With the new year upon us, I am sure most of us are thinking about what we can do better.  I constantly think about how I can be a better wife, better mom, better fill in the blank.  My professional goals are to be more organized and help people to understand all of the mystery of the vintage jewelry industry.  I spend most of my time learning about it myself, so I feel I know more than most but less than few but not as much as I should .  So that leads me to the identity crisis in question.

In my many travels in and out of antique malls, flea markets and my occasional shopping on the Internet, I see a lot.  I also mind my own business and do not share my opinion unless asked.  This could be the wrong thing to do but no one made me the ambassador of the vintage jewelry industry that I am aware of.  

About a month ago my family and I took a Saturday afternoon trip to Hastings, MN.  In Hastings are about a half dozen antique stores.  One in particular is my favorite, we always start there in our shopping trip.  Upon my arrival I noticed some beautiful Juliana pieces that had their original tags.  I was shocked that the dealer had so many with original tags in the case.  With the assistance of a very nice gentleman I was able to examine all of the pieces.  The first thing that I noticed was that they were priced very reasonable in a sea of book priced pieces.  The stones were not the same hand polished stones that DeLizza & Elster were known for and the paper hang tags looked odd.  I have handled several pieces of tagged Juliana and the tags are usually a little ragged.  After all we are talking about a piece of jewelry from 1968 that has rattled around a ladies jewelry box even if it was not worn.  The odd thing about the tag is that is was flat, no raised area.  The real Juliana tag has a stamped or raised angel logo, so when you brush your finger across it you can feel the shape of the angel. 

A crash course on Juliana if you don't know what it is.  Juliana was a line of jewelry made for two years by a jewelry manufacturer named DeLizza & Elster.  DeLizza & Elster made jewelry for many different companies, they were contract manufacturer.  In 1967 for the first time they made a line that was not signed, only had a hangtag.  This line is over the top rhinestone splendor!  Brooches, earrings, necklaces and bracelets.  The brain behind the beauty is Frank DeLizza who resides in Florida in his retirement.  The line of jewelry has specific features and is easy to identify plus has two different books soley devoted to it and has clubs, Ning Group and groupies!  One book is written by Katerina Mussetti and one by Ann Pittman, which unfortantly is out of print now due to the publisher going out of business.  I encourage you to Google Juliana if you want to see some rhinestone eye candy. 

I did not buy any of the pieces because they were Chinese reproductions.  I knew that it was an urban legend that it was being reproduced, I just had never seen it.  I also noticed a large signed Schreiner of New York set that was not rhodium plated on the back.  It just wasn't the quality that Henry Schreiner would have let leave the factory.  I said nothing, I walked away feeling guilty.  Maybe I should have contacted the dealer to tell them they had run into some bad stock or maybe they knew that already?  Now I worry that some wonderful collector is going to buy it and find out its fake and become upset with collecting?  The only way I know how to deal with it is to do it here.  

Next time you are out shopping for jewels, please make sure you do your research.  Also rely on your "gut" feeling.  My husband always says "that doesn't pass the smell test" and if the deal is to good to be true then it probably is.  Wouldn't it just be easier if we could all just ask the real Juliana to stand up!