SHERMAN Signed Crystal Silver Rhodium Plated Screw on Earrings Wedding Prom

These are so beautiful. Clean sparkling stones and metal. Ready to wear. No
issues. Signed on the back of each earring....SHERMAN... Gorgeous amazing
condition.

History: 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, Ukrainian jeweler Dmytro Kurica, who went by Jim or
Jimmy and whose last name was pronounced Koretza, hence the confusion in some
quarters about his name. Kurica was an expert craftsman who helped 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.


Please check out my shop for all kinds of gift ideas. Vintage and artisan made:



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