Vintage Frascarolo Italian Enamel Diamond Ruby and Gold Zebra Ring, Circa 1967

A vintage Frascarolo & C., Italian, enamel ruby and gold zebra ring, designed as a three dimensional zebra head and tail, with black and white enamel depicting the zebra stripes, round brilliant-cut diamonds set in the mane, ruby set eyes and polished mane and tail, mounted in gold, with the cartouche marked, Made 18kt Italy, the maker's and fineness mark, 347AL|750 and the guarantee cartouce, Modele FC Deposé, circa 1967.

Frascarolo & C., of Valenza, gained international renown with its “Bestiario” and “Bestiario Feroce” collection, created between 1966 and 1971. They were one of the leading Italian creators of animalier jewellery. The Italian jewellery brand began after the Second World War in 1949. The firm was founded by Pierino Frascarolo, and Aldo Lenti with the mark 347 AL.

Pierino Frascarolo, also known as “Rino”, was born into a wealthy family, in Milan, in 1928. In 1945 he began his career as an apprentice at Fratelli Lunati.  In 1946, together with his two colleagues Aldo Lenti (1910-1982) and Daniele Valiera (1912-1978), the young Rino founded “Frascarolo and C” in Ferrara, northern Italy. In 1948, he moved his jewellery factory to Corso Matteotti.  Initially producing medium priced jewellery, they went on to specialise in fine jewellery, using platinum and precious stones and became a supplier of some of the most high prestige Italian jewellers: Zendrini and Fasano in Turin, Missiaglia in Venice, Verga, Cusi, Faraone and Pederzani in Milan, Settepassi in Florence, Massoni and Masenza in Rome, Chantecler in Capri, Fecarotta in Catania.

When Milanese designer and sculptor Renzo Basini joined the firm, in 1966, Frascarolo started to use the lost-wax casting technique to produce limited editions of brooches, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, cufflinks, tie clips and rings depicting strange, cartoon-like imaginary animals with polychrome enamel, gemstones and gold that made them particularly distinctive and attractive. A small team of twenty designers, artists and jewellers created the unique “Bestiario” designs.

Subsequently, another series of animals of the savanna (tigers, lions, zebras, giraffes and vultures) was to form the so-called “Bestiario Feroce” collection. All the items produced scored an incredible success on the market and the animals appeared on ladies’ lipstick cases and powder compacts, umbrella handles, pill boxes and handbag watch cases, money clips and on men’s cuff-links, lighters and key rings. From 1967, their authenticity was guaranteed by a small oval plaque with the wording FC, MODELE DEPOSÉ, MADE IN ITALY, 347 AL, 750/18k welded inside the jewels.

Such was the demand for the “Bestiario” collection, especially in the United States, that the business expanded, necessitating a doubling of the workforce. Frascarolo & Co. opened in New York City, in 1970, with Rino going into partnership with Mr. Adriano Gugliada for this venture. Cartier’s and David Webb’s animalier jewellery was already very popular in the USA.

Valenza’s skilled craftsmen, like those in workshops throughout the world, had created their pieces for famous international houses, without bringing their own brand names to the market. Rino Frascarolo’s ambitious sales strategy, for the first time on the Italian scene, promoted a recognisable high-end jewellery brand that brought the world of jewellery closer to that of the Italian designers who were becoming the most sought-after stylists worldwide.

Despite great success and prosperity, the company declined in the 1970s, influenced by the departure of iconic employees such as the Tizzani brothers, and then Aldo Lenti. In 1972 Antonio Pietrolucci, a recently hired goldsmith from Rome, took over the management of the company for a short time, with a reduced number of employees, under the name of Frascarolo Rino. The tragic death of Pierino Frascarolo, in Valenza, in July 1976, at the young age of forty-eight caused the closure of Frascarolo & C.

Frascarolo’s designs are still celebrated and models are still copied and imitated today.

With thanks to By Maria Carla Manenti, The back vault