Zone Classifieds Collectors' Corner Collectors Corner: Vintage Costume Jewelry

Lucille Ball (1911 - 1989), best known for her starring role in the hit 50s sitcom 'I Love Lucy', circa 1955. Photo: Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
Collectors' Corner

Collectors Corner: Vintage Costume Jewelry

BY Viia Beaumanis | December 2nd, 2022

Coco Chanel launched the idea of costume jewelry to the couture set in the 1920s and Dior and Schiaparelli followed suit, making costume jewelry a stylish and, for some, a more affordable fashion mainstay versus custom and precious options. One hundred years later, you can find vintage pieces by famous labels selling for several hundred dollars or more, but there are lesser-known brands that also fetch a very pretty penny — and may be languishing in you mother or grandmother’s jewelry box.

 

Hattie Carnegie

Arriving in Manhattan from Vienna as a teenager, Henrietta Köningeiser worked in the design department at Macy’s before changing her name and opening her own dress shop in 1909. Twenty years and a national chain of stores later, Carnegie had annual sales of US$3.5 million. In 1939, she launched a ‘cocktail jewelry’ collection, producing signature pieces rather than copies of fine jewelry, the common practice at the time. Her in-house designers included Kenneth Jay Lane, and Carnegie bijoux, loved for its boldness and originality, was worn by socialites and movie stars. Produced until 1979, by the brand as well as by licensees, items overseen by Carnegie herself (produced before she died in 1956) are the most highly valued. As are, ‘tremblers’ — en tremblent brooches with jiggly, springed parts like this gold insect. You’ll find pieces stamped Hattie and Hattie Carnegie, as well as Hattie and Miss Hattie, but earlier designs, marked simply HC, are more collectable.

 

Coro

Launched as Cohn & Rosenberger in 1901 by Emmanuel Cohn (the co) and Carl Rosenburger (the ro), Coro employed several noted designers and grew into one of America’s biggest costume jewelry houses with international offices and factories, including in Toronto. Changing its name a few times over the decades Coro would become Corocraft, and finally Vendome. While the latter was its better known and most expensive incarnation, the company is most noted for pieces produced during its 1930s through 1950s Coro incarnation and amongst collectors for its ducette brooches in particular. A design Coro patented in 1931, you’ll find good examples of these double clips that can be worn together as one brooch or as two separate pieces, like this one, valued at several hundred dollars or more.

 

Hobe

Launched as Hobe et Cie by Jacques Hobe in 1887, the Parisian jeweller’s son applied fine jewelry techniques to non-precious materials to create high-quality fashion jewelry at a fraction of the cost. Bringing the brand to America in the late 1920s, William Hobé’s costume jewelry caught the eye of Flo Ziegfeld, who commissioned it for his Ziegfeld Follies showgirls. Today, Hobe (pronounced HO-BAY) is among the more collectable brands, with its sterling silver florals and beaded necklaces some of the most sought after and recognizable items.

 

Miriam Haskell

Not a designer herself, Haskell had a great eye for talent and hired artisans to create collections for the eponymous brand she launched in 1926. Ornamented with colourful stones, gold filigree work, rhinestones and seed pearls, they were often electroplated — dipped in electrically charged salt baths that result in a fine coating of precious metal. Lucille Ball loved Haskell pieces and wore them on her TV show. Joan Crawford was a big fan, collecting pieces from the ’30s to the ’60s and you’ll still find pieces from her vast collection being auctioned off online. Not stamped with Haskell’s name until the ’50s when her brother took over the company, rhinestone pieces from that era, stamped Miriam Haskell, are a good find. The brand is also known for its statement necklaces. Most rare, are pieces with a horseshoe-shaped plaque bearing her name, which account for one per cent of Haskell’s.

 

Trifari

Founded by Gustavo Trifari, an Italian from a family of goldsmiths, this line was crafted to mimic fine jewelry, and the gorgeous, well-preserved pieces from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s are extremely coveted. Most particularly those by in-house designer Alfred Philippe, an artisan who brought the expert skills he’d honed at Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels to Trifari’s costume jewelry. Philipe’s crown pins and ‘Jelly Belly’ animal brooches are much desired by collectors, and you’ll find his work priced into the five digits, considered fine jewelry for its elegant design and craftsmanship.

A version of this story was published on Feb. 23, 2022

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