HISTORY OF THE TRIFARI
and CROWN TRIFARI COMPANYs
_"Trifari: Luigi Trifari was a top goldsmith
in the mid-1800s in his native Naples, Italy,
where he had a small but successful workshop.
Gustavo Trifari, Luigi's grandson,
was born in Naples in 1883 and
learned the goldsmith's craft from his grandfather.
In 1904, Gustavo
emigrated to America and found work as
jewelry designer in New York
City. In 1910, he partnered with his uncle
and founded his first firm
Trifari & Trifari to produce high quality
costume jewelry. Two year hence, Gustavo,
went on his own and formed
Trifari which he operated as
owner and designer until 1917,
when Leo Krussman joined the company as
sales manager. The company Trifari and Krussman
was incorporated in
1918, and after top salesman Carl Fishel
joins the company in 1923 the
name is changed to Trifari, Krussman,
and Fishel. The 1930s were a
period of outstanding production for Trifari
with Alfred Phillipe as
their lead designer, formerly of Cartier and
Van Cleef & Arpels. Under
his imaginative leadership and with runaway successes
such as the 1941
"crown" pin, Trifari grew to become the second largest U. S.
manufacturer of costume jewelry behind only Coro.
Trifari leveraged the services of many popular designers
including Jean Paris
(1958-1965), Andre Boeut (1967-1979), and
Diane Love (1971-1974), and
Alfred Phillipe stayed with the company
until 1968. With these diverse
design contributions, Trifari produced
an incredibly wide array of
styles at all different price levels,
but they all enjoy the excellent
craftsmanship which Gustavo learned
from his grandfather. Most Trifari
pieces are marked with,
a crown above the "T", or in variations "TKF"
or "Trifari, Krussman & Fishel".
(Reference Source: Masterpieces of
Costume Jewelry at the Collectics Online Bookstore)"
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SIGNATURE FOUND ON TRIFARI JEWELRY:
TRIFARI PAT. PEND,
CROWN TRIFARI (has the word Trifari,
with the CROWN ON TOP OF THE WORD TRIFARI,
Trifari, Trifari(c) and Trifari(tm).
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