RAPAPORT... In its heyday, from 1880 through 1930, Newark, New Jersey, produced 90 percent of the gold jewelry made in America, explains Ulysses Grant Dietz, senior curator and curator of decorative arts at the Newark Museum. He calls the city a “powerhouse” for jewelry production during that period. “People always think of Newark in terms of 14-karat gold,” Dietz adds, “but as late as 1929, it produced 50 percent of the 18-karat gold jewelry in the U.S., as well.”
“The companies made jewelry for some of the fine retailers, like Cartier and Tiffany, who would stamp it with their own marks, rather than those of the Newark manufacturers,” says jewelry historian Janet Zapata, who co-curated with Dietz the Newark Museum’s exhibit “The Glitter and the Gold: Fashioning America’s Jewelry” in 1997. As a result, points out Dietz, “the Newark jewelers were known only to the wholesalers and retailers. I’d wager nobody ever knew they were buying anything made in Newark — because it was the retailer’s name they were buying, and the retailer was buying Newark’s guaranteed quality and craftsmanship.”
The jewelry, says Dietz, was aimed “at a prosperous, middle-class market, not the very rich.” But it allowed, says Ronald Kawitzky of D.K. Bressler, a jewelry wholesaler in New York City, “everyone in America to have a plique-a-jour butterfly like the aristocracy in France — it was very democratizing.”
A Wealth of Styles
According to Dietz, every possible style that existed between the Civil War and World War II was produced in Newark, including Victorian, Art Nouveau, Beaux Arts, Art Deco and Moderne. The most obvious “Newark” jewelry, he says, “is a delicate little brooch/earring/pendant with pretty colored stones, a few seed pearls and some lovely shaded enameling.”
And although the jewelry’s scale is relatively small by today’s standards, says Edward Faber, Aaron Faber Gallery, New York City, “the pieces are very romantic. I always try to wear a cluster pin in my lapel as a little men’s boutonniere, which is kind of cool.” People, he says, like to cluster the pins and collect categories — birds, animals, flowers.
There are also, Dietz says, “big, eye-catching modern pieces from the 1940s and 1950s, with semiprecious stones and two-color gold that were typical of Krementz, and Allsopp-Steller.” In addition, says Dietz, Newark was the largest consumer of small colored gemstones in the United States.
They were making jewelry to be worn during the day into the evening, says Zapata. At the turn-of-the-century, she says, the jewelry “was often set with color gemstones or little diamonds.” The latter, she suggests, added a sparkle when the jewelry was worn at night in candlelight or gaslight.
All the good Newark companies would find the latest French styles and make American versions, says Kawitzky. “They were made for a mass market, but beautifully done. I have some cufflinks that you know are American but they’re exact copies of the Falize and Van Cleef & Arpel French pieces. I recently bought a beautiful pendant with a plique-a-jour back and a pink enamel front. It’s signed by Larter and is as French as anything. Sometimes they were in 14 karat, where the French would have worked in 18 karat, so that is a giveaway. But sometimes they worked in 18 karat.”
Faber focuses on the enamelware, particularly the floral enamels: “I’ve always found them to be extremely attractive and, vis-à-vis the European counterparts, a good value, because many of them are done in 14 karat. But the quality of the enameling work is equal to, in my opinion, any of the French and Swiss and Austrian houses that were doing similar work. And it has a greater degree of realism than the European counterparts, which were more stylized. But the colors that you get in the late-nineteenth century, the purples of the azaleas, the greens and the rich pinks are just wonderful.”
Names of Note
The biggest Newark name, says Dietz, was Krementz, who made fabulous fine jewelry long before the company turned to gold overlay in the 1930s. Kawitzky points out he recently “sold a big silhouette of a butterfly in natural pearls and Montana sapphires by Krementz. I have other smaller pieces — lovely veil pins and all kinds of strange pieces.”
“Krementz was known for its collar buttons, that’s how the firm made its mark in the beginning,” says Zapata, “and, of course, the company made big, important pieces. Henry Blank and Co. in the 1920s and into the 1930s and 1940s was making really nice jewelry that mimicked what was happening in New York — we found some drawings of tutti-frutti bracelets, smaller and not as impressive as what Cartier and Charlton & Co. were doing, but kind of the same thing. The styles tend to mimic what was happening in the high end but on a smaller, less grand scale.”
“Henry Blank and Co.,” continues Dietz, “was a smaller firm that manufactured for Tiffany & Co., for Cartier, C. D. Peacock in Chicago, Shreve & Co. in San Francisco, and so on. Blank and Co. was very high end. Riker Brothers was known for particularly fine enameling, as was Bippart & Co. Carrington & Co. made cufflinks for Tiffany and Cartier, as did Larter & Sons — you’ll find their marks on pieces that also have retail marks from the finest jewelry retailers.” Larter & Sons, adds Zapata, “perfected the springback stud in 1898 and was known for its cufflink and stud sets.”
Collectible Appeal
Newark jewelry is accessible, points out Dietz, because it is not hugely expensive. It is also, relatively speaking, plentiful. “Cufflinks, tie pins, small brooches, bracelets, delicate little necklaces — every jewelry retailer in the United States sold something made in Newark up until the Depression damaged the industry. That’s a lot of jewelry.”
Pricewise, Dietz says, the pieces can range from $100 or less to thousands, depending on the design and the stones. He cites a recent online purchase of “a little crescent brooch with pearls and sapphires and platinum tips on a 14-karat back, for just about $100.”
Kawitzky agrees that the jewelry is “so underappreciated, it’s ridiculous.” The quality of the studio jewelry being done in the workshops in Newark between 1865 through 1925, says Faber, affords an opportunity for collectors. “You can get a wealth of variety but the quality is superior.” Ultimately, Faber says, “It’s a question of passion and love. As a dealer, I’ve always been able to find a male or female who listens to my story about the quality and looks at the jewery and appreciates it.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2010. To subscribe click here.