What kind of jewlery is it? Who madie them and where we can get prices
of approx. what they are worth (of course the brooches that we own0
etc.? Any other background we can get

Hi Jonnyr,

I've found a few pages that have history on the Trifari brand of
jewelry as well as offer some pieces for sale.  This way you can get
an idea of how much they are worth - and you may see a similar brooch
to one of yours as well.

Trifari Jewelry History
http://www.collectorsindex.com/information/trifarijewelryhistory.html
This page has some pictures, and discusses the founders and designers
for the Trifari line.  A related link has information about individual
pieces with prices: http://www.collectorsindex.com/trifari.htm (there
are three total pages, you'll see links at the bottom to continue)

Enchanted Learning: Trifari Jewelry
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/jewel/company/trifari/
A short history with some pieces pulled out to describe (with photos, of course).

Collectics.com
http://www.collectics.com/education_jewelrydesigners3.html#alphatrifari
"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 Naple sin 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)"


Here are pages that just have items for sale:

Collectible Jewels
http://www.collectiblejewels.com/trifari.html

Glitz & Glitter Boutique
http://glitzandglitterboutique.com/mainhtml/trifari.html

Morning Glory Antiques
http://www.morninggloryantiques.com/Trifari.htm

I found these websites by doing a search of the Google database
(www.google.com) for "Trifari".  There are a ton of sites out there
offering Trifari jewelry for sale - if you have a specific piece
you're interested in evaluating you might search for it using some
words describing the piece, plus "trifari".

Please let me know if I can help further!

Librariankt

---

Request for Answer Clarification by jonnyr-ga on 22 Feb 2005 12:03 PST

if possible are there sites goto to see how they mark there jewlery i
know one of the ways is crown above the t and c any other markings
would be of help with the corresponding info date designed by which
artist etc.

---

Clarification of Answer by librariankt-ga on 22 Feb 2005 16:49 PST

Hi there - It looks from your rating (thanks for the tip!) that you
found the section in the first link I gave that lists all the
different marks/signatures on the jewelry.  Let me know if you need
more detail.  LKT

I found everthing i wanted by your research thank you very much