Hillcraft and Castlecraft costume jewelry has an interesting history and it also has a unique feature in its design.

Identifying Hillcraft and Castlecraft jewelry is sometimes difficult.  Neither company signed their jewelry.  The earring clips are quite unique, as they slip on to the ear and are worn slightly at an angle.  Many find them to be more comfortable than the common earring clip back.   Because of the earrings’ distinctive clip design, many necklaces and bracelets may be identified by finding the matching earrings.  The company also used specially designed gold filled wire and had unusual clasps on necklaces and earrings.  These features can also help identify Hillcraft and Castlecraft jewelry.  It is near impossible to determine whether a piece of jewelry was made by Hillcraft or by Castlecraft.

Hillcraft jewelry was made in Rockville, Indiana from the early 1950s and into the 1990s.  Owned originally by Allen Chamberlain, Bill May, and Charlie Ellis, the jewelry was made at the Indiana State Tuberculosis Sanatorium by patients there.  Eventually Charlie Ellis left Hillcraft and started his own jewelry company – Castlecraft, which was based in Greencastle, Indiana.  Another unique and interesting fact is that there was little or no competition between the two companies and all partners remained friends and sharing workloads, designs, and sometimes apparently, even employees!

The jewelry is very high quality vintage costume jewelry.  As previously mentioned, gold filled wire was used as well as high quality Czech glass stones, beads, and Swarovski crystals.

It seems that Hillcraft was also highly unusual in that if a customer ever lost an earring, all that had to be done was to send it to the company and they would replace it, going so far as to re-create a piece to match as closely as possible if the earring was no longer in their inventory.  Both the new earring and the old were cleaned and returned as a pair to the customer. 

Hillcraft and Castlecraft costume jewelry were never sold in stores.  The jewelry was sold either through clubs or as fund raisers.  Hillcraft was also sold at the Covered Bridge Festival in Rockville, Indana.