Showcasing 1980s & 1990s Cloisonne enamel jewellery - Vintage Jewels Geek Blog

What is Cloisonne enamel jewellery?

Just a little history of Cloisonne enamel and we are showing some of its great jewellery from the 1980s and 1990s to today.

Bright 1980s Enamel Cloisonne jewellery

It was in the eighties when I noticed the bright enamel Cloisonne jewellery very much in fashion and available everywhere. Most were signed on the back and well made with fine enamelling. They have stood the test of time and here we are going to showcase the many pieces of enamel that we have found. Signatures include Fish, Fish with the crown symbol, The one's with two fish symbols and Sea Gems UK. Some are also unsigned. Today you will still find a smaller number of companies making this rather pretty enamel Cloisonne style of jewellery. Below are some of the copyright signatures seen also.

What is Cloisonne?

Cloisonne has been around for a very long time. It is a way of decorating metal with enamel. Fine wires are used to create the design and then filled in with different coloured enamel. It is not only used for jewellery but in ornaments, clothing accessories and beads as well. But in this Cloisonne jewellery blog, we are showcasing the 80s, 90s to today’s Cloisonne jewellery below. We have earrings, rings, bracelets, brooches, necklaces, keyrings photographs. Taken from the actual enamel jewellery we have owned… In re-writing this blog post. I realised some of the jewellery was destroyed in a storage fire earlier this year.

Showcasing Cloisonne jewellery:

Above is a Chinese dragon Cloisonne brooch - unsigned circa 1980s. This is in my own collection.

Fire shaped Cloisonne brooch in black and red. Vintage 1990s unsigned

Pretty pink and green floral circular Cloisonne enamel brooch. 

Pretty open cut enamel jewellery brooch in pink, red and green Cloisonne design by Two Fishes below.

Butterly pink Cloisonne brooch - large round brooch jewellery circa 1980s

Large pansy and butterfly brooch in Cloisonne enamel. Probably made in the 1990s

Pretty blue flower enamel brooch circa 1980s.

This Cloisonne brooch back shows the Fish and crown logo. Circa about 1980s. 

Cloisonne brooch with black and white flowers

Oval floral Cloisonne brooch 1980s. A lovely example by Fish and Crown of a black and white brooch in Cloisonne enamel.

Fish and crown logo signature

Long dropper enamel earrings in bright red and blue colours onto a navy background circa the eighties. Unsigned. See below

Fabulous blue hoop Cloisonne earrings by Fish and Crown.

Pretty drops of pink Cloisonne with fuchsia flowers. Earring from Fish.

Another Cloisonne piece from Two Fishes below. This shows the card that it originally came on. On the reverse, it says made in Thailand.

Striking pink and a black Cloisonne brooch of a parrot type of bird.

The sweet little mice pin below in Cloisonne was on a card that had the logo for Fish fine enamels. On the reverse, it was dated 1993/4 and this piece was designed for Fish by Heather S Buchanan. Quite a find for dating and identifying this pin.

Flowers are always a favourite for Cloisonne and the above purple and pink shaded flower earrings in Cloisonne enamel are very pretty. Clip style that was still a firm favourite as well for the eighty's era.

Small button Cloisonne clip earrings

Large Oval Cloisonne clip earrings 1980s

Flowers again in this eighties Cloisonne blue clamper bangle. This style of bangle was used extensively in the eighties and nineties. It had a spring opening and fitted close to your wrist.

Drop enamel earrings were also a firm favourite in Cloisonne. The pretty white flower pair is for pierced ears. With this style, if you do not like the idea of wearing a pair of second-hand earrings - then you can easily change the hooks for new ones. 

Long dropper Cloisonne earrings preowned.

At this point. I thought I would show a Cloisonne bowl with lid above. Pretty butterfly and flowers adore this bowl. But I want to draw your attention to the inside – the blue coating that you will see on Cloisonne. The darker the blue is that the older the piece. Just a handy tip for age assessment.

