Delizza Elster Juliana Crystal Triangle Brooch 2.25" Vintage

• Goldtone setting
• Domed Layered design
• Prong-set chaton crystals in green, teal and blue
• Rivoli center
• Pin clasp
• 2.25"

Small chip on center crystal.

Condition: Pre-Owned Good

Small chip on square rivoli center crystal.

The company responsible for “Juliana” jewelry, DeLizza & Elster (also referenced as D&E by collectors), was founded in 1947 by Frank DeLizza and Harold Elster. In addition to making their own lines, this New York-based firm also manufactured for many other jewelry companies including Weiss, Kenneth Jay Lane, Hattie Carnegie, and Hobe’. These pieces are usually marked, indicating the company for which they were made. Most of the jewelry wholesaled to department stores directly by DeLizza & Elster was made during the 1960s and sold only with paper hang tags or on paper cards. Juliana – Frank DeLizza’s mother’s name – is one of the names found on these. When the tags and cards were separated from the jewelry as the original owners wore it, the pieces were left unmarked. Collectors generally refer to this jewelry as Juliana, Juliana style, or D&E today.

Since they are unmarked, these pieces are now identified based on characteristic traits including five link and band construction on bracelets, “figure eight” puddling in the soldering on the reverse, distinctive stones, and recognizable styling in many of the designs. Select styles have also been found with similar tags reading “Gloria” and “Tara,” which are also companies to which D&E sold jewelry.

It is interesting to note that although the collectors’ nickname for jewelry made by D&E is often Juliana, the actual hang tags bearing that name were only used by the company for about one year beginning in 1967. This type of jewelry was made prior to that date and thereafter, however, making it abundant in the secondary marketplace today.