Hattie Carnegie Jewelry

Hattie Carnegie was an immigrant to the U.S. from Vienna. She worked as a shop girl at Macy's, changed her name to Carnegie, (she chose the name after Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in America) and became the head of multi-million dollar empire. Five design companies under her name produced hats, perfume, couture clothing, ready-to-wear clothing and jewelry. The clothing was the most successful. Today, it's the jewelry that is highly prized by collectors. Her designs are often intricate and her materials are of good quality. Pieces can be found on the secondary market with prices ranging from average to high.

Animal figurals are very popular and Carnegie designed some really great ones. This elephant is from the Primitives on Parade series.

Two fish from Carnegie's Zodiac Series

Two trembler pins. Or "en tremblant." The squirrel has a spring in it's tail which quivers or "trembles" and the insect has springs behind its wings.

A sampling of beautiful flower brooches from Hattie Carnegie.

This fringed flower is probably the most iconic of Carnegie's flowers. Oddly, it doesn't bear a hallmark. It's possible that the piece originally had a hang tag with Carnegie's hallmark, but I've never seen one and am only speculating.

Some additional brooches - these are figural pins. Carnegie figural pieces do not excite me very much. To my eye, there is something "off" in the designs. But they are very popular and of course we all have different tastes and preferences.

On the other hand, her beaded pieces do excite me. I love the materials she used and the combinations of colors.

Four-strand necklace with cameo clasp

Triple strand necklace with malachite green clasp

Necklace, bracelet and earrings set in pinks and greys

And my favorite Hattie Carnegie design. I love the combination of turquoise with dragon's breath and I love the design.

Additional goodies by Hattie Carnegie

Wide, Egyptian Revival cuff bracelet

Pineapple fruit pin

Gorgeous stones and colors in this pin and earrings set

Rhinestone pin and earrings set

Ornate star pin

There are a number of hallmarks used on Carnegie jewelry. The oldest is the HC mark seen below followed by additional examples.

A shout out and thank you to the following people who lent their photos to this blog post:
Dina Rosenberg Deuidicibus from "BOOGIEBEE SHOP" on eBay
Pat Seal, "Treasures From Yesterday" in Fort Worth, Tx
Merry Sachs Shugart from "The More the Merrier" a shop on Ruby Lane

For additional information check out this book
Hattie Carnegie Jewelry: Her Life and Legacy
Georgina McCall