Albert Weiss
(Founded 1942 - Closed 1971)
Albert Weiss established his own firm in 1942 on Fifth Avenue, New York. Weiss’ company was dedicated to the manufacture of hand set pieces only. Weiss was a former employee of the Coro Company, where he learned
his trade.
Weiss went on to become a hugely successful costume jewelry designer in the 1950s and 1960s. Weiss’ look was based more on paste than on metalwork, and indeed the settings became no more than a mere mechanism for displaying as many rhinestones as could possible fit on a single piece; his use of inverted stones and long stemmed enamel flowers with great detail, (they were produced in a range of colors and each with subtle differences in the stems, leaves, and petals), and his use of Pave icing meant to imitate Eisenberg designs.
Weiss gave much importance to the quality of his stones and got many of his supplies from Austria, since these stones had a higher lead content and gave his pieces a particularly dazzling appeal. His company was small but grew steadily so that in the 1950s and 1960s Weiss had to contract work out to be manufactured by Hollycraft, in order to keep up with the demand.
Weiss’ own signature is the “black diamond” in smoky grey paste, which was the reproduction of the German smoky quartz crystals. Weiss based these unique stones on grey Austrian crystals, and they went on to become best sellers, widely copied by competitors in the 1950s.
Although, Weiss’s work was mainly abstract, he also produced a limited range of figurals such as butterflies, insects, fruits and flowers. Weiss’s first pieces were signed “Weiss”, either on an applied plate or stamped directly into the metal, also “Weiss” in script. They were also signed “Albert Weiss” or A.W. Co., a signature that appeared sometime in 1951.
Weiss Jewelry had its own production and its own lines. It was affordable because of its low end popularity; Weiss also produced some high end costume jewelry.
Weiss was the first jewelry designer that recognized the Christmas tree as perfectly suited for the rhinestone treatment. He designed them in a variety of styles from the 1950s to the 1960s and they too became bestsellers and were copied by competitors. Other Christmas pieces made by Weiss were candy canes, bells, and wreaths.
Weiss produced some of the most beautiful and quality jewelry of the time. Although not as large as some of the other costume jewelry designers like Trifari and Coro, their standard of craftsmanship was exceptionally high.
Albert Weiss retired in 1969 leaving the directorship of the company to his son Michael. The popularity of the company continued for several years but finally Weiss Jewelry closed its doors in 1971.
