Napier introduced the “Pipes of Pan” collection in 1973. Renowned jewelry designer Francis Fujio designed this “brutalist-style” collection for Napier during a period the company was notably recognized for creating larger breastplate pieces. In the recently published book, The Napier Co.: Defining 20th Century American Costume Jewelry, the author features both the collar (shown in […]
Archive | April, 2013
Ask Your Library to Acquire this Book
Life By Design Publishing is commencing an active campaign to get The Napier Co.: Defining 20th Century American Costume Jewelry book into community libraries across the country. We are asking fans of the book to print out and take to their local library the purchasing information to acquire this book title. Please download this form […]
Vogue “Patterns” December 2007 Image 1
Napier Peacetime Manufacturing
Adventures in Paris: The American Jewelry Designer
The head jewelry designer of The E. A. Bliss Co. traveled rather frequently to Paris in the late 19th and early 20th century. These trips were long and sometimes challenging trip for those who were not suited for the rolling seas and the salty air. Mr. William Rettenmeyer made those jewelry-seeking trips, often in the […]
Guess The Manufacturer
Can you guess who the manufacturer of each of these pieces of jewelry as featured in a 1937 Vogue magazine? Answers are upside down.
Collectible Napier Banks
Napier banks are a fun collectible which can bring back childhood memories of chores, saving money, and walks to the local Five and Dime store to buy a bag full of penny candy. The Napier pig bank became an iconic representation of the Napier bank collection Napier stopped manufacturing giftware and went on to focus […]
Stephan R. Bartek and The Napier Co.
Many costume jewelry books have written that Stephan R. Bartek designed for The Napier Co. Although, the author of The Napier Co.: Defining 20th Century American Costume Jewelry remains unconvinced, and makes no claims to that fact. In fact, there is no mention of Stephan R. Bartek in her recently published book. After extensive research […]
Jewelry History—The Wartime Era
Jewelry History—The Wartime Era Foreseeing the possibility of limited raw materials during the war, those manufacturers who had stockpiled material, continued meeting consumer demand. The amount of material backlogged ranged from 60 to 90 days to as much as a two year supply for manufacturing. However, manufacturers could not simply manufacture goods from their stockpiled […]