eBay

beekeeper_42 · ‎01-27-2018

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 · ‎06-27-2019

I was asked why no one in the family continued Schreiner Jewelry, after mom, and dad decided to close up shop. So I thought I would post my answer her to the page. The early 70ss was realy the end of American high fashion. The ready-to-wear designers were just about all gone, or moved production overseas. Rents in NYC went through the roof. The envinmental laws were becoming crazy, (Mom was asked by someone from the NYC DEP how many times a day our workers used the bathroom, and what they were doing in there) I'm not not kidding. The days of mid-day cocktail parties was over, as more, and more women went to work, outside the home. Jewelry being sold was more "folksy", than our style. The small producers of our unique stones had retired, and their children were not intersted in continuing the business. Dad became too ill to design anymore. At the same time my grandmother, Henry's wife, needed a heart operation. So it was a whole bunch of things that made closing the business, the simple choice. Several manufacters wanted to buy the name, but mom didn't want to sell it since it's her maden name.

scifidaughter64 · ‎06-27-2019

Good for her standing her ground on the name. Most of the people who buy a name don't keep up the quality a name was standing for. Glad to see she is still doing well. Mom's are one of a kind and we want to keep them as long a possible.

kimberlys-precious-treasures · ‎06-28-2019

Mom's are one of a kind weather good or bad you only have one, always do your best to enjoy her while she's here.

Kimberly M Burt

thirry · ‎06-28-2019

Bee, I'm very pleased your mom bounced back from being so ill. She sounds like someone I'd like to know. Good on her for not selling out the name your family established. It takes gumption to do that.

Glad you're here with us to share your memories of how things were designed and made. I find it fascinating to have a bird's eye perspective on the process.

(btw -- I remembered you were a guy -- you told us that several months back 🤠 )

Allison

beekeeper_42 · ‎07-24-2019

I was lucky to have the mom, and dad, I had. Before I was born they moved the family out of Brooklyn, to a small farm, north of NYC. They were very supportive in everything we wanted to try. Dad loved to work on everything on the property. Us kids learned, farming, landscapeing, mechanics, carpentry, masonary, and electrical work. We showed different animals at the fairs, and shows. We even had a book written by our kindergarden teacher, called " Baby Lambs go to School" by Ruth Hammond, sine we all brought lambs for our "show, and Tell". Dad drove us all over the Notheast to show our chickens. I thought they would say no to me getting bees when I was 13, but both sides of the family had beekeepers. Mom, and dad both had the luck of hold the ladder for me while collecting swarms. They even picked up a few stings in the process. So, I was lucky to have them both growing up!

thirry · ‎07-24-2019

Everyone should have such supportive parents 😊

theshoppingmom2 · ‎07-27-2019

@beekeeper_42 How many siblings do you have?

ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ Patty ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ

beekeeper_42 · ‎07-28-2019

There were 4 of us, Richard was the health nut. He was the second oldest. He passed, will be 4 years this November, at 60 years old. He ran his last marathon in Aug. before he died, go figure. Mom always said her children are different like the fingers on her hand. Loosing my brother, and mom's two younger sisters was hard on her.

theshoppingmom2 · ‎07-28-2019

@beekeeper_42 so sorry for your loss

ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ Patty ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ

sddalg · ‎07-31-2019

Hello -

Just stumbled on this thread, and this group. Happy I did!

I'm a Schreiner fan & collector, and have a question that I don't think has been asked yet. (And looks like this is still an active thread so I hope beekeeper_42 can help.)

On pp. 89-90 of the Tanenbaum/Townsend book, there is a discussion of brooches designed for the 1960 Eisenhower campaign (see photo below). Any sense of how many of these were made/how rare they might be?

Have any of you collectors ever had one?

(My daughter attends college in Gettysburg, where Eisenhower retired after his presidency, and the college has the Eisenhower Institute, which has programs she has participated in. I am hoping to find one of these brooches someday as a momento.)

Thank you! Susan (in Boulder)

beekeeper_42 · ‎08-01-2019

Susan; My dad made the pin, on the left for my mom to wear. He loved anything with the shadow box design. Liz Arden cam into the showroom on a buying trip, and asked my mom for it. Mom could have my dad make her a new one, so she gave it to her. Her Aunt was doing a Repub. fundraiser, and bought 100 to give to high end donors. My mom mailed one to Mrs. Eisenhower in my grandmother's name. I would say there are less than 500 between both styles floating around out there. I'm sure after the election most were put away in a drawer, or thrown out. I'm not sure if they were signed "Schreiner" or not. Best of luck! Steve

beekeeper_42 · ‎08-01-2019

Susan; Just want to add to my last post. I would have to say you would need to be pretty lucky to find either style. Years ago, mom found the old sample models, that we used to keep to make the blocks up, and help the person solder it up, in a box with other old samples. She had it cleaned up, and plated and set the stones. She did it for the history end of them. Otherweise we would not have them either. Dad often made up designs just for my mom, but were later added to the line. The Milflori stone pin shows up on E-Bay every now and then, is an example. Dad was going though some old odd lots of stones, that my grandfather, or he, bought, and he had the stones on his work bench, but could not quite figure out what to do with them. My mom was walking by, and loved them, and said, Ambie, (she called him that, short for Ambros) I love that stone, please make me up a simple pin with the blue ones. Which he did. The following year we used up every stone we had, when the buyers saw my mom wearing it. She still has the one my dad made for her.