Coro Jewelry

Coro was the giant of American costume jewelry. Cohn and Rosenberger opened in New York in 1901, and by the 1930s their Providence, Rhode Island factory was reputed to be the largest jewelry plant in the world. The firm made everything from dime-store pins to high-end lines, and it kept several marks running at once, which is why Coro, Coro Craft, Corocraft, Coro Pegasus, Vendome and Duette all belong to the same family tree.

The marks tell the story. Plain Coro covers the mainstream line from the 1920s through the 1970s. Coro Craft, later written as one word with a Pegasus horse, marked the better line from about 1937, with the Pegasus added in the early 1940s. Coro Sterling belongs to the war years. The Duette, a pair of clips that lock into a single brooch, was patented in 1931 and runs into the 1950s. The copyright symbol appears from 1955. Vendome was the finest line from 1944 and became its own brand in 1953.

Collectors look for Duettes with both clips and working mechanism, enamelled and sterling figurals from the Adolph Katz years, tremblers with their springs intact, and Pegasus-marked rhinestone sets. Prices range widely, so there is a Coro for every budget. For the same era at the top of the market, visit our Trifari collection, Coro's great rival.