I have always loved butterflies, both real and in jewelry. Here are some samples of butterflies as different as their makers.
Date(s): February 8, 2006. Album by Georjean West. 1 - 36 of 36 Total. 82 Visits.
1 This is the Moghul butterfly by Trifari and it's certainly better in person than this picture. Very elegant, and based on real jewelry.
2 This Trifari butterfly is from the 50s or 60s I think. There are a whole series of shapes and colors in this series. The crystal, emerald and sapphire rhinestones are wonderful
3 This Trifari butterfly is gold over sterling and dates to 1944. This shape was used in the 40s, 50s, and the 60s with various metals/treatments. In the 50s, it looked like this one, but was made in Trifanium. Also 50s was a florentine gold one with black diamond rhinestones. The 60s brought textured gold with brightly colored enamel.
4 Although it looks just like the 1944 Sterling butterfly, this one isn't sterling. It's Trifanium, and was a later release from Trifari. The colored cabochon stones are striated to simulate inclusions, another difference from the earlier version.
5 This large Trifari butterfly is part of the Modern Mosaic series in the late 60s. These were done in a multitude of shapes and colors. These are opaque glass, but the most sought after are the transparent glass in jewel colors.
6 Another pretty Trifari butterfly, this one isn't as appreciated as the others
7 This paperweight pin has a beautiful butterfly image. I think the background is paper made to look like mother of pearl. I have this particular image in 4 or 5 color schemes and frame designs.
8 This is a different paperweight pin -- one of my favorites. It combines two elements that I love: white flowers and a butterfly.
9 This paperweight pin is newer than the oval ones, and the butterfly is definitely more colorful.
10 What could be better than a butterfly wing pin where the butterfly wing is the butterfly's wings? Although I'm not sure the butterfly would agree.
11 This Regency butterfly is done in multi shades of pink and aurora borealis. It's perfect, even with those very fragile antenna. I wear this one often in the spring. Pink and spring go together.
12 This isn't a Regency butterfly (at least it isn't marked), but it's the exact same setting and beautiful open back crystal stones.
13 This Regency butterfly is japanned and multi-colored. The pin came to me with a replacement pin that had been badly glued on -- so much glue that it came through on the front and glued the frame parts together. It was a job to restore it.
14 The pretty Regency butterfly is in a gunmetal gray frame and various shades of blue. This was my first Regency butterfly and the one I like the best. My pictures never do the stones justice.
15 This Regency butterfly is in amethyst, blue and peridot. I wonder why Regency butterflies lose their antennae so often?
16 This Regency butterfly is a different shape. It's kind of interesting, but I like the other shape better.
17 This dramatic Regency butterfly also is missing its antennae, but there's so much going on that it hardly matters. It's a bigger one than the rest.
18 This is a plique a jour butterfly on 800 silver from Italy. It's tiny, a little over 3/4".
19 This extra large and high quality butterfly was made by Jeanne, who seems to have made mostly low to mid-range costume jewelry. Obviously, this is an exception.
20 I bought this butterfly on Ebay and was surprised to find that it was marked MMA, for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
21 The combination of satin rhinestones with glass is really striking. This is a classic Weiss shape, although not marked.
22 This is another unmarked butterfly, very much like the Weiss butterflies. It is definitely the same age.
23 These plastic butterflies are lavender and a color that looks just like a dreamsicle. The color in the picture is washed out. These are signed KD Denmark (not B-D).
24 And these small butterfly scatter pins are marked Napier.
25 The enameling is what makes this pretty butterfly. This butterfly is by Hroar Prydz.
26 The enameling on this Denmark sterling butterfly is so wonderful. Although everyone thinks it's by David Andersen, it is not.
27 This is a pretty common Czech filigree butterfly, in the smaller size. Pat Seal says these were made in the 30s.
28 Can't beat this contemporary butterfly for wearability. The yellow just perks me up!
29 This is teeny, less than 3/4". This little butterfly owes its beauty to the large faceted topaz stone. It shines more than most, although the picture doesn't really show that.
30 I believe this is made of cowrie shell.
31 This came to me direct from Russia. Sometimes the "art" on these handpainted pins is kind of primitive, but this one was very nice.
32 This was given to me at Christmas by a friend -- I always wondered whether these were a kit to finish the petit point yourself?
33 Monet is one of those makers whose work can either be wonderful or mundane. This butterfly isn't the best looking, but the construction is great.
34 Mazer made several butterflies, but I like this delicate one. The combination of stones make it look like it could be real.
35 One of my first butterflies, this one had such a pretty color scheme.
36 This is a wonderful necklace made by the talented Maggie Endres. Maggie surrounded a 1950s German glass butterfly with an intricate crocheted frame of tiny glass beads.
