your posts about the signature. ( Our more common "SCHREINER NEW YORK", or just plain "SCHREINER" tags started being used starting in the early 40ss. )   I recently got a white daisy brooch that says only SCHREINER instead of SCHREINER NY and if it is authentic I would like to put that line in my description of my listing. The listings I've seen so far have the SCHREINER NY and I wondered why mine is only SCHREINER. I would like to make sure any buyers interested in it would not be confused and worried about it being authentic as I have. Thank you again, Alex

[beekeeper_42]

Sure you can use anything I post. Like I said in an earlier post. Both name tags were used from the mid 40ss on depending on supplier. Also each solderer had a small metal chest of drawers at his station with supplies, such as different size rings, hocks, pin catch, etc. The tags were often mixed as they added to their stock pile.

[beekeeper_42]

One thing to beware of. I have seen the Schreiner tags, and earring clips, being removed, and put on other jewelry. Earring clips would be hard to catch, except the pieces they are being used on look nothing like we produced. The tags are easier to catch, since the plateing will blister when heated to remove it from ours, and will show when being replated. One of the good things about using hard solder, since it requires higher heat to remove them than soft solder.

[beekeeper_42]

The cup-cake setting, we called Tiffany settings. These were tough to solder. Standard settings were heated and then just tacked with the end of the solder wire. With the Tiffany setting you had to get a ball of melted solder to form at the end of the solder wire, then heat the settings, and apply the ball, to the space between the settings, with out over heating to melt it to run over the settings.

[alexincal]

It's nice to have a picture in my head of there being different "stations" of people doing these jobs. I now understand why there are little differences in some of the same pieces.
Thank you

[beekeeper_42]

since everything was hand made, there will always be slight differences.

[beekeeper_42]

Mom wanted you to know that the daisy pin sold wholesale for $2.50, in the 50ss.

[*persnickety*]

Beekeeper, would you mind giving your opinion on this one? It's completely unmarked. 

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[beekeeper_42]

That is my dad's cross using our custom made keystones. Once he had them made for us he used them in a lot of his creations, including his famous ruffel pin. They were made in Germany by Cz refugees, who were master glassiths. It was in the line, off, and on, from the mid 50ss until we closed in 1973.

[*persnickety*]

Thank you so very much! You're a treasure. 

[beekeeper_42]

I am going to be off-line until next week.  A total knee replacement operation tomorrow.  I'll check in next week if anyone has any questions.  Getting old isn't for sissies!

[thirry]

Best of luck with the surgery! We'll be thinking of you and holding a good thought 🙂

Allison