Newsflash: Lea Stein’s First 2008 Design is Out!

I really wish there was some kind of official Lea Stein website or mailing list, so that I could be up to date with the new designs all the time. Then again, this lack of marketing and slickness is one of the most charming things about this designer – there’s no fanfare, no announcement, no hype – you’re just idling away one day on eBay, and then bam! You realise that a new design is on the market.

And I’m already a big fan of the latest addition to the Lea Stein stable. It features…

Lea Stein Brooches: Which Are the Most Collectable?

It’s at moments like these that I feel truly thankful that I’m a nerd. I love a good research session. Can’t get enough index scanning, googling and sniffing around.

I’ve noted before that I’m a relatively new collector of Lea Stein jewellery (which is mostly brooches/pins, but there’s also earrings, bracelets and combs). And one of the most difficult things to work out for a collector – other than how the jewellery should be dated and priced – is which of Lea Stein’s designs are the most collectable.

With that in mind, here are a few designs of note. This is by no means an exhaustive list, as there are probably still many I’ve never even clapped eyes on. Feel free to let me know of any other Lea Stein brooch designs or finishes that should be added.

Investigation: The Case of the Annoying Mystery Signature

Like it or not, signatures, tags, hallmarks, stamps and numbers matter when you’re talking vintage. This goes for a number of things – silver, glass (if you can find one on a glass item…good luck), furniture, clothes (obviously), figurines and so on and so forth. And nowhere is the hunt for a name more intense than in the field of costume jewellery.

Example: I recently saw a Lea Stein fox head brooch (brown and white, for those who are interested, which screams mid-1970s to me) with an unsigned clasp for sale on eBay. The price? US$19.99. Now, given that just about ANY Stein will have the trademark v-shaped ‘Lea Stein Paris’ pinback – and even really small pieces have a tiny, straight bar that reads ‘Lea Stein’, and these fox heads are usually signed – this low price is probably due to the seller expecting some (reasonable) suspicion that the piece is a fake. But there were several photos and a ‘Made in France’ sticker, and the thing did look genuine. Its signed value is probably anywhere between $60-$80 on eBay or similar, or $100-$120 retail.

What this goes to show is that signed pieces are usually going to sell for a higher price than their unsigned counterparts (unless the lack of signature is due to the piece being very early – and as there are so few signatures on really early pieces, the lack of one is never taken as a sign of mass-production or poor quality).

So given this thirsty hunt for a name, it’s highly frustrating when you have pieces that bear some kind of signature that you either can’t decipher or can’t get any information about.

Marie-Christine Pavone Jewellery: Time to Let the Cat Out of the Bag

If you’re a Lea Stein fan, it’s more than likely that you’ve also seen the designs of Marie-Christine Pavone.

Another designer who works with plastic, Marie Pavone’s designs are similar to Lea Stein’s in that they are most commonly of animals (in fact, come to think of it, I can’t think of a Pavone brooch I’ve seen that isn’t an animal design), and they’re sizeable and colourful. I keep starting to write the word ‘whimsical’, but as this term makes my toes curl I’ll avoid it. You get the idea. 

This is not to say that you would ever confuse the two designers; the lines and shapes of Pavone jewellery are completely different to those of Lea Stein. Also, she works in galalith (an early plastic which can’t be moulded, made from mixing milk protein with formaldehyde), whereas Lea Stein’s jewellery is made from cellulose acetate (rhodoid), also referred to as ‘celluloid’. This gives the pieces totally different finishes; effects in Lea Stein jewellery come from the layering of plastic sheets, whereas Marie-Christine Pavone jewellery is hand painted. It is also hand signed ‘Pavone’ on the back.    

Doing a few quick searches on eBay will reveal that there are fewer Marie-Christine Pavone brooches/earrings etc than Lea Stein pieces available, but that they command a higher average price (reliability of eBay in terms of pricing aside). Often a dealer (online, shopfront or fair/market) who sells one will sell the other, with there being fewer Pavones than Steins available.

So I’m sure you’ll understand my consternation at realising that there is little to no information available on Pavone jewellery.

Cunning as a Fox: Dating and Pricing Lea Stein Jewellery

I love Lea Stein’s jewellery. The first piece I saw was at last year’s Williamstown Antiques Fair, and was being sold by Online Antiques. It was a rad blue/silver fox head, with the trademark long nose and layered cellulose acetate finish.

At the time, I thought it was out of my price range (it was $120), but I couldn’t stop thinking about its foxiness (having a bit of a Kath Day-Knight moment with my mango espadrilles etc). Alas, when I enquired later via e-mail it had sold - but a full blown lurve affair had begun.

I have since started collecting Lea Stein brooches. I currently have four. The first I purchased was a black and white Double Watching Cats. Second was a fox (as all Lea Stein afficionados know, you have to have a fox in your collection), which won me over with its unusual layering of a silver, gold and black fabric between layers of plastic. It’s from Harlequin Market in Sydney, which has an impressive range of both Lea Stein and Marie Christine Pavone designs - it was a bit more on the pricey side than I’ve seen for foxes, but then again I haven’t seen the same finish before or since, in any of the designs.

Then last Christmas, my lurvely beau bought me a Tom the Bear in classic black, which has that trademark Stein marbling effect through the plastic (and is cooler than Fonzy), and I also received a Whoa-Nelly-level-of-awesome fuschia Gomina, the Sleeping Cat.

What I’m getting to here is that as a newish collector, I’m finding that dating these and other designs, as well as figuring out which are the most collectable can be a difficult process.