By Lisa Hix — 1. The Eisenberg jewelry line was born out of a need to thwart thieves. "It was probably in the early '20s when the Swarovski crystals were first put on the clothing, around the time before the Depression years. If you watch 'Boardwalk Empire,' you'll see how people at that time would dress up—they wore a lot of rhinestones. When we put them on the dresses, we knew we had something. We had pins made; they were outsourced and then would be put on our clothes. “Our biggest competitor was...

Carole Tanenbaum on Costume Jewelry's 'Wow' Factor

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — My husband and I have many collections. We were in London at one point in the ’80s, and I saw a fabulous collection of vintage costume jewelry. Each item was like a little object of art. I bought about two dozen pieces, including some wonderful early Chanels that are virtually impossible to find today, and several pieces by Dior and Hobe. That really got me started. Because I had begun at the high-end, but didn’t know it, I developed an eye for pieces that had great integrity. As a...

Christie Romero on Differences Between Fine and Costume Jewelry Over the Decades

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — I started out with general antiques and collectibles... I was a dealer for a while and bought and sold all kinds of things. Gradually jewelry became my focus. In the mid-1980s I started getting serious, and in 1988 I started teaching small classes, workshops, and seminars, primarily on costume jewelry but also some fine jewelry. Vintage costume jewelry was just beginning to take off as a collectible. Up until that time, most people thought it was junk. They didn’t understand what it was...