Costume Jewelry Online

Hobe Costume Jewelry

Hobe costume jewelry is beautiful and very collectible. It was made well, in classic styles. No wonder it's still so popular!

Hobe Rhinestone Earrings (Click for a larger image)

Let's learn a little about Hobe, the marks used and (of course) the gorgeous jewelry for sale.

Hobe Background

Hobe (pronounced ho-bay) was begun by William Hobe, who immigrated to the USA from France, early in the 20th century. His father was a designer of fine jewelry in France, which almost certainly influenced William in his designs.

Here's the most famous story about Hobe jewelry. I don't know 100% for sure that it's accurate, but it sounds like it should be. The story goes something like this: Florenz Zeigfield (of Zeigfield Follies fame) wanted some gorgeous jewelry to accent the costumes for the showgirls.

Mr. Zeigfield turned to William Hobe to create these designs. Delighted with the results, Mr. Zeigfield dubbed them "costume jewelry". How neat is that!

Hobe jewelry was first designed in 1927, and continued to be made into somewhere along the lines of the late 1990s or perhaps 2000. It was originally a family-run company, but it was later sold (date unsure).

Hobe Marks

These are some of the marks used by Hobe. Please keep in mind that the dates are approximate.

"Hobé" with a capital H and "obé" in script. First used in 1926.
"Hobé" all in print, first used 1926.
"Hobé" in a 6-sided outline used 1926 to around 1932.
"Hobé" in a triangle, from 1933 to about 1957.
"Hobé" in an oval, copyright symbol over the "é", in use from 1958 through 1983.
"Hobé" in an oval, copyright symbol over the "o", not sure of the exact dates.

In addition, some Hobe costume jewelry between the years of 1957 through 1966 were both signed and dated -- a real find!

Other Hobe Information

Hobe jewelry is well-designed and well-made. The jewelry was lovely when it was manufactured, and is still very wearable today.

Hobe costume jewelry is quite collectible but usually affordable by most people. As with other costume jewelry, pieces with colored rhinestones bring in the highest prices (and the prices can get way up there sometimes). You pretty much can't go wrong adding vintage Hobe jewelry to your collection.