Sherman Jewelry

When you think of North American costume-jewelry centers, glamorous cities like New York, L.A., and Chicago probably come to mind. But one of the top-notch costume jewelers in the 1950s was actually located in Montreal, Canada. Gustave Sherman’s Jewish parents immigrated to Canada to escape persecution in Eastern Europe. Once in Montreal, young Gustave took a job as a jewelry salesman, which sparked his interest in the trade.

Even though he had no schooling in business or jewelry-making, Gustave founded his Montreal manufacturing company, Sherman Costume Jewelry, in 1947. He started with one employee, Hungarian jeweler Jimmy Koretza, an expert craftsman who help make Sherman’s exquisite designs a reality. By the 1950s, Sherman had established himself as Canada’s foremost costume jeweler, and his work was starting to appear on runways in Paris and New York.

Sherman, whose slogan was “made to last a lifetime,” demanded the highest level of quality in workmanship and material. Using Swarovski crystals, special ordered to his exacting specifications, Sherman often copied examples of fine jewelry. He was willing to pay for the best materials, so his pieces always featured Swarovski’s top-of-the-line stones, often with shimmering aurora borealis coating, which he then put in sturdy japanned, rhodium-, and gold-plated prong settings.

Naturally, this meant his costume jewelry was some of the most expensive on the market—even in the early days, his pieces could go for as much as $50. His less elaborate and more affordable items sold at Canadian department stores and through the major jewelry shop Birks. The finest pieces of Sherman jewelry, however, sold at exclusive jewelry boutiques across the country.

Sherman was particularly enamored with luminous crystals cut into navettes and elongated marquis shapes, which could be arranged in flowing designs. Exploiting this fluid quality, he would set these crystals in monochromatic schemes, exploring the different hues and tones of a single color. His necklaces and bracelets would move from champagne to topaz (golds), sapphire to robin's egg (blues), fuchsia to pink (reds), and emerald to peridot (greens).

Sherman came up with thousands of color schemes, some of which were only produced for one season. Collectors are especially interested in his pieces with deep red crystals set on japanned backing. Sherman figural brooches, shaped like owls, cats, baskets, hearts, bows, and the like are highly sought by collectors.

Marks include “SHERMAN” in caps, “Sherman” in script, and “SHERMAN STERLING.” His bracelets often featured safety chains and hidden clasps, with the mark stamped on the backside of the clasp; many of his crystal bead pieces, such as necklaces and earrings, are unmarked.

In the 1970s, luxurious and glamorous rhinestones fell out of fashion in favor of angular, geometric pieces made out of fake gold and silver, which caused Sherman’s business to decline. He refused to produce cheap, low-quality pieces, and instead entered the fine-jewelry market just as the price of gold and other precious metal was skyrocketing. Sherman had to close up shop in 1981, and he passed away in 1984.

Labradorite Definition

Labradorite is a very unusual colored and iridescent semi precious stone. It is an iridescent gemstone with a fascinating metallic luster when viewed from certain angled. The ground color of Labradorite is a dark smoky gray, but when light strikes the stone in a particular direction, it displays striking rainbow colored reflections.

Labradorite is thought to be a power stone, allowing you to see through illusions and determine your real dreams and goals. It is said to be excellent for strengthening intuitions and quick relief from anxiety, hopelessness and depression, replacing them with enthusiasm, self-confidence and inspiration.

According to a Canadian Eskimo legend, the Northern Lights were once trapped in the rocks along the coast of Labrador, and then a wandering Eskimo warrior found them and freed most of the lights with a mighty blow of his spear. Some of the lights were still caught within the stone, however, and thus we have the beautiful mineral known as labradorite.

The ground color of labradorite is a dark smoky gray, but when light strikes the stone in a particular direction, it displays striking rainbow-colored reflections. Most typically, these metallic tints are violet, blue and green; but sometimes yellow, orange and red can be seen. This effect is so unique to labradorite that it is referred to as labradorescence.

The labradorescent effect is believed to be due to the presence of very fine platelets of different compositions as well as minute inclusions of limenite, rutile and possible magnetite which cause the diffraction of light.

Labradorite Definition

Damascene

Damascene is the art of decorating non-precious metals with gold. It has roots in the Middle Ages and originates from the oriental-style artisan work done in Damascus, Syria. The craft, perfected by the Arabs and brought with them to Spain, has remained virtually unchanged over the centuries.

Damascene items generally reflect two distinct traditional types of patterns; the geometric designs, and the Renaissance motifs, displaying variations of birds and flowers. These patterns are obtained by engraving deep, cuts into steel and then placing a gold foil into the lines of the design. This foil is hammered until the gold (18/greenish and 24/yellow carat) penetrates into the cuts, forming the design. Each piece is treated with a bluing solution to obtain oxidation and a black background is created. The back of all Damascene pieces are finished with gold metal.

Vermeil

Gilded silver produced either by the fire-gilding method or by electrolysis. In the former, earlier method the object is covered with an amalgam of gold and mercury; the mercury evaporates when the piece is fired, leaving a gold deposit. In the latter method, the silver object is wired as the cathode and a bar of gold as the anode, and both are immersed in an electrolytic solution; when an electric current is passed, gold ions are deposited on the silver object (cathode). After fire-gilding or electrolysis, the silver gilt is burnished, usually with a polished agate stone.

(In other words, silver that has been gold plated.)

vermeil." © Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.. 17 Feb. 2010. .

Rondelle

ron⋅delle  /rɒnˈdɛl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ron-del] Show IPA
–noun 1. a small disk of glass used as an ornament in a stained-glass window.
2. Jewelry. a flat bead, often of rock crystal or onyx, used in a necklace as a spacer between contrasting stones.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010

Navette

na⋅vette  /næˈvɛt; Fr. naˈvɛt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [na-vet; Fr. na-vet]

noun, plural -vettes  /-ˈvɛts; Fr. -ˈvɛt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [-vets; Fr. -vet]

Jewelry. a gem, usually not a diamond, cut as a marquise.


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Origin:
1905–10; < F: weaver's shuttle; lit., little ship. See nave, -ette
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.