Dujay Sterling Brooch
Here is a maker that you can go months with out seeing at auction or at an estate sale. According to the Brunialti book, American Costume Jewelry, Art and Industry, A-M,
Dujay pieces are considered rare.
I can say they are certainly not commonly found.
The casual buyer might look at the images and wonder about the high prices. Once they actually hold one and see the pieces in person it becomes easier to see why they command high prices and are among collectors favorites.
This brings to mind a live auction I
attended a few years back where the auctioneer, a nice steady middle aged man, was trying to describe a jar of old coins. Finally, after removing a few from the jar and trying to read them to the audience he said, "the coin collectors
will know" and went on to the next item.
Well, collectors know the name Dujay for a couple of reasons. First, because it is well made costume jewelry from the hey-day and because of the lawsuit the company won over Déja This was in 1940 and
the lawsuit was over the use of the name Déja or in legal speak, trademark infringement. Déja was forced to change its name to Réja in 1941.
This piece because of the use of sterling most likely dates to the 1940s WWII years. It has the weight and superb construction as all the
Dujay pieces we have seen.
It also exhibits one of their popular an often used designs. The large central stone with the surround of small clear rhinestones. Each vermeil over sterling petal is carefully detailed and perfectly placed.
Click on the image for a larger view and description.
Dujay Sterling Brooch
You can see some of their very popular figurals in the aforementioned Brunialti book on pages 161 and 162 or click here to see our signed Dujay Sterling bird figural.
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