1952 Crown Trifari “Jelly Belly” Brooch
United States · Yellow Gold Plated, Rhinestone
$2,999.95
- Maker
- Crown Trifari
- Origin
- United States
- Era
- Alfred Philippe · 1952
- Materials
- Yellow Gold Plated, Rhinestone
- Condition
- Pre-owned
- Provenance
- A pierced, caged heart in poured glass — catalogued by the Brunialtis among the Jelly Bellies in their American Costume Jewelry, Vol. 2. Philippe at his most inventive, where structure and stone become one object.
On this piece
Twice a book piece, and almost impossible to find at all. Alfred Philippe designed this brooch for Crown Trifari in 1952 — a pierced, caged heart-and-leaf “bug” built around a great domed poured-glass center — and it’s important enough to appear in two of the standard references: Brunialti’s American Costume Jewelry, Volume 2, which files it among the fabled “Jelly Bellies,” and Judith Miller’s Costume Jewelry, on page 128. That may be the only place most collectors ever see it. The “Jelly Belly” name usually means a clear Lucite center; here Philippe used poured glass instead, rarer still. It arrives in excellent condition, in an original Jewels by Trifari case — the presentation these pieces were meant to have. Signed Trifari with the patent mark. For the serious Trifari collector, this is a genuine white whale: a documented, cased, exceptional example of a design that barely surfaces.