In December of last year I approached two colleagues of mine, Cheryl Killmer and Carol Spigner on how we could present Juliana accurately to our customers. Part of my concern stemmed from my site being with Ruby Lane - who strives for quality and accuracy. I knew these two knowledgeable ladies would be the ones to help get the ball rolling with me since I knew very little about the mystery of Juliana myself. I am not a collector of Juliana, I am a dealer that occasionally sells Juliana and so my concern was to be able to provide accurate information to my customers.

The three of us began to discuss how we could help dealers/collectors understand more about representing this jewelry accurately. We began to set a few initial goals: What do we call this Jewelry? At that time we felt that "Juliana Style" was not quite accurate and that it only helped contribute to the sea of misrepresented Juliana being offered.

Also discussed was the determining characteristics, providing examples of what is and what is not Juliana, providing examples of known construction, providing proper terms of construction in both the stones used and other components that "collectively" would say - this is Juliana. We were working directly with Frank to get our few initial answers.

Once we knew where we should be heading with this project, we wanted to send out a group e-mail to others who were also concerned about representing Juliana accurately - knowing from the beginning that nothing was going to be 100% and that we would continue to learn more and probably stumble along the way from what we knew "then".

Our intended project was then posted on the Jewelry Ring and I asked if anyone would like to be included in this group e-mail we called the "Juliana Standard Verbiage Project". More names were added to the e-mail list. At that time, there was a Juliana group on Yahoo that was not secure (not moderated) so another Juliana group was set up and we were informed about that one through the Jewelry Ring Group. Jill (the owner of this group) suggested that I add the "realjulianajewelry" e-mail address to the group e-mail so that those enthusiastic members could also be informed. What a terrific idea that was...we found one place to just plain discuss Juliana as well as a place to continue our research.

On January 19th, an e-mail was posted to the "realjulianajewelry" group and all other individuals that were on the list advising that we should have some information soon - just so they knew we were working on it. Then on January 21, the e-mail "Standard Verbiage" e-mail was sent out. I received great response and enthusiasm from many who wanted to have a better understanding of Juliana. Obviously, all the answers to every question could not have been in that initial e-mail. It was intended as an introduction and included in it were just a few facts we learned from Frank in that short time that we thought would be interesting. A stepping stone was established.

Many more then learned about Jill's "realjulianajewelry" group and much enthusiasm and discussion took place here. Not surprisingly, more things were learned that we did not know in December - just one month ago. Excellent input was exchanged via the "realjulianajewelry" group and as expected - many had several more questions that needed to be answered. As the complexity of this project grew, it became necessary to have additional help with the research project. Cheri Van Hoover and Luda Tovey were added to the committee - both enthusiastic and extremely talented colleagues that are devoted to making our research progress.

Not being an expert in Juliana, but a concerned dealer I spearheaded this project watching it grow to where we are today. None of this could have been done without the combined effort of everyone's individual expertise that we have on our current committee. Whether you are on a committee or not - we appreciate everyone's valued input, this is indeed a group effort. As we continue to move forward in a positive light - all of this will be of benefit in so many ways. I also have to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during the expected, but few bumps in the road.

The current research committee members are:

Cheryl Killmer & Cheri Van Hoover
Primary role: Questions to Frank DeLizza
Providing a succinct format for clarity
Cheryl is considered the lead collector and knows Frank personally.
We could not begin to do this without Cheryl's expertise.
Cheri comes from a writing background - definitely another major player.
Pro-active Cheri quickly modified her Juliana web page reference as to what
we know now - an excellent example of her concerns as a reputable dealer.

Carol Spigner
Primary role: Ongoing Research
Carol has played a very important role from the beginning of our research.
Carol also knows Frank personally and has produced many answers from Frank. Look for yet another informational web page by Carol soon...Carol has been diligently working on her web page.

Luda Tovey
Primary role: Research Plan Outline
Luda comes from a qualified background for this role.
Look for this detailed outline Luda is working on - coming soon.
Luda is very detail oriented and is doing an exceptional job.

Lori Linewall & Sandra Miller
Primary Role: Data Entry - Research Database

Jan Gaughan
Committee Research Project Coordinator
My other on-going project is to provide a *one stop* resource for
collectors and dealers of D&E/Juliana. A special section for D&E/Juliana is in place at the link below - more information as we progress.

Vintage Jewelry Resource Site:
http://www.picturetrail.com/eclecticvintage/264781

Kindest regards...
Jan Gaughan
Eclectic Vintage - Costume Jewelry & Collectibles
http://www.eclecticvintage.com
Exclusively on Ruby Lane Since 1999