Pretty blue enamelled Cloisonne dolphin brooch and matching dolphin earrings

Blue dolphin brooch in Cloisonne enamel

Blue dolphin earrings in Cloisonne enamel

Cloisonne vintage hair comb by Fish with fabulous pink floral detail.

Vintage Signature of fish on Cloisonne hair comb accessory 

Pink and white enamel Cloisonne bangle bracelet from the eighties. We have found many colour combinations and designs of Cloisonne bangles and bracelets.

White floral Cloisonne bangle bracelet

Chinese Dragon Cloisonne fan shaped key ring

Fish and crown signature on the back of jewellery

Modern parrots drop earrings

More modern circa the 2000s – swan in red, blue, green and black enamel.

Parrot bird lapel pin in Cloisonne enamel.

Fish signature on the reverse of a brooch with the copyright sign.

Cloisonne butterfly scarf clip 1990s.

Oval butterfly enamel brooch in Cloisonne.

Just a few of the Cloisonne jewellery pieces I have found and photographed over the years. 

E and F Collecting jewellery information  

Part of our alphabetically arrange jewellery trademarks, logo's on boxes and cards, signature and marks on the back of jewellery or on tags. This is from E to F. All the photographs of the marks are exclusive to us. We have at some point sourced and owned the jewellery itself. These jewellery trademarks photographs shown are copyrighted and belong to us exclusively. 

Eissenberg - 1914 - today. Started out as Eissenberg & Sons selling clothes and perfume. Jonas Eissenberg was Austrian but had emigrated to the US in 1885. However, they expanded and in the 1930s they started to produce the jewellery. First, the brooch was made to compliment their clothing range. They used rhinestone that was Swarovski and Austrian crystals. That gave a brilliant depth to their shine. Soon their jewellery was so popular that Eissenberg started to produce more under the label Eissenberg Jewelry Inc. In 1958, they stopped their clothing range to concentrate on the jewellery side.
Artists such as Picasso, Caldar and Miro designed some of the enamel pieces.  
Signatures include Eissenberg Original ( 1938 - 1942) Eissenberg Original Sterling (1943 - 1944) Eissenberg Sterling (1944 - 1948) E (the 1940s - 1950s) Eissenberg Ice - in block capital letters ( 1949 - 1958) Eissenberg Ice - in script (1970s) Eissenberg Classics - to today. Many pieces including the early ones are not signed. Also, the marks overlap. So dating and identifying can be a problem.

High-end jewellery much sought after and of high value. 

Elspeth Carrie

Emmons See Sarah Coventry. Emmons started in 1949 in the US by the same company C H Stuart Co. The jewellery was most of the times the same but marked differently. Sarah Coventry name became the mainline selling at home parties. Marked signature Emmons. See Sarah Coventry information for more info.

Empire Made - Mark used by British companies in Hong Kong in the fifties and sixties under the Empire flag. G and Co? mark on a bracelet unknown with Empire made marking. 

Empire - Not to confuse with Empire Made - see above. Empire (US company) writes the signature in a script. This is usually written on boxes with unsigned jewellery. It is higher end pieces probably by Juliana - 70s and distributed from the NYC & Providence areas) 

Exquisite -This was one of the ranges produced by Watson Group Ltd. Originally started by W A P Watson (Walter Archibald Parker) a gilt chain maker in the late Victorian period to the early twentieth century. He sold gilt chains in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham. In 1914 WAP Watson went off to WW1 and sold his business to Augustus Power and Clarence Flint. They kept the founder's name and continued to produce costume and a small range of silver only stopping to assist in war work as necessary for both WW1 (and WW2). It was possible that WAP Watson intended to return but he was injured and invalid out of the Royal Warwick Regiment in 1923. 

This Beatles brooch by Exquisite was produced under licence in the 1960s. Very rare and collectable piece of costume jewellery.

With just 6 people, the family and friends orientated company produced imitation jewellery and also a range of souvenirs and collectables. With the buildings in the Jewellery Quarter becoming to small. In 1954, they moved to Solihull, just along Lode Lane down onto a 3-acre site in Vulcan Lane.

