Posts Tagged ‘coro’
Corocraft Jewelry
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 VINTAGE SIGNED CORO CRAFT BASKET FLOWERS PIN REPAIR  US $9.95
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 Corocraft sterling jelly belly door knocker brooch US $295.00
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 Vintage Retro Metal Enamel Flower COROCRAFT Brooch Jewelry US $3.99
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Corocraft Jewelry
Corocraft jewelry was mostly made in the late 1930s through early 1950s, and it was considered and upscale version of the Coro jewelry line. While Vendome eventually became the upscale line, Corocraft vintage jewelry is very collectible.
As mentioned above, Corocraft was a division of Coro. While there are certainly "average" pieces, most of the Corocraft (sometimes spelled Coro Craft) vintage jewelry is well-made with above-average construction and materials.
What kind of vintage jewelry can you find with the Corocraft or Coro Craft marks? They did make just about everything -- earrings, bracelets, pins and necklaces (although I seem to rarely come across the bracelets). The styles range from plain (meaning without rhinestones or enamels) to glitzy. Enamels are also a popular feature. Oh, and you'll sometimes also come across Duettes!
So here are a few Corocraft vintage jewelry pieces for you to peruse. As always, click the links for larger photos and more information. Enjoy!
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 Beautiful vintage Corocraft Filigree flower pin US $49.99
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 Corocraft Rhinestone Gold Artistic signed pin brooch Happy NEW Year US $29.99
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 Round Pierced Wreath Gold tone Corocraft Brooch US $17.99
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“Jelly Belly” Costume Jewelry
Jelly belly costume jewelry is a term I see quite often in auctions. But are the costume jewelry really the highly collectible "jelly belly" or are they mis-named? Let's talk about what's real and what's not.
What is Jelly Belly Costume Jewelry?
Jelly belly is a term that really means Trifari jewelry in the 1940s time frame. What with the war, rhinestones were getting hard to come by and Trifari was experimenting with lucite as part of their jewelry designs. The lucite was clear to very slighly translucent, and used for the body/belly of the figural pin. I've only seen clear -- no colored lucite (as yet, anyway). Also, I have only seen these as figural pins.
A short while after, Coro (among others) came out with their own version of figural lucite jewelry pins. Coro's are the most sought after (after Trifari). Technically, only Trifari is the true jelly belly, but most collectors will extend the term to Coro's versions as well.
What Isn't Jelly Belly
I see many auctions calling the jewelry "jelly belly" when it merely has a plastic or glass cabachon. Sometimes the cabachon stone is transluscent, sometimes it's totally opaque. Sometimes even jewelry with pearls or rhinestones are tagged as being jelly belly.
I've also seen bracelets, necklaces, earrings and even rings referred to as jelly belly. Not!
(I think in most cases it's a situation where the person running the auction just isn't familiar with the real thing. They see the term used for other cabachon jewelry and figure theirs should be called that as well.)
While these pieces might be lovely and collectible in their own right, they are not jelly belly. Don't pay a high price thinking they are!
A Note on Jelly Belly
The very collectible jelly belly is from the 1940s timeframe. However, Trifari and Coro did make more of it along the way -- I've seen vintage ads from the 1960s for jelly belly pins. These newer version are also quite collectible, but won't bring as high a price as the older versions.
Somethiong you need to know -- Trifari also has done some re-releases of their older pin designs; fortunately, they have marked the re-releases with the year. (Remember, Trifari is still in business and manufacturing jewelry.)
One Final Thought
As with any highly collectible and high-priced piece of costume jewelry, there are fakes out there. Sometimes the not-really-real jewelry is listed as a "reproduction", which is absolutely fine. Just know it's a reproduction and not the real thing -- and don't pay a high price.
Sometimes, well, a fake is passed off as the genuine article. It could be an honest mistake -- the person thought it was real when they bought it, not realizing it wasn't. Then again, it could be someone looking to make big bucks.
So the moral of the story is this: if you love the look of the authentic jelly belly jewelry and want to add some to your collection, do your homework first. If you are uncertain, ask a more knowledgable person to help you out. Don't pay a high price for jelly belly costume jewelry without knowing for sure that it's real.
All that being said, here are some auctions listed as being "jelly belly". Take a look, you should now be able to tell the ones that definitely aren't!
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Costume Jewelry Books and “Book Value”
If you've purchased any costume jewelry books, you'll notice that they have something called a book value. That is, the piece is labeled with the price the item should go for in a retail market.
Rhinestone Costume Jewelry Brooch, Unsigned (Click to Enlarge)
How accurate is the book value, though? Can you really use it to determine how much to pay for a particular piece shown in a book? Yes and no...and probably more often, "no". Let's see why.
How Old is the Book?
Check the publication date of the costume jewelry book. If it's more than a year old, the values are out of date. Costume jewelry prices were higher in the days before costume jewelry on ebay really took off. In general, the prices shown in the books represent how much it would cost to purchase the piece in an antiques store.
Trends Change
Like all fashions, costume jewelry also goes through trends. Today a particular designer is "hot", then tomorrow falls out of favor and another takes their place. But while a designer is hot, prices rise as people are scrambling to add the designer pieces to their own collection.
Sometimes a particular look gets hot; for example when beads came back in style a few years ago, beaded jewelry in general rose in price.
Then again, there are some books where the author seemed arbitrary on prices; setting higher values on pieces they liked, rather than the market value. Especially on unsigned pieces.
So What Good Are Costume Jewelry Books?
Well, aside from price, the books are invaluable for helping you to recognize the characteristics and style of differend designers. Although the values themselves might not mean much, the relative values give you a good idea of the market. For example in general, Eisenberg pieces cost more than Coro pieces.
So, definitely get costume jewelry books -- as many as your budget allows. The values might not be very accurate, but the rest of the information is priceless.
I'll leave you for today with some yummy eye candy from Eisenberg. You can find the and a tantalizing few below. Have fun!
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