A Look at One of My Vintage Brooches

The Court Jeweller

We’ve been spending a lot of time on the blog lately chatting about royal brooches, and today, I decided to feature a brooch from my own decidedly non-royal collection!

The Court Jeweller

I collect vintage costume jewelry from Coro, a company that thrived in the industry during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. They specialized in the kinds of matched jewelry sets that we associate with the period, as well as playful brooches in all sorts of faux materials. I started collecting after I inherited some Coro pieces that belonged to my great-grandmother, Grace, and I’ve been adding pieces occasionally to my little cache ever since.

The Court Jeweller

If you ask me, one of the nicest things about collecting vintage costume jewelry is that it’s still extremely wearable today. (It’s also generally quite inexpensive, because it was produced in such mass quantities.) I tend to restrict my collection just to pieces that I personally love and wear, and I find that bracelets from the period are very wearable, as are some of the brooches. This gold-toned ruffle ribbon bow brooch, which dates from the late ’40s or early ’50s, is one of my favorites. It’s from the company’s Pegasus line.

The Court Jeweller

Here’s a look at the back of the brooch, with its pin fastener and its distinctive Coro mark. (The ever-changing marks are the best way to date a piece of costume jewelry from this period. Lots of resources are available online.) I checked eBay yesterday, and there were two of these Coro brooches still available, if you’re a collector like me, or if you’re just looking for a fun piece to add to your wardrobe.

The Court Jeweller

Here’s a look at the way that I like to wear the brooch. And here’s a little surprise: I dressed up and dug into my brooch collection this week to film a segment for Palace Confidential, a weekly royal show that streams online. I’m chatting all about the way that the Queen uses brooches as tools of diplomacy. The episode should be up on the website at 7 AM London time, about an hour after this post goes live. Hope you all enjoy it!