New jewelry that looks vintage..

I ran across a website today for a jewelry wholesaler that has quite a few items that look vintage. So, it might be a good resource to check when you are wondering if an item is "new" rather than vintage. I saw a number of vintage looking items, particularly in the "Pins" category. Unknown if they mark their jewelry, or if it is obvious in person that items are "new". but I did see a bunch of stuff that often shows up in the GW bags that I love to grab and dig through. LOL! The company is SW Imports.

Coro Oceana 1956 - sea shell shapes

Newspaper ad 1956 - Coro Oceana. Colors mentioned are shell pink, coral, sun-yellow and white, set in gold-tone. Blue in silver tone.

(click to enlarge)

"Many a life has been saved" ...with jewelry!

Found in a department store ad in 1943, a plea for people to donate their discarded costume jewelry to become "Barter Jewelry" for the boys in the South Pacific. A group of women connected with the Fourth Fighter Command were gathering the jewelry to send to the South Pacific for the troops to use for bartering for food shelter and information from the natives. Note the slogan at the bottom of the ad...it was certainly a different time! Wartime to be exact! (click pic to enlarge)

Style Notes - 1947 - Lacy Jewelry

From the L.A. Times - August 1947 - For jewelry.. "the trend is away from massive designs toward lacy work with a fragile look"

Ledo - Frozen Fire Pins - 1951

Newspaper ad - 1951 - Ledo Frozen Fire Rhinestone Pins. (click to enlarge pic)

Recycling your old jewelry - responsible or destructive?

One company, Foxy Originals, has started a recycling program where, if you send them your old Foxy jewelry, they will melt it down for re-use and send you a discount coupon to use on new styles.

I wonder what effect this may have on the collectibility of this jewelry. Now granted, it's a pretty new company, so at the moment, it would not be classified as vintage. But if it's jewelry that you believe will some day be collected, would this affect your decision to collect it now? Do you like the idea that they are promoting recycling, or cringing at the idea of perfectly good jewelry getting melted down?

Read more about their recycling program and their jewelry at their website http://www.foxyoriginals.com/

Coro and AAi trademarks up for sale

FGX International, which were the most recent owners of the Coro and AAi trademarks, has indicated this spring that they intend to sell their costume jewelry division. The costume jewelry division accounted for just 3.3 percent of sales in a recent report, and they mention that jewelry sales have been declining. FGX is best known for their sunglasses and eyeglasses brands, such as the Foster Grant brand, but they have also carried costume jewelry lines in the past.

On their website, I didn't see a specific description of the brand names of costume jewelry that they sell. But their financial reports indicate that they basically wholesale jewelry to major stores like Walmart and do house brands for various retailers.

A while back, I had discovered that they own the AAi jewelry trademark and checking the trademark listings today, I was reminded that they also own two Coro trademarks! Both the word mark "Coro", and the mark shown below with the pegasus. Both are listed as status: "dead" in the trademark listings.

So, since the trademarks are not current, it is unknown if they will be sold as part of the intellectual property when FGX sells the costume jewelry division. But it seems clear that they will no longer be using those trademarks.

Last fall I contacted them to ask if they had plans to reintroduce Coro as a brand, since they had acquired the trademark. They replied that they did not have any plans at that time. The AAi and Coro trademarks are listed as "dead" with the updated status as of January of 2009. AAi was cancelled. The Coro word mark was abandoned in 2009 and the Coro Pegasus mark expired in 2007.

Additionally, they have used the trademarks "FGX" and "Pure Expressions" for jewelry (according to the US Trademark listings). Pure Expressions is the only trademark for jewelry that is currently listed as "live". But the status for that one hasn't been updated since 2005

Coro - Pop beads - 1956

Newspaper ad from March 1956. Coro's pop beads. Colors mentioned are "spring pastels" and "first in Los Angeles, gold and silver tone"

click to enlarge

Style notes - 1927 - Hat pins

Seen in a newspaper article from 1927 - style notes from Paris describes the newest pins for hats as having definite shapes, getting away from the geometrical jewelry. Anchors, arrows and crescents are mounted by gold or silver chains on short tabs of ribbon, almost like a fob.

Coro - adhere directly to your skin! - 1951

I found this newspaper ad from 1951, it talks about Coro "Glamour Magic", "costume pieces that magically adhere to your skin with Glamour Magic Glue".

Here is the ad (click to enlarge)

Ralph de Rosa Rhinestones - 1935

As seen in a newspaper ad from 1935 - Ralph DeRosa Rhinestone jewelry

Coro Duette trademark first used 1929

Was digging through trademark records today, and found the record showing that Cohn & Rosenberger (Coro) trademarked the name "Duette" in 1929, stating that the Duette mark was first used Oct 10, 1929

B.A. Ballou back in business?

Michelle Graff at the National Jeweler website reports that W.R. Cobb Co in Cranston R.I outbid two other companies to acquire the name and assests of B.A. Ballou in the april 29th sale. W.R. Cobb is a 132-year-old manufacturer of jewelry findings, castings and precious metals for the jewelry industry.

Long term plans were unknown, but the article notes that the company is currently up and running and filling orders!

Monet 1937 - Hindu Bells

Seen in a Los Angeles Times ad from 1937, Monet introduced a line called Hindu Bells, "Today's version of jewelry worn by Indian princesses". The drawing shows a 3 strand necklace, 2 strand bracelet and a cluster pin. The style is chain with round bells hanging at intervals. The necklace has 5 bells per strand (15 bells total) and the bracelet has 3 (6 bells total).