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]

We often had many of the regular buyers stay over at the house, on weekend during Market Week. My favorite guests were Ann, and David Flah. They owned several small Dept. stores in upstate NY. They would come for 4Th of July with a whole trunk full of fireworks, that they bought in Canada, but illegal in NY, at the time. The firework show would go on for hours. Things one remembers!

[thekozz7]

That's so very interesting, the ready-to-wear concept. It's a shame that dishonest people have to ruin things for everyone else, because it's a very marketable idea.

I remember, about 10-20 years ago seeing a blouse with a brooch pin and flipping thru to see if they had my size, and noticing that several were missing their pins. Another time I spotted some dresses with brooch pins clinching the bodice neckline...and of course, there were several missing. Some people are really jerks to steal like that. It's no surprise that designers no longer use jewelry.

This is kinda unrelated, but I heard that thrift stores have been having problems with thieves ripping or cutting the buttons off vintage jackets and shirts...and then selling the buttons on eBay. What is wrong with some people?

[beekeeper_42]

People like that have always been around. Look at the tomb raiders of Egypt, and South America. What kind of person robs the dead?????? One or two designers had us add a ring to the back of our pins so they had someplace to stitch the pin to the garment. By the 60SS the practice of selling, clothing/ jewelry as a combo. was dead. At least in the US. This is one of the reasons we shifted our business to selling in the stores. If my grandfather had lived, Schreiner Jewelry would have closed much earlier than 1973. He loved selling to the designers, since they would buy by the 1000's. The stores only a few at a time, and often wanted custom colors.

[drg642]

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Jewelry-Gemstones-Board-Group/Maker-on-2-pins-with-hook-amp-eye-constr...

Hello,

You recently identified one of my brooches in the above post as a Schreiner piece.  I want to thank you again for taking the time, and for all the great information you have provided.  When I list the piece for sale, what is your preference for how I say it was verified?  I could say verified by a Schreiner family member, or keep it anonymous and say verified by a knowledgeable person, or something else?  How would you like it stated?

Thank you!

[beekeeper_42]

You can say daughter, and/or grandson, of Henry Schreiner. Mom, can sometime recognize a piece, from the early days. And sometime I can tell since I soldered it. All the kids, from my mom's childhood, to my siblings helped when we were not in school. I think I was tacking the rings closed, used in our extender chain when I was about 5. My brother and I were good at soldering. My other brother, and sister were better at stone setting. Mom sometimes would say she doesn't remember a piece, and I have to tell her I remember doing the solder/ or cleaning work on it. My dad made a lot of special orders for designers, or stores, that were very limited production.

[beekeeper_42]

My dad was not a sketcher.  He would lay out stones, and settings, and "build" the piece.  He would often make a design from the "odd" lots of stones my grandfather bought from the 30ss to the 50ss.  One of the stone dealer's salesman would look in their storage to find small oddball lots.  We could use them since we had a limited production, and dad could design handmade settings.  The mass producers were not interested in such small lots.  After he put something together he would take a  black, and white photo of the sample.  If it sold then several working samples were made up.  Things that were not added to the line, or sold to a dresshouse designer were store in cardbord boxes, maybe to be tried at a later date, s fashon changed.

[southernmermaid8]

Beekeeper,   

I love all of your stories! 

Mermaid 🐳

[1940fc]

Me too, Dana!  It`s just like being ' transported right back to the days'! 

Reading your last post, Beekeepr, reminds me of a couple we used to know years ago..his mother worked for Fenton way back in the days.

He had a large wall unit filled with Fenton prototype pieces his mother was able to purchase..items that just didn`t make the production line.  This was pre-Ebay days..I imagine he would have had a small fortune in that glassware!

[beekeeper_42]

Glad you still enjoy the stories! The season's production, had the working samples on a large wooden board with hooks. There was one exact sample, one that had the prongs cut off and filled with nickel, to be used on making imprints in the asbestos blocks, and last an unplated, but set in the color combo. of the stones. In my grandfather's time we only sold fall/ winter, since most of his production went to the "Ready to Wear" designers. When mom, and dad took over they added a Spring/ Summer line. This was due to the change over to selling more directly to the stores who wanted a lighter look for that season. That's where the pastel colors, and plastic/ Lucite were added.

[dream*peddler]

I've read, enjoyed and learned from every one of your posts.  Thank you for taking the time to share your fantastic family story!

[killrknee]

I concur with the others how interesting it is to hear your stories from the past.   I am hoping you will have the time to answer a question about a pair of earrings I have.   There is a version in pink on page 154 but since there is no back photo, I'm not going to assume my earring construction is the same as that pair.  I am 99% confident they are a pair of your earrings (albeit unsigned) but would appreciate confirmation since I don't believe in assuming anything.   Many thanks in advance.

[beekeeper_42]

You have an example of my dad coming up with a way to use old odd stones. The ring of stones hold the stone, with the fancy prongs soldered on the back. Anything my dad had to design settings for were very limited. Any shape setting could be custom made, to match a stone shape, but the min. order would have been 100 gross. When dad imported our keystone, we had the settings custom made in Germany. Some stones were just a handful, sometimes in different colors. Dad loved being able to use these old stones, my grandfather had bought through the years. Some were very old even when they were bought, from the 30s-50s. The stone trade is now controlled, by the Austrian co., so you don't get the variety you did in the early part of the 1900s. Mom said he loved being able to show the legacy of these unknown master glass-smiths. Too bad so many burned up in the barn fire before he could think up a use for them. As a kid I remember looking through the old boxes with the cool stones. Some were lose, others were wrapped in cotton, then tissue paper, that had turned brown with age. Long story short, they are ours, sorry for being long winded.

[beekeeper_42]

Sarah; we never kept much from the business. Since it was just a business. At the end of the year any left over inventory was available to the workers to take at Christmas time to do what ever they liked with it. If they cold take it home , we never had a problem with stealing, through the year. Mom kept a few pieces that my dad custom made for her, but other than that we had very little. My Aunt was on vacation on the NJ shore one year, and on a rainy day was in a bookshop. She came home and told my mom that she was "collectable". Mom said she felt collectable! She had some old models cleaned, and plated. In her spare time set them, otherwise we would have very little Schreiner jewelry ourselves. One of the women who worked for us kept a scrap book of the old ads., and mag. covers, that we kept in the attic. Many were used in the new Schreiner book.

[theshoppingmom2]

@beekeeper_42  I hope is well with you and your family. I was wondering if  you could look at this brooch and let me know if it is one of yours. Thank you so much for all the information and the stories you have share with our group.

[beekeeper_42]

No, we never had that filigree used around the center stone. I would say Austria.