Trifari Jelly Belly Orchid Pin -- Comparison of Real and Fake

Trifari JB Peony -- Comparison of
Real and Fake

realtrifaripeony.jpg (78097 bytes) faketrifaripeony.jpg (83138 bytes)

On the left is a scan of a real Trifari jelly belly peony, taken from "American Costume Jewelry, 1935-1950" by Brunialti and Brunialti. (Be sure to buy this wonderful book if you possibly can!) On the right is a scan of the "fake" Trifari jelly belly peony, from my personal collection.

As you can see, the "fake" is pretty good! At least, upon first impression, in the pic. The pin itself is actually somewhat poorly made; on the back of the pin, there are rough places, and a couple of "stress" cracks in the molded metal. There are even some rough and "stressed" places on the front -- between the main petal base and the right "subsidiary" petal base. Also, the metal color overall is goldtone, but is dull and ugly-looking. In the REAL pin (I have held one "in person" the goldtone is much brighter, but not overly "goldy" or garish.

Now, there is a sure-fire way to tell the "fake" peony. Take a look at the Lucite "petals." On the REAL peony, the molded indentations are deep, and are sharply curved. (I've drawn green arrows, so that you can see where the curved indentations end.) In the "fake," they are shallow, narrower, and do not curve very much at all.

Also, the bottom stem is somewhat more sharply curved in the fake, than in the original.

Additionally, the rhinestone "center is sunk more deeply into the metal setting on the "fake," and (you can't really tell from the pic) the stones are of inferior quality. One is actually more pink than red! However, this could have been an "aftermarket" replacement. :-)

I do not know what is marked on the back of the "real" piece. However, the back of the "fake" is marked "Trifari" with a sort-of crown (part is missing; the rest looks like dots) and "139255." There's something else, but it can't be made out. Perhaps because it's actually a casting of the original markings; second-generation "molds" of the original are going to look just like what they are. :-)

If you'd like to weigh in with your own opinions on this comparison, please email me at dkos@radix.net.

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