Lend Us Your Ears. . .

. . . and we will adorn them with these beautiful vintage clip earrings made by the Schreiner Jewelry Company, considered by collectors to be one of the top American creators of high-end costume jewelry, with innovative handcrafted designs and creative combinations of stones, often in vibrant colors. Henry Schreiner, trained as a blacksmith, immigrated to New York City from Germany in 1923. He began working for a shoe buckle company, where he learned how to solder and set stones. Schreiner later purchased the company and began manufacturing decorative buckles and buttons, as well as jewelry in the popular Art Deco design. However, he did not officially transact business under the Schreiner Jewelry Company name until a decade later. Before WWII, Schreiner acquired a stockpile of fine art glass stones and metal settings from Europe, allowing the company to continue production during WWII. After the war, Schneider expanded its costume jewelry lines, creating pieces for many designers of the day. The settings were handcrafted, rather than cast, allowing for more complex, yet lighter, designs. Following Henry's death in 1954, his son-in-law Ambros and daughter Terry took over the company. Trained as an engineer, Ambros stepped into design and production. He is considered responsible for many of the innovations that make Schreiner's jewelry so collectible, including the use of inverted stones and custom-made settings, as well as incorporating the stockpiles of pre-WWII Czechslovakian stones. In addition to creating pieces for designers, the company sold jewelry under its own name at high-end stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. Ambros retired in 1974 due to declining health and the company closed the following year,

The ornate prongs framing the lustrous faux pearls are typical of this company's detailed designs.

The back of the clips are signed "Schreiner." The clip also features round tip with an open center. This "donut" design was thought to make clip earrings more comfortable to wear and is characteristic of Schreiner earrings. You can also see the soldering, indicating that this piece was hand-built, not cast. 

You can read more about this important innovative American jewelry company in Schreiner: Masters of Twentieth-Century Costume Jewelry by Carole Tanenbaum and Eve Townsend.

All posted items are for sale at Next-to-New, but things can sell quickly!

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