Magento Commerce

Who is Coro?

Dates of Operation- 1901 to 1979 in the USA and until 1998 in Canada

Design Characteristics - known for their Jelly belly pins, duettes, and tremblers. Good quality thermoset and rhinestone pieces.

Emanuel Cohen and Gerald Rosenberg founded the Coro company in 1901. The original name of the company was Cohen and Rosenberg. The partners incorporated in 1943 and the company became known as Coro, Inc. The company did not manufacture the jewelry themselves, but contracted it out to fine designers to design it and other companies to manufacture it.

Originally Coro jewelry was sold in five and dime stores. Sales were very good, even during the depression, and the company developed a name for quality. In 1929, they opened a new factory in Providence, Rhode Island. Adolph Katz oversaw the manufacturing part of the jewelry in the new factory. He did not actually design the jewelry, but had a good eye for quality and acquired designs from other jewelry designers such as Verecchio, Placco and Francois. Jewelry from this period is highly collectible today.

In 1931, the Coro company patented a unique type of brooch called the Coro Duette. This pin features a mechanism which locks two separate dress clips together. which made the clips look like one larger brooch. Another design technique for which they became known is the "trembler." This is a small extra piece added to a brooch on a tiny spring that moves slightly. Some of these tremblers were also added to the clips themselves.

Coro is also well known for their "Jelly Belly Pins." These pins, normally figural types such as turtles, birds, fish and other creatures, feature a clear acrylic stone placed into the belly or center part of the pin. Trifari also made similar Jelly belly pins. They are much sought after today.

In 1937 Coro became known as Coro Craft (two words) for their high end jewelry. After World War II, the mark was changed to Corocraft (all one word.)

In 1944, the Vendome name started as a sub group of Coro. Like Coro Craft, it was intended to be their better line of jewelry. They continued manufacturing during the 1950s and 1960s with all names and during this period, many thermoset pieces were introduced.

The early years though the 1960s were the hey day of manufacturing jewelry for Coro. After the 1960s, they were met with much opposition as they started manufacturing pieces with rhinestones. The later influx of Chinese jewelry proved to be more competition and Coro eventually closed their doors in 1970 in the US, although they still manufactured in Canada until 1998.

Value of the pieces today

Early duettes and jelly belly pins as well as those with the very early Coro script hallmark command the higher prices. The middle years of Corocraft jewelry is undervalued in my opinion. This may be because it is sometimes hard to find thermoset pieces and rhinestone pieces with the metal still in very good condition.

Design Marks - Coro used a wide variety of marks on their jewelry.

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