1939 Jewellery from Hollywood

On a previous blog we have information that jewellery by Hollywood was made in Birmingham and by the Bloxidge Brothers. This information came from 2 separate sources not on the internet. However since then we have had messages that Hollywood was produced by D Ackerman and Sons LTD of London. So we did some more digging and found an advert from 1939.

It does in fact say that D Ackerman and Sons LTD of Great Portland Street London are the creators of Exclusive fashion jewellery - However I was informed that the Bloxidge Brothers made Hollywood jewellery. So they could be making this brand for this company at this time (1930s). Or we have been informed by two people and they are both wrong?  This needs more research as the answer.

The 1930s advert also says they were the creators of Ainette jewellery brand. Not at present have any information on this vintage jewellery.

The piece shows a now vintage bow brooch, earrings, bracelet and an imitation pearl necklace. It also has the information that they have reproduction pearls, paste, gilt, silver and jewellery.

On the back of this advert is another company as it was taken from a trade catalogue of 1939. It is for Pri Aur. Its the trade name for jewellery produced by W H Collins, Excelda Works, Rookery, Birmingham.

Pri Aur covers a wide range of fancy jewellery in 9 ct gold, sterling silver and rolled gold. The Birmingham  company made earrings, brooches, crosses, necklets, bracelets and charms. They also produced a wide range of gifts for baby including rattles and spoons with pusher sets in H M silver and EPNS (silver plate)
This factory also made life long pencils which I believe are marked Pri Aur.

Would like to know any more information if you have any to share. 

Alphabet soup - G & H jewelry

For the Jewelry Ring I have compiled this vintage jewellery selection with pieces from designers/manufacturers beginning with G and H.
First I will start with Charles Horner of Halifax, UK. They also had a show room at Frederick Street in Birmingham, UK, which is why we come across a large number of their productions.

Charles Horner LTD (1860 - 1984) is renowned for its silver jewellery in Art Nouveau, Dorcas thimbles and silver hat pins. However they also made costume jewellery. Most of their silver pieces are marked and can be distinguished as belonging to the Charles Horner factory, but most of the costume pieces were not.

  
 Here are just 3 of the mock marcasite vintage brooches from Charles Horner. All are unmarked accept the pelican bird which has CH stamped on the beak's back part.It has numbers in front of the CH but we can not distinguish what they say.

Bird brooch with enamel by Charles Horner. The circles that glint like marcasite are stamped (see the reverse photo coming up) Signed vintage brooch.

  Bow vintage brooch with stamped silver metal detail. Blue enamel on the edges. Produced by Charles Horner.

 Sailing ship vintage brooch by Charles Horner Does not appear to have any enamel originally. A lot of these great pins have some enamel detail but it wears off, leaving just a little colour in the edges/circle stampings.

Back view to brooches. All have C shaped fastenings.
For more Charles Horner jewellery see our designer jewellery collection. It includes some of his other mock marcasite pieces and cameo brooches of casein. Will write another blog shortly just on Horner pieces as we have many more to show.

Hong Kong jewellery.

Some fabulous beads are still available from Hong Kong as well as other items such as earrings and bracelets. The beads are usually in plastic but come in a fabulous range of shapes and colours.  Here are just a few.

 White bead torsade necklaces signed Hong Kong.

 Three strand green bead necklace. Lots of different shapes to the beads in this one. Hook fastening where it is signed Hong Kong.

A very long green bead vintage necklace with waxy beads. The strand has fixed beads where they are attached to the string. Signed on the clasp.

For other Hong Kong jewellery on Jewels and Finery. We also have repair necklaces that need restringing on Jewels and Finery Craft that includes some Hong Kong beads.

Hollywood Jewellery.

Hollywood jewellery was produced from the early 1900s up to the 1970s by the Bloxidge Brothers in Birmingham. They made costume jewellery that was fairly cheap and cheerful. They were at one point the main supplier of jewellery for Woolworths.

Very large flower vintage brooch by Hollywood in a gold-tone metal.

Not all their pieces are signed but this one is. It is always HOLLYWOOD in block capital.

For more Hollywood jewellery.  


Germany made jewellery.

The G that we have photographed for Germany (other than what is in our designer jewellery collection) is by Christian Dior and these are big earrings.

 

All of the pieces are not for sale at present shown in this blog, but will be shortly.

Autumn brooches with leaves and orange green colors

At this time of the year, the leaves are falling and the weather grows cold. Back on goes the coats and jackets. I have always liked to pin an autumn  brooch to my lapel. It is usually a brooch to go with the time of the year or how I feel that day. But it does not have to be a lapel. Pin a brooch to a hat or onto a bag.  It just lifts any outfit. My all time favourite for this time of the year is some great enamel leaf vintage brooches made right here in the UK. Companies like Exquisite, Sphinx and Hollywood produced some all time classics in many different finishes from hand painted enamel, marcasite to plain silver and gold that was textured.

 Golden sycamore vintage brooch by Exquisite. This brooch was available in many different finishes. Many can still be sourced today.

Fabulous hand enameled green ivy vintage brooch by Exquisite. Each brooch was hand painted and so they often varied in their look. Produced from the 1950s through to the 1970s and were very popular. Earrings and necklaces can still be found to match.

Another pretty enameled vintage brooch of a white vine leaf by Exquisite. This is one of the rarer hand enameled pieces we have found.

Hollywood also made some pretty vintage brooches. Also a Birmingham UK company that produced vintage jewellery like Exquisite from the early twentieth century to the late 70s. This is an attractive golden leaves vintage brooch by Hollywood.

