Jewelry Manufacturers

Jewelry Manufacturers

Jewelry Manufacturers

DeLizza & Elster produced pieces for many of the big names of 20th-centurv costume jewelry, but it is becoming increasingly well-known for the "Juliana" range it created for just two years.

The company was founded by Harold Elster and Guillermo (William) deLizza in New York City in 1947. 

A year later Guillermo's sons Frank and Anthony joined the company, working in the sales and production departments respectively.

Jewelry Manufacturers

The company became renowned for its use of high-quality art glass stones, three-dimensional designs and quality settings. Its pieces were unmarked and can be difficult to identify unless they have their original hangtags, which are typically marked "Juliana," or "Tara" or "Gloria," which were DeLizza & Elster's two other main jewelry lines. 

However, a number of online identification sites have been set up by enthusiastic collectors, and these offer tips on how to spot DeLizza & Elster pieces. Frank DeLizza contributes to these sites and is said to verify up to 100 pieces a week.

Jewelry Manufacturers

The company, which had a showroom on Fifth Avenue in New- York City, made thousands of different designs. It also produced pieces for a number of companies including Alice Caviness, Coro (cl950), Kramer, Weiss, Hattie Carnegie, Joan Rivers, and Kenneth Jay Lane.

Jewelry Manufacturers

Guillermo was the main designer; later Frank's daughter Judy worked as designer too.

In the early years the company produced buckles, buttons, and jewelry hand-set with rhincstones and simulated pearls. After 1953 styles became increasingly complex and colorful and typically used different shapes and types of high-quality art glass stones in each piece.

Jewelry Manufacturers

The Juliana line—which was only produced in 1967 and 1968— was named after Frank and Anthony's mother Julia, and Anthony's mother-in-law Anna. Its creators were shrouded in secrecy until 2003 when Vintage Fashion and Costume Jewelry magazine revealed their true names.

Jewelry Manufacturers

DeLizza & Elster jewelry features gold-tone, silver-tone, or japanned backings with prong-set or glue-set stones. Typically open- backed—though foiled and closed-backed examples are also known—these stones include a mixture of rhinestones, aurora borcalis, and distinctive center stones made from art glass. Elongated navette-cut rhinestones arc typical.

The company ceased production in 1990 but Frank DeLizza is currently releasing new versions of original designs through a firm in Brooklyn, New York City.