Page 94 Kovels - April 2015

ON THE ROAD WITH AL EIBER — COUTURE JEWELRY

This past January, I visited the Miami Beach Antiques Show. While walking the booths, I discovered that couture

costume jewelry is a hot area of collecting right now. Costume jewelry really reached new artistic heights in the late 1920s and ‘30s, when influential couturiers like Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli challenged conventions and mixed the fake with the real. Often this meant using imitation pearls and glass stones. At the show these pieces were the most sought after, with higher price tags like the Chanel necklace shown here for $3,500. My two favorite pieces in the show were designed by

fashion designers, both made in the 1970’s, with a great over the top pop art look, a long chain-link necklace by Paco Rabanne and a two-button necklace by Patrick Kelly.

Only a few years ago, Bakelite sold really well. But now, with the exception of the iconic pieces, it has become less

desirable. This is a great time to collect because prices still have not peaked. Prices go between $400 and $4,000. The iconic pieces rarely go for over $5,000.

REPRODUCTIONS — LADY HEAD VASES

Chanel, plastic and glass beads, $3,500.

Collectors often jump into a new collection because publicity has created a fad. Metal

lunch boxes, cookie jars, plastic purses, Avon bottles and lady head vases all had a time when collectors owned and displayed several hundred examples. In 2015, it’s a problem when the head vases in grandma’s attic are worth less than their original cost and are not easy to sell.

Lady head vases were originally made to hold florists’ flower arrangements. A few were

made by American factories in the 1930s, but collectors didn’t start gathering huge collections until the 1950s. The fad cooled down by the 1970s. In the 1950s, early lady heads, also called head vases or head planters, sold for a dollar or so at flea markets and garage sales. Most were made in the United States by small manufacturers, including Betty Lou Nichols Ceramics, Florence Ceramics, Ceramic Arts Studio and Royal Copley. Almost all head vases were marked with the maker’s name. At the end of World War II, Asian manufacturers began to compete with those in the United States and made copies of lady heads that sold for a lower price. Importers started to sell the Chinese and Japanese products

with the American importer’s name or a store name. Enesco, Lefton China, Napco and Ucagco are the best known. But some were marked only with a paper label that has been removed and those are the reproductions that may be offered today.

L ady heads with hats, costume jewelry earrings and necklaces, an added arm and hand, raised

ruffles and flowers, thick 3-D eyelashes and other raised features brought, and still bring, the highest prices. Also wanted are lady heads that look like stars

such as Jackie Kennedy, Lucille Ball or Carmen Miranda. Most of the vases picture attractive women or cute children, but a few strange examples, like a green Chinese man, a clown, or a very young baby can be found.

The bad news is it’s difficult to recognize unlabeled head vases as late copies. There is a big difference in quality so

look for crisp molding, carefully painted details, and perhaps added 3-D features. Some early California vases are made of heavy pottery while most repros are made of a lighter weight porcelain. Most old examples in perfect condition sell for up to $150 now. Reproductions are easy to find for under $10.

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Chanel, $1,600. Christian Lacroix, $1,200. Coppola, $1,500.

Chanel, beads, $750. Paco Rabanne, 1970s, $3,500.

Patrick Kelly (shown here on a white bust), 1970s, $2,800.