Posted 4 years ago
Andreamw
(25 items)
I bought this and two other great pieces from a man through Craigslist one day, along with a Vendome bracelet and another unmarked early choker necklace. I hope the pale yellow color of the rhinestones comes through. It has a dimensional quality, not quite laying flat but it is a bit curved. There are two tiny rhinestones missing just above the "dangle" piece in the middle, but I don't mind. It says "Trifari, patent pending" on the clasp so I am hoping a Trifari expert will weigh in on the details if you have them!
Gorgeous vintage Trifari necklace with such a pretty leaf type design - great find
Hi That's a gorgeous necklace. I can't believe you found that on Craigs list. Awesome! Your necklace appears to be a version of an Alfred Philippe patents, number 165,548, dated December 25, 1951. The patents shows a slightly different drop, but often a few changes were made in production or in development of a design. That's an exceptional necklace. You can find replacements on all sorts of sites and there are costume jewelry sites that will measure and replacement the stones for a nominal charge. Congratulations on a great find!
Your very pretty necklace is from 1954. The patent number is 172,679 and was designed by Alfred Philippe. Many say that without him Trifari might not be as successful. Let's not forget the artisans that made the jewelry as they were highly skilled. I think this is one of the most beautiful Trifari necklaces ever made!!
Hi Fresh Air, You're right about the center element and the general design, but the stones are a different shape. They are oval in the drawing for the patent you cited. Those clever Trifari jewelers they mashed up designs and kept trying to keep it fresh.
Hello, plein-air-painter, I see what you mean. I stand corrected. The drop on the necklace you provided is different than the one above. Is it possible that there was a patent applied for, but not followed through ?
Hi Fresh Air, Yes that's possible. Another possibility is that the this was a combination of two patents. The patent pending mark was commonly used whether there was a patent application or not.
Trifari was always mixing up patents. This old post of mine is one of two patents combined and it was done in the 1930s.
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/233443-trifari-ktf-invisibly-set-rhinestone-bro
I think you dating is correct, mid 1950s. That makes more sense than the earlier patent I cited.
Thank you Newfld and Eileen (MsC.) and all for your enthusiastic comments!
Maureen (plein-air-painter) and FreshAir thank you so much for your education on Trifari patents! I am going to embrace the number of 1954 since that was the year I was born:) I can well imagine the whole idea of the patents was not only to protect their designs but to revisit them as desired. I welcome any book titles any of you can recommend for research. I have taken note that Maureen is an author and will visit Amazon next:)
I am also interested that Eileen and Maureen mentioned I can have this piece repaired (replaced little stones) and I will look for someone in my area of Sacramento CA for help with that.
Again I can't thank you enough for your generous help and comments!
--Andrea
Mary, I don't usually hunt on Craigslist but my husband pointed this out to me one day. It was being sold with two others which I will post soon. It felt almost clandestine, meeting a nice older gent in a garage where he showed these impressive pedigreed pieces. I didn't even argue on the price he asked. It was when I was very new to collecting and I could see they were of quality. You never know when you will run across something special.
Very nice find!
The heavy gold frame is at its best, really accentuates the whole piece beautifully !~