Kovels' Buyers' Guide To Costume Jewelry: Parts 1 & 2

Sold as “special reports,” these guides are 8 1/2-inch by 5 1/2-inch saddle-stitched booklets with heavy gloss paper and a card stock cover, rather than bound books. They contain information on vintage costume jewelry ranging from rhinestones to silver to Bakelite. They provide a good general overview of collectible jewelry genres, and include about as much information as you would expect from 46-page (Part One) and 35-page (Part Two) booklets.

Part Two, published in 2011, is a continuation of Part One, which was first printed in 2008. Part Two includes an overview of style influences through the decades from the early 1900s through the 1990s and additional sections on wood jewelry and plastics. It also includes more costume jewelry marks not covered in the first volume, although there are a few duplicates.

Most anyone researching costume jewelry seeking a brief overview of manufacturers and marks would benefit from consulting these guides. They are by no means comprehensive, but would be an excellent place for a novice collector or dealer to begin their study. These guides would also make a nice gift to present to a friend who is just starting to learn about collecting vintage jewelry.

The lists of costume jewelry maker’s marks included in these guides are very good including those on Mexican silver. They are drawings rather than actual photographs of the marks, but the representation is more than adequate to help a beginning collector get started with identification. Moderately advanced collectors will likely benefit from the section on Modernist jewelry that includes names to watch for in this arena and will see most of the other information as a refresher. Advanced collectors will probably not find these guides to be worth the monetary investment (see pricing information below) in terms of new areas to research and study.

A few. For instance, in Part One Adolf Katz is credited as a designer for Coro. However, costume jewelry historians have documented that Adolf Katz was merely the messenger to the patent office for Gene Verrecchio (he changed his name to Gene Verri in the 1960s) who actually designed Coro's most famous and desirable pieces.

The Part One guide also references Hobé sterling pieces from the 1940s to be set with semi-precious stones, but most were actually set with unfoiled glass stones imitating semi-precious gems. A few semi-precious stones were used in some of Hobé’s earliest pieces, but most found by collectors today contain rhinestones.

There is also a discrepancy between jewelry designed by McClelland Barclay in Part One and jewelry produced by Rice-Weiner Company in Part Two. Rice-Weiner made jewelry designed by McCelland Barclay from 1935-1943 using the marks “McClelland Barclay” or “Barclay” (in the same Art Deco influenced typeface as that found in the two-word mark). In 1946, a new company was founded that used “Barclay” in script letters as its mark. Part Two attributes those script-marked Barclay pieces as the designs of McClelland Barclay, which is not the case.

These points can be confusing, especially the first two, due to incorrect information having been widely disseminated on these topics in reference books previously published. The Barclay issue is not as confusing as it sounds, since the styles of jewelry marked McClelland Barclay and Barclay are very different and easily recognized once collectors are familiar with them.

With more and more print-based books on costume jewelry going out of print, these guides may serve the beginning collector who is finding books on marks and introductory jewelry information hard to locate. They are also very portable being booklets, which lends to tucking them into a handbag or tote for jewelry shopping expeditions or study on the go.

However, priced at $25 for Part One and $19.95 for Part Two if purchased separately, the value for the money is questionable. If you purchase the two-volume set for $34.95, the investment becomes a little more reasonable and would be recommended over buying one or the other separately. If you have to choose only one volume, however, go with Part One for the most bang for your buck keeping in mind that you’re paying $25 for an 8 1/2-inch by 5 1/2-inch 46-page booklet with a card stock cover.

Disclosure: Review copies were provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.