In 1954 the company introduced "Exquisite Company" and instead of producing jewellery as a wholesaler as previous, W A P Watson's now started to produce their own named jewellery (and souvenirs) direct to the retailers. 
They continued producing imitation jewellery and souvenirs until the 1970s, where the influx of cheap jewellery from Hong Kong and other Asian areas made it difficult to continue. Many of the UK and worldwide jewellers were forced to close their doors in this period.
They continued until 2007 when they sold their range of collectables called Tudor Mint to the Xystos Group.

W.A.P. Watson was also responsible for Mirella, which was named after an employer in the 1950s and Myths and Magic fantasy collectables. 

Exquisite jewellery is unsigned pre-1955-ish. I do know for definite that up to 1953 - no jewellery was signed. Following that some were just on a padded card or un-padded card/boxed and unsigned and some pieces were signed. Particularly the necklaces were not always signed. One trademark used by the company is the small bow tag on necklaces and bracelets.

The range is huge, floral and leaves were produced in many different finishes. Much hand-painted enamel such as the Birthday Series. Souvenirs such as the Luck White Heather Scottish range of brooches, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, scarf clips and rings. 

Novelty and souvenir such as the Royal celebrations. Butterfly wing jewellery (well they were in the Jewellery Quarter when this technique was first invented there) faux semi precious stone jewellery, the list is endless as at their highest peak, they produced 20,000 pieces   

Early pieces can be identified by the type of mouldings, fastenings being riveted and signature. Also quality - a MOP and AB garland, brooches were produced over a long period but the earlier brooches are of a much thicker MOP.

We have undertaken continuous research into the Exquisite and Mirella range. We are responsible for much of the information available on the Internet as before many thought the jewellery by WAP Watson had been produced in the 1950s and 1960s.   For more Exquisite jewellery range - see our other blog posts.

Fable - Mostly pewter style fantasy and magical inspired jewellery in fantasy or nerd designs eg dragons, wizards, planets. Signed on the back usually. Dates to the 1980s to 1990s. Now very collectable.

Fish Made fine enamel jewellery.

The art of enamelling by Fish

Fine enamel jewellery by Fish. Back of a box explaining hand enamel onto 22 ct gold

 

Fisher Alexander (1864 - 1936) Internationally famous enameller of the Arts and Crafts period.

Fordham Montague - Took over the Artificer's Guild and director of The Birmingham Guild of Handicrafts. Husband of Edith Dawson. Arts & Crafts designer.

Frey Michaela - Vienna enamel artist founded her company in 1951 in Austria. She made beautiful enamelled jewellery. Brooches, bracelets, bangles, earrings, etc. The international company is now under the ownership of Friedrich Willie, a partner in 1972 who took over sole ownership in 1992. In 2002 the company became known as FREYWILLIE.
When Michaela died in 1980. The company continued with the artist Simone Grunberger. She along with her team continued to use the fire enamel technique to create a line of jewelry seen today. Since 1995, they have continued to open shops across the globe  
The company is known in the international airport stores as well as shops world wide and selective stores. Michaela Frey's early made enamel jewelry is highly sought after. Worth collecting as this fine enamel technique is excellent and prices will rise in the future.

Florenza - This New York company started out in 1940 to 1981 and they trademarked some of their items from 1956. Originally they made a living by selling their jewelry wholesale and did not advertise it themselves. Florenza had only one designer - Dan Kassof. Not all of their jewelry is marked and some was sold under other companies such as Capri and Coro to name just two. Well made and often plated with 24 ct gold.

Folly Kirks - from 1980s to 1st November 2014. Sold beautiful whimsical jewelry. US based company with fairy dust!

Fordham Montague - Took over the Artificer's Guild and director of The Birmingham Guild of Handicrafts. Husband of Edith Dawson. Arts & Crafts designer.

F M China - unknown signature