The English jewelery company Sphinx was founded in 1948 in the United Kingdom and has become famous for their beautiful high quality costume jewellery. Beautifully designed ornaments looked like real jewels. The quality of jewelry was so high that the company began producing jewelry exclusively for brands and stores such as Kenneth Jay Lane, Butler & Wilson, Saks 5th Ave., Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's. Notable, marked Sphinx products did not appear until the early 1960s. In fact, Sphinx costume jewelry is highly prized by vintage jewelry collectors, as the company ceased operations in the late 1990s.