Designer of the Week
Who is Eisenberg?
Dates of Operation- 1914 - today
Design Characteristics - Use of Swarovski Crystals, Custom color Rhinestones, Pave icing and aeronautical glue. Nice shades and hues combined together. Use of Sterling silver in the war time years and Rhodium in the 1940s and 1950s.
©2007 Vintage Jewelry Lane
Jonas Eisenberg was born in Austria and immigrated to the USA in 1885. He settled in Chicago and founded Eisenberg in 1914. At first, Jonas only sold ladies ready to wear fashions. His first jewelry designs were meant to be worn with these fashions and were intended to be promotional products to advertise his designs of clothing. These early Eisenberg pieces were not signed.
Jonas soon discovered that ladies loved his jewelry and were taking the pieces from the clothing to purchase on their own! Retailers started suggesting that the company design jewelry as well as clothing. Eisenberg heeded these suggestions and his two sons, Sam and Harold Eisenberg, began a line of Eisenberg jewelry which was marketed separately from the clothing. The jewelry company did very well and by 1958, the clothing part of the company was discontinued so that the company could concentrate on the jewelry alone.
Since the word "originals" was not unique to Eisenberg, the company couldn't trademark the term Eisenberg originals. In 1935, they came up with the wording "Eisenberg Ice" and it was marketed this way until 1942, when it was officially trademarked with this name. To indicate the value of the pieces at the time of manufacture, when a woman's weekly salary was $30-$40, an original Eisenberg sold for $50 - $100!
The following years showed great success for the company and his grandson Karl took over as president in 1969. Artists such as Calder, Miro and Picasso designed some of their enamel lines. This enamel jewelry was marked "Eisenberg" (or "E") starting in the 1970s. These intricate designs required many firings and are very collectible today. All of the rhinestones were hand set up to the 1970s, when they went to prong set and/or glued in. The glue used was a space-age adhesive once used to adhere a propeller to an engine, so you can imagine that the rhinestones will stay put!
The Eisenberg company is still in production today, manufacturing very high quality jewelry. A very large part of the current production is devoted to intricate Christmas tree pins, much to the delight of Christmas jewelry collectors. The company is now called Eisenberg Classics.
Design Mark - The company used many marks and didn't always retire one when a new one was introduced, so dating Eisenberg jewelry from the design marks can prove difficult. Here is a rough overview of the markings used:
|
Ice by Eisenberg |
Eisenberg original |
E with copyright in block letters |
|
E in script lettering |
Eisenberg Originals Sterling photo courtesy of Ruby Lane seller Addie's Attic |
Eisenberg in block letters |
|
Eisenberg block lettering with copyright symbol |
Eisenberg Ice on a cartouche with copyright symbol |
Eisenberg Ice in Script letters |
Value of the pieces today
The quality of the rhinestones of Eisenberg pieces is so good that they are still mainly sparkling and bright today, which is a reason for the high values attributed to them. Older Eisenberg pieces are a great investment. Look for pieces signed Eisenberg Originals or Eisenberg Sterling. Try to purchase sets, when possible. Also look for original Eisenberg boxes. Their whimsical vintage figural pins from the 1940s are especially valuable and collectible.
To view other articles on the designers, please visit the designer of the week archives.
