Maybe you’ve bought a piece or two of vintage costume jewelry just because you needed a new pair of earrings or a necklace to complete an outfit. Or maybe you just liked it. But now you’re intrigued. You’d like to collect more, but where to start? How to decide where to focus? There’s so much!
In my opinion, the first rule of thumb is: If you like it, buy it. It doesn’t even really matter if it’s not perfect – if you like it, you should get it. Jewelry can always be repaired. I’ve sold two pieces of old jewelry that someone else might have tossed in the landfill. I have a hard time bringing myself to do that, so I offered them up on eBay and lo and behold! There’s almost always someone out there to put in the time, effort or money to repair a lovely piece of vintage costume jewelry. One was a beautiful Hobe demi parure that I was almost afraid to touch. It seemed like all you had to do was look at it and the little pearl beads just fell off. There was a Miriam Haskell brooch in similar condition. Interestingly, both of these were wired with that fine wire that the old designers used to use to mount tiny beads. The problem with the wire is that it corrodes. See my November newsletter for advice on what causes this and how to care for your vintage costume jewelry.
In any case, that’s the first thing to consider: Do you like it?
Condition, Condition, Condition
This is almost equal to number 1. If you are buying for investment, this might be number 1 and Do You Like It?, would slide down to number 2. If you love a piece and it’s not in good condition, it’s not a good investment. Remember, if you elect to do repairs, you should find someone to work with who has access to and is willing to work with vintage materials. If you repair a vintage piece with new materials, it will not have the same value.
Check any stones carefully. Are any missing? Is there evidence of glue around any of the stones that indicate they might not be original to the piece? Are any stones darkened or cloudy? There are professionals who specialize in matching vintage stones. Matthew Ribarich, www.mrstones.com is one – he’ll match and replace the stones at a very nominal cost.
Prong-set stones are an indicator of high quality, although there are many beautiful older pieces out there with pasted in stones.
Creative Use of Stones
Faceted round chatons are the most common stones found in vintage costume jewelry. Look for creative use of color or different sizes and shapes of stones, or even different ways of using them. Schreiner, for example would use unfoiled rhinestones and mount them upside down or inverted in the setting. Unfoiled rhinestones must be very high quality in order to reflect the light without benefit of the foil backing.
Some commonly found shapes of rhinestones are: oval, navette, octagon, baguette, square and pear-shaped or teardrop. Sometimes designers even used custom-cut stones in unusual shapes.
Here is a summary of tips on stones:
• Walk away from pieces with dark, cloudy, chipped or missing stones unless you are positive you
have access to suitable replacements;
• Look for pieces that have color variations and interesting effects;
• Search for pieces that use a variety of shapes, sizes and colors of stones;
• Prong set stones are an indicator of quality;
• Seek jewelry with interesting specialty stones;
• Aurora Borealis (iridized) stones were most likely made in the 1950s or later.
Dating Vintage Jewelry
Entire books have been written on this subject. I will just touch on a couple of obvious points here. Maybe in the future I will do a newsletter devoted just to dating jewelry.)
AB stones (mentioned in the list above) were generally made in the 1950s or later.
The copyright symbol began to be used in 1953. So if you see a copyright symbol by the maker’s mark, the jewelry was made after 1953.
There are ways to date jewelry by the type of clasp and by the style of the hallmark, as many designers changed their marks through the years. There is a lot of research on this out there on the internet, so do your research.
Metal
Another important consideration in your decision is the type and condition of the metal. If there are signs of serious metal wear on a piece, you should walk away.
- Flaking metal paint is usually not cost-effective to repair.
- Examine the piece carefully for cracks or broken joins.
- Sometimes a piece with a crack can be easily soldered by a reputable jeweler. Sometimes it’s not worth it. (unless you really love the piece!)
- Avoid jewelry with metal that has turned green. This is a sign that the metal has already started to break down.
- Sometimes a little metal wear on the back of a piece is okay, especially if the piece is interesting in other ways, such as unusual stones or design.
Look for rhodium plated costume jewelry. It was used extensively. It is a hard metal in the platinum group and tends to remain in good condition over time. Another dating hint: Most rhodium plated jewelry was made after World War II.
This is an example of what rhodium plating looks like.
That use of Sterling and gold indicates high quality goes without saying. Again, this is another newsletter, discussing the various marks and what they mean.
Four Recommendations of Designers to Collect
Julia Carroll recommends four designers for beginners to collect:
• Coro
• Kramer
• Trifari
• Weiss
The reasons for these four recommendations are:
1) Jewelry from these designers is abundantly available;
2) Many pieces are of “average” quality, making them affordable for beginning collectors.
Purchasing average quality jewelry provides an opportunity to gain experience in examining
jewelry and learning to recognize quality;
3) All four designers created designs in a variety of styles – something for everyone; and
4) Jewelry from these designers is easy to trade up, as you begin to upgrade your collection.
I discussed Kramer in my November newsletter; this month we will discuss Coro and in coming months we’ll address Trifari and Weiss (Weiss is another personal favorite of mine.)
There is much more to be said about collecting vintage costume jewelry – as I said, there are entire books written about it. I will do another installment on this subject next month, along with some history on Trifari.
Also created pieces marked as Corocraft and Vendome.
Coro jewelry from the ‘30s and ‘40s is becoming more rare. Many beautiful Coro pieces from the ‘50s and ‘60s are undervalued in today’s market, making them good investments.
Emanuel Cohen and Gerald Rosenberg began Coro in 1901. The company was originally called Cohen & Rosenberg. In 1943, the company incorporated and changed the name to Coro. Interestingly, neither Cohen or Rosenberg, or Adolph Katz, who oversaw the manufacturing of Coro jewelry, actually designed the jewelry. They selected and acquired designs from other designers such as Gene Verecchio, Oscar Placco and Francois. This was after 1929 and jewelry from this period is highly collectible.
In 1931, Coro trademarked a design called the Coro Duette, which is a unique type of brooch that locks two separate dress clips together. These are highly collectible and prized by collectors today. Some of them are simply marked “Duette.” They may also be marked with the patent number 1798867.
Another prize are Coro jelly belly pins, which are usually figural animal pins with a clear acrylic stone placed in the center. This design was originally introduced by Trifari in the 1940s and then copied by Coro. Jelly bellies by both Coro and Trifari are highly collectible. Take care when purchasing these, as there are modern reproductions being offered on the internet. If you see the word “recast” anywhere in the description, that is an indication that it is a reproduction.
The name Coro Craft began being used in 1937. When you see it marked as all one word, it indicates that the piece was produce
d after World War II. 
The Vendome line began in 1944. Vendome jewelry is associated with higher end Coro designs; most were produced after 1953. Helen Marion was the head designer of Vendome jewelry.
In the 50s and 60s, Coro produced jewelry sets featuring carved, molded and ribbed stones. These are becoming highly collectible.
Coro was purchased by Richton Internatonal Corp. in 1957. They stopped manufacturing in the U.S. in 1979. However, a Canadian firm continued to make jewelry with the Coro mark until 1998.
Here is a simply gorgeous example of a high quality piece by Coro in Sterling with a gold wash.
Here is a reminder of questions to ask yourself when deciding to buy a piece of vintage jewelry:
• Is it in good condition?
• Do you like it?
• Is it a good investment?
• Is it signed by the designer? Is it well designed?
• Are there any extras that make it more interesting?
Happy Hunting!
xoxo
Karen
