Coro - A Brand History

Part II of my series on top vintage costume jewelry brands, featuring Coro.

Coro

Coro Jewelry has been around since 1900. It was founded in New York as part of the Cohn & Rosenberger company which was started by Emanuel Cohn and his partner Carl Rosenberger. The brand made costume jewelry for 79 years, closing their doors in 1979. The name Coro wasn't actually adopted by the company until 1943, when the blend of Cohn & Rosenberger's names was officially made the corporate name.

Cohn had died in 1910, but the Rosenberger family still gave tribute to his contributions to the brand. Carl continued to manage the company until his death in 1957, when the brand was taken over by Gerald Rosenberger, Carl's son, who managed the company until his death 10 years later.

The family sold 51% of the company to Richton, Intl., who bought out the whole company in 1970. In 1979 Coro went bankrupt and closed it's doors for good.

So you know when you're out shopping vintage and run across a Coro brand, it's at least 32 years old! Which for me is exciting news, as I found a couple of pieces of what we refer to as "dead stock" Coro several months ago. Dead stock means that the jewelry is actually "new" or at least never sold or worn. Normally this comes from businesses cleaning out old inventory or going out of business themselves and cleaning out warehouses of old inventory. I love finding dead stock and seeing the original packaging and branding on products!
To find out more about Coro marks visit this great reference site: http://www.illusionjewels.com/costumejewelrymarkscoro.html