BJL necklace lily design

Several jewellery blogs ago - I asked for any information on BJL signed designer jewellery. and information on the unsigned vintage brooches that are of the marcasite and enamel lily design. These brooches can be found in many different colours from pink, blue to green enameled ones.

The lily vintage brooches are very similar to the signed brooches by BJL, so I wondered if they were made by the same company and asked if anyone had a vintage brooch that was signed?

Thank you very much to Clare in New Zealand who recently brought this beautiful vintage necklace signed BJL

It certainly looks very similar to the lily vintage brooches. Now we know that BJL made lily designed jewellery - so there must be a signed brooch somewhere as absolute proof?

And if anyone knows who the company was that made BJL jewellery - please let me know so that I can share the information.

BJL Signature on enamel jewellery

BJL signed enamel jewellery was a mystery to many vintage costume jewellery collectors. But at long last the mystery has been solved. BJL stamp refers to The Bohemian Jewellery Ltd company. they produced a huge amount of enamel and marcasite jewellery. Some are stamped and many are not.  

To jog memories here are a few pieces to help things along.

 Signed lily flower brooch and matching clip earrings - also signed. My own collection

BJL made many pretty enamel and marcasite brooches and earrings. Looking at the style and findings of many of their pieces - they made jewellery from the 1920s up to the 1960s at least.  Not only the enamel ones but a range of vintage necklaces, brooches, earrings and bracelets.  Some of the jewellery was signed with block lettering BJL on a square plaque. But there are unsigned ones to look for.

This is an unsigned vintage brooch with a hummingbird. (own collection as wing damaged) A brooch in the same colouring was signed BJL found in America

This little enamelled robin brooch is by BJL but is unsigned.

Both of these brooches are from BJL as size, findings same and they appear to match in style.

Which leads me to the infamous vintage lily brooch in enamel and marcasite. Made in numerous colourways. Is this by BJL? The backs are very similar to the ones that are signed BJL. The lily brooches are in both pot metal with a C shaped fastening. Also they are available with rhodium plated backs and with a safety fastening. SO DO YOU HAVE this brooch with a signature? Please share any information.

 

Pot metal with C shaped fastening - my own collection.

Lily enamel and marcasite brooch - with a safety fastening.

Comments appreciated.

Exquisite Jewellery Signed or Unsigned Information & Dating

For those of you that collect vintage Exquisite jewellery from WAP Watson, may have discovered that many pieces are unsigned.
The company was in production (except the Second World War years) from 1914 until around 1979.
It may surprise you that before 1953 all jewellery was unsigned. Sometime between 1953 and the end of the fifties, they started to add a plaque with the name "Exquisite" in script.

 Script plaque says Exquisite but now worn

The large scarab brooch is signed Tutankhamun - But is by Exquisite and made for the 1921 tour of Tutankhamun's tomb.  

I was lucky to talk to an old employee of W A P Watson who was one of the people who made the jewellery's molds and invented many of the finishes. He worked for them until 1953 and in that time none of the jewellery had a signature. They were sewn onto a fabric pad and boxed. Both of these were named with the trade mark Exquisite.
Up until 1955, the jewelers would patent their designs. So you may see "Pat pend" (patent pending) or "Des Pat no" or "Des Reg" (design registered) on some pieces of vintage jewellery and a number. Copying other company designs was a widespread practice (and still is today). Many designers would submit their jewellery design to be patented. This process would often take several months. Thus the Pat Pend signature.

 Registered patent on these vintage clip earrings signed Kigu

However in 1955 with the changes to the US Copy Right law, because of Trifari winning a historic case against the company Coro. This established that jewellery designs were a work of art. They were then able to use the copy right symbol. The symbol is the small c in a circle (© ) UK soon followed and most jewellery was signed

 Vintage enamel and marcasite brooch signed BJL - but note there is no © therefore probably pre 1955

I have to mention that the first plaques with the script signature of Exquisite did not stand the test of time and can be worn and almost indistinguishable.

So if a piece of vintage jewellery has Pat Pend or a reference to patent then it is probably dating pre 1955. (there are a few exceptions to this) but in general use this rule.

Avon key ring showing the © sign

Back to Exquisite - how to identify non signed jewellery and there are over 40 years worth!

It will match signed pieces. The Scottish luck heather brooches is one range that this is easy to do this with. Also an unsigned pair of earrings will match a signed brooch. In my experience brooches are signed more often. Necklaces are usually unsigned but have the characteristic "bow" tag. Earrings are usually signed and also rings underneath. Bracelets are rare anyway and may be signed or unsigned.

 Love this Exquisite brooch - as can be found with various type of Exquisite signatures and different thickness of the MOP pieces. This one is pre copy right vintage jewellery

It would be ideal if after 1955(ish) we could say the jewellery was all signed but unfortunately this was not the case.

I can now attribute some souvenir jewellery with a plaque to Exquisite because of their early souvenir spoons. But they produced a large range of scatter pins for the 1951 exhibition in London. These I can guess but not confirm due to the large number that can still be found in Solihull and Birmingham. So my search goes on for news clippings, adverts and hopefully jewellery brochures. If you have any I would be very interested.

   Now are the above vintage clip earrings from Exquisite, Hollywood or Jewelcraft?