The Largest Lea Stein Collection Online

With almost 900 Lea Stein items on our website we are able to boast that we have the largest collection of Lea Stein items available to purchase online. We believe this statement to be true as of time of writing with some Ebay shops making the same claim while having less than 200 items available.

Lea Stein; born 11th February 1936 is a French artist trained from a young age who originally designed for Coco Chanel in the late 1950s in textiles before branching off by herself and making the famous Lea Stein brooches we all know and love today.

Lea married Fernand Steinberger in the 1950s who was a chemist and it was he, working with Lea, who invented the laminated celluloid material which every Lea Stein brooch is made from.

It was found that Laminated Celluloid was a wonderful material to use as it was capable of being made in different colours with multiple layers, textures and shapes which allowed for a large variety of uses. Some of the patterns were created using the technique of dipping lace and netting into the drying celluloid and removing to leave the pattern as can be seen in the snakeskin affect.

From designs of Animal and Flora brooches to buttons, boxes and mirrors, Lea Stein worked in 2 eras, the first often referred to as her Vintage period was from 1969 – 1981 and the modern period started in 1991 after huge demand was placed on Lea Stein for more brooches.

Lea Stein brooches are unique in style and Lea has been described as the most notable and innovative designer of plastic jewellery of the 20th century. Alongside her unique style of Brooch is the distinctive V shaped signed safety clasps to the reverse of her brooches which makes them so easily identifiable. Earlier versions of the clasp were not marked but most are impressed with “Lea Stein Paris”. Some of the smaller brooches like her waistcoat design have smaller straight clasps which also are impressed with “Lea Stein” with no room offered for Paris. We have seen examples of real Lea Stein brooches without the V clasps which could be attributed to the original clasp becoming detached and a different clasp added. While this will take away from the originality of the piece, they are unmistakably Lea Stein brooches.

Designs

The early Serigraphy brooches are believed to be Lea’s most desirable pieces together with her belt buckles and Victorian miniatures. While not our favourites, they can command significantly higher prices than her other items.

The human character brooches are varied in design; Sailors, Ballerinas, Saxophonists, Skateboarders, Native Americans and celebrities such as John Travolta, Josephine Baker and Elvis Presley are just some of the designs Lea produced.

Vast design varieties can also be noted in her Dog, Cat and Fox brooches. In fact Ric the terrier was inspired by “Ric and Rac, the naughty terriers” after the French cartoon series by Pol Rab which dates back to the 1920s. The inspiration for Plouc and Ploukie, I believe were modelled after her own dogs.

The animal design beyond that includes, but is not limited to; Elephants, Fish, Koala Bears, Tortoises, Rabbits, Hippos, Lions and Panthers.

Birds and Insect brooches include owls, ducks with umbrellas, swallows, sparrows, swans, Ladybirds, Flamingos, Parrots, Toucans, Peacocks, Geese, Penguins, Bees and Butterflies.

Produced in the mid-1970s Lea created an Isle of Children (I’ile Aux Enfants) range of brooches and badges mainly serigraphy modelled on the French children’s TV show. Some of the characters like Casimir, Leonard and Gribouille featured in the programme. we have a large selection of them available on site. These are highly sought after and rare.

Further items which fall into a category all to themselves include hats with walking sticks, books, handbags, tennis rackets, teapots, clothes pegs, boats, limousines, waistcoats, Bowties, hearts, stars, hands etc.

Sometimes Lea would combine the same design into making double and triple versions of the same brooch. Some which we have available at time of writing are shown below in the design of a triple Doe, a double Edelweiss, Double Totie the Scotty dog, double Camels, double Walrus and double Dachshund.

While brooches seem to be Lea steins most popular items she did also make bracelets in various shapes and sizes, rings, necklaces, earrings, hair combs, picture frames, jewellery boxes, cigarette lighter holders, mirrors, belt buckles an even perfume bottles.

Lea Stein offers a truly unique variety of different objects, meaning no matter your taste or interest there is something for everyone.

A book about Lea Stein Jewellery by American Judith Just was made in the early 2000s and produced by American book publishers Schiffer books. While the book is not perfect in its accuracy it does provide a wealth of information and pictures however some of the names used in the book are not correct for the item. For example Carmen is called Joan Crawford and the Ballerina, they have called Scarlet O’Hara which is incorrect. Guide prices are listed however the book itself makes a strong point of mentioning that these are merely guides at the time of writing.

Sadly, as with many highly sought after items, a large number of fake Lea Stein brooches have hit the market in recent years. At time of writing they are quite easily identifiable as the quality compared to a genuine Lea Stein is lacking and leaves a lot to be desired however it is expected the quality of the fakes will soon catch up and could make identification of fakes much harder.

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