| Description: | Below we’ll list just a few of the most famous designers from each decade. The work of each of these designers is so distinctive that they are usually easily recognizable, but they also made the sound business decision of placing their designer’s mark on each piece. Vintage costume jewelry by some of the top designers can be quite valuable if they are in good condition. A Brief, Decade by Decade Discussion of Vintage Costume Jewelry Art Deco was the rage in the 1920s, and is still popular today. The most popular designers of costume jewelry during this decade were Chanel (as in CoCo Chanel, who was also a fashion designer) and Elsa Schiaparelli. Their pieces were adorned with faux pearls, colored glass, beads and marcasite. Double clips, pendant earrings and brooches of the new materials Bakelite and plastic made their debut in this decade. Popular designers were Coro (founded by Emanuel Cohn and Carl Rosenberger), Boucher (founded by Frenchman Marcel Boucher) most famous for his ornate brooches, and Trifari (founded by Italian Gustavo Trifari, Leo Krussman and Carl Fishel). Trifari designed custom jewelry for Hollywood actors, which really boosted their appeal. In the 1940s, jewelry of leather, wood, Lucite, plaster and ceramic were crafted. The popular designers continued to be Trifari and Coro, as well as Weiss (founded by Albert Weiss, who had originally designed for Coro), Eisenberg (founded by Jonas Eisenberg, and famous for crafting replicas of fine jewelry pieces of the 18th century), and Ciner (founded by Emmanuel Ciner originally as a fine jewelry company decades previously). |
