Rafael Canada Alfandary Jewelry - A brief History + Hallmarks and Signatures

Rafael Canada (Rafael Alfandary) was a Toronto Canada based jewelry designer in the 1970's.  The major bulk of his work spanned from about 1969/70-1978, creating somewhere around 500,000 pieces in this short time.  He closed the doors on his shop in about 1978 due to a business deal gone sour, a major jewelry company pulled an order already in production which Rafael was not able to recover from.
Please check out my Etsy store LuckyPatina for many examples of his work.

Three Distinct Hallmarks that can help to identify the age of a piece. 

The earliest of his Hallmarks was from about 1970-72, was simply him scratching his name into the back of a piece.  The Hand Signed versions are some of the most rare and desirable.  Often the designs of these pieces tend to be simple, often incorporating his most unusual glass stones.  (such as the "water color paint" glass stones and raised ones)  There are some later Hand Signed examples of his work, perhaps they were custom pieces made by Rafael himself instead of his Team.  

1970-72 Hand Signed Hallmark 

From about 1972-74 Rafael used the hallmark "Hand Crafted by Rafael Canada".   During this period Rafael had become more confident in his work and abilities.  Many pieces from this time are often more experimental, from  unusual stones to unique shapes.  During this period he designed many of his popular and top selling designs.  This hallmark later became obsolete because it was too "wordy" and did not fit well on some of his pieces. 

1972-74 long script  -  Hand Crafted by Rafael Canada

1974-78 Rafael used the "Rafael Canada" script hallmark.  This hallmark was much shorter than the previous one, also the use of script font made his brand look fancier and higher-end.  During this period Rafael had a fairly large catalog  of work, branching into Sterling Silver, Gold, Brass, Gold Plate, and Silver Plate.  He had also started branching into Housewares such as Planters, Ceiling Pendants, Mirrors, Sculptures, Clocks, etc. 

1974-78 Script Rafael Canada Hallmark