1980s Rainbow Semi-precious Gemstone Cluster Set

When I first began searching for information about these pieces, all I had to go on were the marks engraved into them. Since only one has the "Romanza" stamp, it wasn't much to go on for information. Romanza is an Italian word for romance, and has been used by lots of jewelers and companies over the years.  I also wasn't sure if they had been purchased all together or custom made to match from various different sources. 

Since then, at least a portion of the mystery has been solved! 

I ended up finding the original jewelry boxes and a cutout from the catalog they were purchased from, picturing 2 of the 3 pieces, in a dresser drawer!  They were purchased from the Best catalog in the 80s!

Discovering things like this is always very exciting! I set out to research about this "Best" company. Now, I'll skip details of how long it takes Google to figure out what you are trying to find when you type in a vague search term like "best jewelry company" LOL!!! But eventually I got what I was trying to find.

There were two companies with very similar names, so this could also be confusing if all I had were words, but since I also had a logo, I got a definite distinction. There was a Best & Co. department store founded by Albert Best in 1879. But THIS one is Best Products Company, Inc. Founded in 1957, Best was a chain of American catalog showroom retail stores founded by a father/son team from Richmond Virginia. Starting out selling encyclopedias, son Sydney Lewis had the idea to include a catalog selling additional merchandise along with the invoices for the encyclopedias. And so the first showroom was opened. 

In the 1960s, Lewis began collecting Pop Art and soon developed a barter system with young artists in New York, later traveling overseas collecting Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces. Over the decades, he became known for trading merchandise for original artwork. Much of this collection of 20th century work can be seen in the Lewis Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. 

In the 1970s, Best Products earned a reputation for their "highly unorthodox retail facilities, notably a tongue-in-cheek structure called the "Indeterminate Facade" in Houston, TX, with a severely distressed facade" which appeared in tons of magazines back then.  Not to mention several others of equal interest. i am from Houston, so that one sparked my curiosity. 

This is the magic of vintage! All these little details, small pieces of the big history puzzle, embedded in their stories!