Vintage Rebajes Copper Stretch Belt

RARE! Vintage Rebajes 1940's Belt with copper "comedy/tragedy" buckle and slightly stretchy brown elastic and metal belt band.

Stamped with artist signature on back of buckle.

In great vintage condition, minor wear consistent with age and use. 

Approximately 31" with some minor stretch due to the elastic.  

About Francisco Rebajes

Francisco Torres came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the 1920s. He later took the name Frank Rebajes feeling that his mother’s maiden name sounded more interesting than his given surname. He was a self-taught metalsmith using plumber’s tools to upcycle cans into metal sculptures early on.

Rebajes used money he earned selling his first sculpted wares to open a shop in New York. He began to develop his well-known lines of copper jewelry in his Greenwich Village store. The popularity of his artistry led him to several noteworthy museum exhibits in the late 1930s. He also displayed his wares at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York.

As his business grew, Rebajes moved in 1942 to a storefront on Fifth Avenue called Rebajes Jewelry & Gifts. The new shop included sleek furnishings that reflected his penchant for Modernist design. His jewelry lines were also sold in more than 500 stores around the United States throughout the 1940s and ‘50s.

The Rebajes workshop included more than 100 artisans crafting jewelry, with some pieces being entirely handmade although most were stamped or cast and then assembled by hand. However, he designed and created all the prototype pieces himself.

Rebajes sold the business to his production engineer and friend Otto R. Bade in 1960 and moved to Spain. He continued to make jewelry until his interest shifted to kinetic art. He remained in Spain until his death in 1990.