A 1950s Lisner enamel jewellery set

You can’t beat a Lisner jewellery set. I reckon so, anyway. My mother-in-law usually gives me money for birthday and Christmas, and I always try to buy something special ‘from her’ rather than just fritter it on beer and pizza. This was my self-chosen birthday present, though it's taken me until now to photograph it. I saw the set on Etsy and couldn’t resist. Earrings, brooch and bracelet for under £40, with postage? Get in my basket! It’s by Lisner, and looking at this adds to my conviction than an unsigned yellow bracelet-and-earrings set I own is also Lisner as there’s such similarity in the enamel leaves.



I’m pretty sure this set is 1950s. It has the copyright symbol next to the name stamp, so has to be post-1955, but after 1959 the Lisner logo was in script rather than block capitals, as it is on this set. Then there's the style. 1960s jewellery is often larger, more brash... a bit camp, in that it’s fake, you know it’s fake, it makes no attempt to hide the fact it’s fake but it looks utterly fabulous anyway. My yellow probably-Lisner set has plastic daisies on as well as diamante and enamel, and the bright colours and use of modern materials make me believe that set is 60s. The daintiness of these blue pieces makes me think they're earlier, as do the screwbacks on the earrings. The pastel shades of the cold enamel are also very mid-50s. At any rate, I shall keep an eye out for vintage jewellery adverts online. If I can spot this set in one, it’ll give me a date.

I bought the set from JewelryCreatedForYou on Etsy, and she's got a blue enamel earring and bracelet set for sale right now. When my set arrived a few of the diamantes had shaken loose in transit, but it just took a couple of minutes with a tube of UHU All-Purpose Adhesive to fix that – and as I said to Mr Robot, it’s better that the stones shook loose in the post, and fell safely into the box than that they fell out while I was wearing the jewellery and got lost. It’s certainly not the seller’s fault; after 60 years the glue probably just gave up!

Do you have a favourite type of jewellery? I know lots of vintage-lovin’ gals are keen on Bakelite and other early plastics. There’s got to be another diamante fiend out there...