Great Jewelry Ideas for Stocking Stuffers

Every time I realize that Christmas is almost here, I can't believe how fast the year has gone.  Each year, I seem to say something similar, but this one seems almost a blur in many ways.

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?  I actually did manage to have a day last week where I took advantage of an early sale.  I am by no means done, but I did put a dent in the upcoming chore.

Here are some photos of some of Christmas inspired jewelry items.  You can click on any of the images to go to the store for more details.

For more great Christmas idea, please visit my main store at Vintage Jewelry Lane.

Christmas Jewelry - Past and Present

It's that time of the year. It seems to come around more quickly each year, doesn't it? This is the time of the year when there doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day.

Out come the decorations, and off to the store for shopping. It's also the perfect time of the year to bring out your seasonal jewelry from past years, or to shop for a new item to add to your collection.

Anyone who collects vintage jewelry probably has a few Christmas pins - particularly Christmas tree pins, which seem to attract most collectors. There is a whole collecting field in vintage jewelry devoted to it, and many books have been written as reference books for collectors.

Two of my favorite books are Christmas Jewelry by Mary Morrison, and Christmas Pins, past and present by Jill Gallina.

Many of the popular vintage jewelry designers had at least a few pins in their range of jewelry. Some of the most popular ones who put out quite a number of them are Gerry's, Tancer, Mylu, and of course Eisenberg.

The number of ways that a Christmas tree can be fashioned into a jewelry item seems to be limitless. The trend continues through today's designers with Kenneth Lane, Ron, and Christopher Radko being some notable designers of more recent Christmas tree pins.

Many of the older designs also seem to find their way into today's jewelry. Collector's often note, with either delight or disdain, depending on one's point of view, that the old pieces have been refashioned into new designs.

It is not only Christmas trees which find themselves designed into a jewelry piece, but bells, reindeer, sleighs, Santa Claus figures, snowmen, and all myriad of Christmas themes.

Here are a few designs from my stores. You can find more selections by just using the word Christmas as a search in any of my stores. I have dozens and dozens of designs to choose from in all price ranges.

Vintage Jewelry Designer - Who am I?

Let's have some fun today. This is another in my ongoing guessing game blog about vintage jewelry designers. I'll give you some clues and pictures and you see if you can guess which designer it is. Ready?

Here are your clues:

• Dates of operation were 1942 - 1971
• Company founded in New York by a designer who originally worked for Coro during the 1930s
• Imported most of his stones from Austria for the lead content
• Had a highly collectible Christmas tree line which was made in Germany
• Made many long stemmed enamel flower designs
• Highly sought after and collectible designer today

Here are some pictures of my designs:

I am considered a high end designer and my pieces are very collectible, although not exhorbitantly expensive. For more information and the answer to today's riddle, you can go to this designer page of the resource library on my website Vintage Jewelry Lane. (answer is also shown reading backwards at the bottom of this blog post.)

I'll be doing more of these riddles over the next weeks and months. Have fun with the series. ANSWER: (read it backwards): ssieW

Creative Use of Christmas Tree Pins!

I love Christmas. I am the original Christmas fairy. I go all out in the decorating department each year and have a huge collection of Christmas collectibles. One of my favorite types of jewelry is also the Christmas tree pin.

I have heard of people doing very creative things with these pins. Some people put them into shadow boxes. Some people use ones with broken clasps and other problems to make into Mosaic Christmas tree decorations.

But never have I seen such a creative use of the pins as that which a customer of mine told me about. Adam Wide from the UK - magician, then comedian and now creative consultant for many large organizations, such as the Dubai multimillion dollar theme park - Global Village, uses his pins in a unique fashion.

Every year, Adam conducts a small group of comedians who go out Christmas carol singing around the nobby, trendy market ares of London for a charity called "Crisis at Christmas." This charity does its part to make sure that homeless people in Londan to have a good Christmas day. This past Christmas, the charity raised over £1,850 from their "enthusiastic, but often terrible four-part harmony singing", as he puts it.

Here is Adam, on his Harley Motorcyle all dressed up like Santa Claus. He tells me that his scarf weighs a ton and has 150 Christmas tree pins on it.

Adam started collecting Christmas tree pins on a previous trip to Copenhagen, in 1984, where he got his first tree. This YouTube video of him as Clarence with Babs as Joy Pickles is an entertaining look at some of his comedy. If you look very closely in one of the frames, you can just see the original Copenhagen pin.

His collection of Christmas tree pins was 750 at the last count, (before his recent purchase from me of several more). He also sent me a photo of some of the other pins in his collection. It is massive and very impressive.

I would dare to say that this Santa Claus certainly causes quite a stir. Santa with Glitz!

Vintage Jewelry Lane and Carolina Collections Vintage Jewelry both have a huge range of Christmas tree pins for sale. Your collection may not be as large as Adam's but one can always dream!

Do you have an interesting story to tell about jewelry? Please email me with details and you may be featured as my next customer of note.