The history of Castlecliff jewelry brand began in 1925 when Clifford A Furst (1895-1958) made his first jewelry piece. A marine engineer by profession and an artist by vocation, he created a pair of shoe buckles. Furst and his partner, jewelry designer Joseph A. Bobley founded The Castlecliff Co., 366 Fifth Avenue, New York City, in 1925.

In 1945, Furst and Bobley registered wordmark Castlecliff in Canada. Eight years later Joseph A. Bobley (1900 – 1995) started his own business Joseph Bobley Jewelry Inc., 40 West 37th Street, New York.

Furst steadily aimed toward producing inexpensive jewelry of intricate beauty, real value in workmanship and charm. As a result, already in the 1930s he became America’s acknowledged leader of costume jewelry designs. It was due to his efforts in injecting originality, elegance, style sense and the same workmanship found in jewelry set with real stones.

No longer regarded as cheap adornment, Furst’s costume jewelry was beautifully designed and coordinated to follow the trend in fashion.

Directory of Manufacturing Firms in New York State

According to 1953 Directory of Manufacturing Firms in New York State, Clifford A Furst was president of Castlecliff costume jewelry corporation at 366 Fifth Avenue. A. Menin was vice-president, and Willard G. Markle was secretary. The firm employed 53 people. In addition, the firm’s plant Castlemark Inc at 479 1 Avenue, NYC, employed 30 people.

Furst, Credited With Many “Firsts”

He was the first designer to turn away from the creation of flashy rhinestone pieces toward designs which stress color, line and a fashion “idea”.

Also, he was the first to sponsor the use of huge semi-precious Chinese and East Indian stones in costume jewelry, the whimsical lapel pieces, the bib-necklaces, enamel jewelry and the gay feather-weight “hubble” beads.

In 1939 Clifford Furst set many important trends, notably the use of stained glass and hand-decorated porcelain for jewelry, the revival of jet, paste, medieval designs and the longer length necklace. The America jet designs he showed in October 1940 were sponsored by the French Couturiers, to whom, until the war, he regularly exported his Castlecliff creations.

The top-flight dressmaking houses of London and Paris including Norman Hartnell, Maggy Rouff, and Molyneaux have for several years past introduced Castlecliff jewelry with their collections. Clifford Furst also created special collection for such fashionable designers as Hattie Carnegie, John Frederics, Germaine Montell and others.

The Duchess of Kent, Mme, Jean Ralli, Donna Gora Caetani, Lady Elsie Mendl, Mrs. Harrison Williams, Brenda Frazier, and others of the famous “best dressed women” have chosen many of Furst designs for their wardrobe.

Clifford Furst – art collector and traveler

He traveled a lot to get the materials and inspiration he needed to create jewelry. His trips included Germany, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Ireland, France and Portugal. As soon as the cut stone concerns in Czechoslovakia were in a position to handle orders from the United States he imported cut stones from that country. From Spain he imported Spanish pearl and colored seed beads.

Noteworthy, Clifford Furst was a connoisseur and collector of works of art. Many of the paintings, drawings and lithographs stored in his collection, by the way, were dedicated to the marine profession with which he began his career. After the death of Clifford Furst in 1958, and according to his will, the Museum of the Metropolitan Museum received a collection of artworks belonging to the designer.

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