Fairfield Home Magazine - Article - Dateline March, 1997

Vintage Costume Jewelry That Can Drive You Buggy!
By: Abigail Penn

"How can I pick a favorite?" asked Joan Vogel Elias, looking into a display case that featured sparkling, figural, vintage costume jewelry.   "I love my tremblers," she said referring to jewelry that is actually designed to shake and shimmer.  Leaves sway on filigree tree pins, a shiny little bee flaps its wings, and sassy, brassy grasshoppers on springs demonstrate their jiggling, trembling nature.

"On the other hand, I really love my googly-eyed frogs," she said passing me a frog pin guaranteed to make you smile as it rolls its eyes around with the least provocation.

"This is a bracelet that Carmen Miranda wore," she said as she handed me a showy piece that comes with semi-precious stones and a history too.

"Then there are the chatelaine pins.  I love these," she insisted, pointing to a unique set of pins that were connected by fine little chains and often worn on sweaters.  The Westport entrepreneur almost had me convinced that is was impossible for her to select a favorite from among her more than 5,000 exquisite pieces, when she suddenly reached for a shimmering, glittering spider.   I could tell from the way her hand cushioned this stunning creation that it was absolutely her favorite.

"This is signed 'Butler and Wilson' designed to sit up on the shoulder," she said showing off the pave encrusted piece.  There were other gorgeous spiders. (That is not an oxy-moron!)  Some sat flat, several has three dimensional legs but all were glistening little masterpieces. 

Because of her vast collection of insect jewelry, she is known to some as the 'BUG' lady, but she has more than crystalline arthropods on her velvet covered shelves.  She has figurals, (figural representations) of many categories including animal, food, and floral.  Chances are pretty good that if you want a lion head bracelet, a daisy necklace, or a parrot pendant, you'll find them through Ms. Elias.   She's been in business for 29 years and has 'pickers' all over the country working for her. 

"Last week I got a request for a donkey pin and an mouse pin.   I had both in stock," she said with a laugh.  Shelf after shelf reveals turquoise lizards, enameled butterflies, rhinestone centipedes, pearled seashells, filigree flowers, and gold -toned poodles and pups.  Ingenious, humorous, elaborate, delicate, and painstakingly crafted, vintage costume jewelry has come of age.

According to Ms. Elias, vintage jewelry has age, but doesn't have to go back to the turn of the century as antique jewelry does.  She also considers vintage jewelry to be costume rather than fine.  Some of the pieces in her collection date from the 1930's through the 1980's with an occasional antique or exceptional contemporary piece included as well.   Costume jewelry is made of non-precious metals, sometimes gold plated or silver plated, and is often set with semi-precious stones.

Since her jewelry ranges in price from $30 - $1000, she has a wide variety of clients.  "I've got secretaries, executives and well known celebrities calling me on a regular basis," she said.  "My very sophisticated clients have fine jewelry and real gems, but want to dress down for everyday wear.  I don't create imitations or sell jewelry to look like fine jewelry.  I sell vintage costume jewelry that has good design and style.  We deal with so much stress in our lives that I feel that jewelry should give us a lift; it should be fun to wear day or night."  She also pointed out that , "Yes, there is junk out there.  It's not junk because of its content, but because of its uninspired design or lack of quality."  While much of her jewelry is designed for women, many of her clients are men.  "I do carry for some things for men.  I always have an assortment of cufflinks and watches, but most of the men who buy from me are shopping for women or are interested in my jewelscapes."

Her jewelscapes are pictorial renderings created with vintage jewelry.  Flower baskets filled with a variety of flowers, elaborately decorated Christmas trees, seashell scenes and cornucopias are completely made of vintage jewelry and professionally framed and mounted in gilded shadow boxes. 

Every petal of every flower in the basket series and every ornament on the Christmas tree in that series are old pieces of jewelry.  In addition to creating the jeweled scenes she often incorporates themes.  Therefore, one of her jeweled Christmas trees will have an animal theme or a fruit theme, in which case, all the pins, pendants and charms used in the piece will be animal or fruit related.  Clients can also request gold-toned, silver-toned or a combination of both in these exquisite scenes.

Because she has a massive collection of jewelry, she can create detailed and intricate jewelscapes.  "Sometimes I'll come across a truly magnificent earring and because its a singleton, I will incorporate it into a scene.   Sometimes, I'll come across a pin without a backing and instead of having it repaired, I will incorporate it into a work."

Clients often seek her out because they have so much costume jewelry they can't possibly wear it all, but they still want to enjoy looking at it.   They have jewelscapes custom made.  There are also clients who find themselves with granny's old jewelry box filled with costume jewelry.  Instead of keeping it up in an attic, they have it permanently displayed in an artistic way. 

These artfully constructed pictures are three dimensional and built layer upon jeweled layer.  "I have seen flat, one dimensional versions that date back to the early 1900's, but I like to create a rich rendering filled with jewelry and little surprises," she said reaching for one lavishly decorated Christmas tree that was outlined in pearls, filled in with flower jewelry and studded with colored stones, rhinestones and bows.

"I do sell estate jewelry and custom designed pieces upon request.  I also carry antique purses, accessorize outfits, create jewelry wardrobes and search for signature pieces and matches." said Ms. Elias, stressing that most of her customers come to her word of mouth.  "My clients trust me.  I respect client confidentiality and if a piece needs repair, I'll see to it that it gets repaired with authentic backings and trimmings.  I've got drawers of vintage parts that I purchased from old factories and I do try to keep a piece as authentic as possible."

If someone is looking for something that Ms. Elias doesn't have, she will try to find it.  She networks with pickers, dealers, jewelers, and watchmakers in this country and Europe.  She advises clients to look for fine quality, originality and workmanship when shopping for vintage costume jewelry.  A signature is a plus from an investment point of view, but doesn't add or detract from the artistic beauty of a piece.  "The best advice I can give is to buy what you love," she stressed adding that that was how she got into the field in the first place.

When you're looking for vintage jewelry to wear or to display, chances are that your going to come upon Joan Vogel Elias' name!