Another stylish curled leaf vintage brooch from Hollywood. A popular plume motif used in many different jewellery designs. The texture adds greater interest and contrast.

Flowers in Brooches

This week Jewels and Finery has launched a new category - flower brooches. This is just one of the categories we have in vintage brooches.
We intend to have just the single flower brooches here, not floral bunches and bouquets designed vintage brooches, but just ones like the small sample below. The category will eventually include the following vintage flower brooches.

Jewelcraft brooch

This beautiful mock pearl large vintage flower brooch by Jewelcraft. Jewelcraft was a name used by Coro and most of the Jewelcraft vintage jewellery found in the UK was made here in Sussex.

large rose brooch by Hollywood

Another UK produced single rose vintage brooch by Hollywood. A Birmingham based firm that produced large quantities of vintage jewellery from the early part of the 20th century until the late 70s.
This is another larger than average red rose brooch enamelled and has textured gold metal.

Unsigned lily brooch 1950s - can be found in a wide range of enamel colours.

Lily flowers are often produced as brooches. Single blooms have been added to our new vintage flower category. This is a gorgeous light purple enameled vintage brooch.
But if your tastes are a little darker, then go for this lily vintage brooch in black.

modern lily brooch unsigned.

Back soon with some more pics from our vintage jewellery and an update on Sarah Coventry's brochure.

Hollywood jewellery - Are All signed?

Following on from my last blog about vintage jewellery. In particular Hollwood jewellery from the Bloxidge Brothers in Birmingham.
Not all of their jewellery was signed. Here is a pink rhinestone jewellery set from my own collection.

The brooch, necklace and clip on earrings are all unsigned. The box is of celluloid. Only the clip earrings and necklace fit the box - the brooch would have been brought separate.
The indents in the boxes pad are an exact fit. So believe this to be the original jewellery in this box. Something you have to look at very carefully. Its not unknown for people to re-use or change the boxes with their jewellery in and identification by this method has to be undertaken methodically.

Have a good Sunday, back soon.

Jewellery by Hollywood from The Bloxidge Brothers.

Vintage jewellery signed Hollywood was produced here in Birmingham (UK) by the Bloxidge Brothers between 1917 up to about 1972. A very big thank you to Patricia for that information.
With most costume jewellery, some pieces were signed and some were not. I would love to know if this company signed their jewellery right from the start or just in the late 1950s onwards  - when several copy right court cases were in progress.
Dating can be difficult when a popular design is made for several years. However the industry used to produce several different ranges through out each year. So certain styles can be attributed to certain decades. Also using the knowledge on the different time lines of findings, an educated guess can be formed. Only if written evidence is available can the jewellery be narrowed down to an actual year.

Looking at these Hollywood vintage brooches:)

Plain gold and silver tone costume jewellery was produced in the early 1970s. Not all, but the style and fastening look to be around this decade. The sculptured art look was very evident during this time.

"Frosted" coating to this brooch by Hollywood. Very Christmas in style. Again looking at the two tone design and back dates to around the 1960s.

 
Now this brooch is very interesting. This design is signed Hollywood. But we have the exact same design in a gold tone signed Capri (US company 1952 to 1977)? Not copied but made by the same company - but who was it?  1960s/1970s

Nice and chunky vintage brooch/pendant necklace. Totem pole design from my own collection. Signed Hollywood. Difficult to date this one.

Does this design remind you of another company famous for its Lucky heather brooches? Signed Hollywood in block capitals with what looks like a " after the name only. C style fastening circa 1940s/1950s.

Mock marcasite vintage brooch signed "HOLLYWOOD" in block capitals.safety fastening . Timeless design but would guess at the sixties for this one.  Earlier pieces would have been in marcasite, not molded.

Hollywood produced countless different designs and colour ranges and finishes. Shortly I will be creating an album of Hollywood jewels to view on our Picasa account - just scroll to the bottom of this page to see the photographs recently added. So far we have Sarah Coventry, Exquisite, Miracle and associated, Jewelcraft, Coro and Corocraft, Cameo jewellery and Sphinx albums for information.

Showing Jewellery Signed Hollywood

Its a beautiful bright sunny spring morning here in Solihull, UK. So I thought I would write a short blog on vintage jewellery signed Hollywood.

For a long time now I have had a suspicion that this jewellery was linked to Birmingham. Not only because the designs were similar to vintage jewellery by Exquisite - another Birmingham/Solihull company. But in the Birmingham Rag market there was a stall named "Hollywood Jewellery"
I would like to thank Trevor for confirming this and giving me the name of the company.
So just with a little research so far:

Hollywood jewellery was produced by the Bloxidge Brothers in Birmingham. Two addresses so far are Regal Works of Icknield Street and Soho Road, Handsworth. Soho Road is not confirmed though yet.
The company were producing jewellery as early as 1929 and possibly earlier. They ended production around the 1980s.
Most of their jewellery supplied the Woolworth Stores.

If anyone worked for the Bloxidge brothers, or knew anyone who did or for Woolworth and can shed a bit more light on the company or jewellery I would love to know.

Not to confuse the jewellery with two other companies that are entirely different. That is "Joseff of Hollywood" and Hollycraft" both US companies.

 Hollywood signature - our photographs should enlarge.
More Hollywood jewellery below:

We will be adding more images of Hollywood jewellery as we source and photograph them. Please remember that all our blogs and images are copyrighted and no part should be copied without our permission.