Why Choose Vintage Costume Jewelry

Today I had a surprise when I met a friend for lunch. She gave me a pair of Laurel Burch earrings she has had since the 1980. She has never worn them as they were just not her style and she knows I love vintage so she gave them to me in hopes that they would be enjoyed. I have not taken them off as Laurel Burch was the first designer that I consistently purchased myself back in the 80's and still have every pair and wear them.


It started me thinking why do I enjoy vintage and antique jewelry so much and wear it more then the contemporary pieces I have. I realize for me, there is no single reason, but thought I would share them.


1. The quality of the pieces is often times much better then today's costume jewelry. After all they were originally meant to last a season or so and here it is decades later and still sparkling and wearable.


2. I am saving a piece of American history. Once upon a time, manufacturers such as Trifari, Coro, Boucher and Mazer employed hundreds of people right here in the U.S.


3. The designs were imaginative and many times large. Many designs were important enough to patent so the competition did not simply steal their ideas and imitate them immediately once they came out.


4. My pieces many times retain their value or are even more valuable today then when I purchased them.


5. I most likely will not see someone else wearing my piece as there are simply not very of that design around if it is at all.


If you do not own any vintage pieces, I highly recommend you browse around on line to see all your choices out there. Certainly something will appeal to you and you will be recycling and giving these beauties new life.

Vintage Costume Jewelry: Newest Additions

I have been very busy adding new vintage costume jewelry to my shop on Ruby Lane and created a new video displaying them on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQTibc4KR-U

You'll find both signed and unsigned beauties from the 1940's to the 1970's. There is a wonderful huge enamel and rhinestone flower that is very much in the style of early Coro done in shades of Purple. Wedding cake earrings from Italy, faux Opal Gold filled demi parure, ocean blue RS brooch by Cathe' a company that was located here in California and so much more.

It is still amazing to me that although these pieces were meant to last a season or so, decades later they still are gorgeous and wearable. I love recycling these little works of art as they are a part of our American heritage. All these companies had manufacturing facilities employing a variety of people from designers to stone setters. The better quality costume jewelry has prong set rhinestones that required a person to set the stone and push each prong into place manually. Today, most stones are glued in and many of the stones are plastic rather than glass. I wear both vintage costume jewelry and contemporary pieces together from time to time for a really fun look.

Does your costume jewelry have any markings on the back? You can find information about the maker at the Illusion Jewels website: http://www.illusionjewels.com/costumejewelrymarks.html You can find things alphabetically and be sure to look at the vintage advertisements and the jewelry that they collect. I have used this site since 2004 and always enjoy browsing around. If your jewelry is silver, you can browse American and world marks at this website: http://www.925-1000.com/ I have found the maker's name for many of my pieces by carefully looking around this continuously updated site. Is there a patent number or patent pending marked on your jewelry? See if you can find the drawing on this site: http://jewelrypatents.com/

I also have these site as permanent links on my blog as I find them invaluable and I hope you do to.

Costume Jewelry Books by Brunialti

Everyday I learn a little more about all the things I collect. Whether it be on the web, reading books, talking to friends, going to flea markets or antique shows, it always amazes me the information that is available to us and much of it is free.

The second book I ever bought discussing vintage costume jewelry was written in Italian and I was a bit skeptical about buying it but I have never been more happy with a purchase and refer to this book frequently. The book is called "American costume jewelry" written by husband and wife team Carla & Roberto Brunialti. It covers the "golden age" of costume jewelry manufacturing 1935-1950. Even without understanding a word of Italian the way it is layed out actually gave me quite a bit of information, and of course I could not stop looking at the photos.

The first part of the book gives a biography of the jewelry manufacturers that are featured in the book through photos and information about each individual piece. I used babblefish to translate any text that I was interested in and although it might not have been exact, I certainly was able to understand the concept. Where applicable the patent number is identified.

Before 1955 designers filed for U.S. patents for their designs as in the beginning they found their designs being copied and produced by their competition. Around 1955 the now familiar copy right (c) symbol was used to protect their creations. Here is a link to a great site where you will find only jewelry patents. http://jewelrypatents.com/ It is arranged by manufacturer and I use it quite frequently. It is fun to browse through just to see the designs of the period.

The Brunialti's next book called "A Tribute to America" is written in English and is not a rehash of their first book, but shows different individual jewelry pieces from each of the designers all of whom are highly collected today. Each book has tons of high quality photos of the most desirable vintage costume jewelry on the planet as it is collected around the world and not just the U.S.. Names like Coro, Trifari, Boucher, Joseff, Haskell, Reja, Staret and more. When I go antiquing sometimes I can't sleep at night thinking about which fabulous piece I might find tomorrow.

In both books, the photos are divided into sections by manufacturer. Every other page has a group of photos of individual jewelry pieces, each is numbered and the next page has a description about the piece including name and patent number where applicable. Many times you have a piece that will say Pat Pend which means a patent application was submitted and they were waiting for approval and the patent number. Many times I was able to determine the patent number by finding my piece in one of these books. If you want to look up the actual patent go to the website: http://patft.uspto.gov/ and type in the patent number. Please note that if there are only 6 digits, you most likely will need to put a D in front of the numbers to designate the patent is a design patent.

I have included a brief slide show to show you the covers of each book, a small sampling of the photos and descriptions you will find in each book.

There are two new books out that you can get through Amazon, but I have not seen them so I am not sure if there is different pieces pictured and discussed or a rehash of their previous books. If anyone has these books would you please comment on this blog. Unfortunately Carla is no longer with us, but her passion lives on in print.

I hope you have enjoyed this.

Have a wonderful day!