Vintage Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Buying Guide

If you are wanting to learn more about vintage Ilias Lalaounis jewelry, you have come to the right place. Here you will learn the history, materials used, our favorite collectible pieces, and where to buy.

Ilias Lalaounis was born into the world of luxurious jewelry. His fascination with history, first Greek history, later cultures around the world, grew as his horizons expanded. His two passions resulted in his many exquisite collections, all of them labors of love.

Brief History of Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry

Ilias was born in Athens, Greece, in 1920. He was the fourth generation in a family of goldsmiths and watchmakers. He studied economics and law at the University of Athens, then joined the family jewelry firm working for his uncle. In the 1940s, with World War II raging, he took charge of the firm. Unlike his peers, who favored diamonds and large stones, Ilias favored 18 and 22 karat gold with which to recreate the art of past cultures. 

Always interested in history, Ilias began studying the art of Ancient Greece. In the 1950s, he decided to wed age-old techniques, such as granulation, filigree, hand-weaving and hand-hammering, with modern technology. His first collection, the “Archaeological Collection,” inspired by Classical, Hellenistic and Minoan Mycenaean art, was exhibited in 1957.

Around this time, Ilias made the gossip columns (and gained a new following) when Aristotle Onassis gifted his mistress, opera singer Maria Callas, with Lalaounis jewelry. Later, those gifts went to his wife, the former Jacqueline Kennedy.

In 1969, after his uncle died, Ilias started his own company, “Ilias Lalaounis – Greek Gold S.A.,” and in 1970, his exhibition, “Blow Up,” in which he draped the whole human body in Minoan-inspired gold jewelry, gained him international regard. In 1971, he organized an exhibition of master jewelers in Athens that included Van Cleef, Bulgari and Harry Winston. In 1976, Empress Farah of Iran commissioned him to create a collection inspired by Persian art that was displayed in the Imperial Palace in Tehran.

Throughout the 1970s, Ilias opened stores throughout Europe and, in 1979, in New York City. He continued to study art history to create innovative collections for international markets. When he opened his Tokyo store, he exhibited his collection inspired by Japanese art. For Hong Kong, his jewelry was inspired by the Greek geometric period, which was similar to the designs used in Chinese art. He exhibited his “Helen of Troy” collection in Philadelphia. He later exhibited “Amerindians in New York,” a collection inspired by the art of Native Americans. His collection, “Treasures of the Holy Land,” was displayed in the Israel Museum, and “Arabesques, a collection of gold and silver pieces set with precious and semi-precious stones, at the Islamic Art Museum of Istanbul. Throughout the 1970s, he also created spectacular designs based on modern technology, astronomy, nature and medicine.

In 1994, he founded the Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum located in the center of Athens. The permanent exhibition displays jewelry and micro-sculptures from 45 of Ilias’s collections (1940 to 1992). The mission of the museum is to endorse the development of contemporary Greek jewelry and to be a resource for academic research. 

Since 1998, Ilias’s four daughters have taken their father’s brand to new heights of excellence. Aikaterini and Maria share CEO-Greece responsibilities. Maria is also creative director. Aikaterini’s daughter, Laoura, oversees social media. Demetra is the International CEO. Ioanna is the director of the museum.

Ilias died in 2013 in his beloved Athens.

Watch to see examples of Lalaounis Jewelry:

Jewelry marks

• “Ilias Lalaounis”
• “Lalaounis”
• “A21 Greece”
• “Ilias Lalaounis Greece 750 H17”
• Pictomark Signature