Three Pieces, Three Decisions, Three Results

Seasoned collectors, even those who vow to only purchase jewelry in good condition, are frequently faced with repairing a beloved design. This article explores the refurbishing process, the individual piece-by-piece repair paths, for three vintage costume jewelry designs: Sandor, Boucher, and Coro.

Decision One:

SANDOR

The unique design of this 1940s era Sandor sterling pin caught my eye and my heart at a local flea market. On the drive home, I noticed one of the branches was “hiding” behind another branch and, more importantly, was missing a large green stone!

Discovering the missing stone in this design was disappointing. I knew the replacement stone must exactly match the other five large green stones, or all six of the prong-set stones would need to be replaced. In addition, since the stone is prong-set, the replacement must be carefully done to avoid awkwardly bending or breaking a prong. Replacing this important green stone, on this very old piece, was not going to be easily accomplished.

When I arrived home, I checked my stone inventory. As I suspected, I did not have a proper replacement stone.

I knew that I loved the piece and would not be happy with a less than perfect replacement, so I decided to seek the help of a professional. I sent this rare Sandor to Matthew Ribarich of www.mrstones.com. He is an expert with a huge inventory of replacement stones. I knew if anyone had a replacement stone exactly matching the missing green stone, it would be Matthew Ribarich. I also knew if he did not have an exact match, I could trust him to replace all six of the stones with proper replacements.

As you can see below, he perfectly repaired the Sandor by professionally replacing all six stones with new stones matching the color of the Lucite center.

Today, this Sandor design has the look of a modernist floral motif; however, considering it was made in the 1940s during the war years, it is likely an artistic interpretation of a nuclear explosion. The green Lucite center stone is capped with a sterling spiral simulating energy emanating from the center of a powerful explosion with branches (energy) radiating outward. When I think of this piece as an explosion, it is both intriguing and terrifying.

It was frustrating to buy a piece without realizing it needed replacement stones; however, I’m delighted with the refurbished result. I consider the extra time and expense my penance for not doing my due diligence when examining the pin prior to purchasing it.

Decision Two:

Boucher

Recently I was thrilled to acquire the jewelry from David Mayer’s collection featured in Collecting costume Jewelry 101. The Boucher butterfly pin below is shown on page 125 of the Second Edition. It has been stored for the last 20 years! Unfortunately, in that time many of the rhinestones and one Lucite cabochon stone dropped out of the settings.

Fortunately, Dave saved the missing cabochon and many, but not all, of the sapphire rhinestones. The plating survived in excellent condition and the matching over-the-ear earrings, also featured in the book, were in excellent condition.

At first, replacing the rhinestones in the butterfly pin seemed like an easy fix. All I had to do was order stones and paste them into the settings. However, I soon discovered this was NOT going to be a simple repair.

The small octagon-shaped stones are rare so finding enough stones in the correct color, shape, and size to repair the butterfly was, as it turned out, a challenge.

When I removed the old octagonal stones, many of the adjacent cabochon stones loosened or fell out of the settings. It was as if the rhinestones and the cabochon stones were part of an interlocking puzzle. Since the octagonal stones were in round settings, it occurred to me that their shape contributed to the intrusion of moisture resulting in their demise and that round replacement stones would be a more secure option.

A quick search of the internet revealed that two types of rhinestones were used in this design: octagon-shaped faceted stones like those in this piece and round flat-backed cabochon stones. Since I was leaning toward using round replacement stones, it was comforting to learn that some versions of this piece have round stones.

The next step was to select the best color for the round replacement stones. From experience I know that rhinestone colors look different in different settings depending on the way light is reflected in the design. I studied the stone colors available and ordered three packages of round stones. The plan was to try each possibility in the butterfly to determine the best match.

First, I ordered round faceted sapphire stones with pointed backs. When I tried them in the butterfly settings, I noted that the color was darker than the original stones.

Next, I tried round faceted Indian sapphire stones with pointed backs. The lighter color was a better match to the original stones and the stones had a brighter sparkle in the settings than the sapphire stones.

Finally, I ordered sapphire flat-backed cabochon stones. When set, these stones receded into the background of the design. They did not sparkle and because of the way they fit into the settings, they did not help to secure the cabochons.

After testing all three samples in the butterfly, I decided the Indian sapphire stones were the best match option for the butterfly. They fit the cups, helped secure the cabochon stones, and gave the design a lovely sparkle.

The Indian sapphire stones also coordinated well with the original stones in the earrings.

I am comfortable with the choices I made to refurbish the Boucher butterfly. I like the color of the Indian sapphire stones and the way the facets catch the light. All of the stones in the butterfly are now secure.

Note: As a precaution, I purchased a sufficient quantity of Indian sapphire stones to replace all of the stones in the earrings should that be necessary in the future. They are stored with the set.

Decision Three:

Coro

This Coro duette, shown on page 35 of Collecing Costume Jewelry 101, is part of the David Mayer collection I recently acquired. It is a classic, very popular, Coro design made for many years.

Unfortunately, the duette was suffering some age-related issues. Most of the rhinestones were darkened and the enamel was in rough shape. On the plus side, the rhodium plating was beautiful, and the duette was mechanically sound.

As is often the case with this Coro duette design, the birds are unsigned, but the frame is fully marked.

This piece is design patent number 126,490 issued to Adolph Katz of Coro on behalf of designer G. Verrecchio in 1941. There are many variations of this design.

Coming from an emotional attachment rather than a practical attachment, I decided to go to the trouble and expense to restore the duette.

First, I removed all of the old rhinestones by soaking them in acetone (nail polish remover.) This resulted in additional enamel loss, but I was fine with that. It was my plan to have both birds professionally re-enameled.

This close view shows the depth of the cups after the stones were removed. Note the cups are on a curved surface which proved to be challenging when replacing the stones. Even though I placed each stone carefully in the cup, when the glue dried, some of the stones on the curved areas popped up and turned slightly in the cups. I had to reset some of the stones many, many times. The result, a labor of love, is less than perfect but on the whole acceptable.

Since I have limited artistic skills, I shipped the duette to www.enamelrestoration.com to be re-enameled. As the photos below illustrate, the duette was returned perfectly restored in the original colors.

I love the refurbished birds. They as vibrant and eye-catching as they were originally. Looking at the eye-catching duette today, I can understand why this design was popular for many years.

Conclusion

Collectors have many choices when it comes to preserving vintage costume jewelry designs. The choices I made for these three designs are based on my affection for the jewelry, the extent/limitations of my ability to execute a repair, and the availability of materials.

The Sandor pin only needed stones, but they needed to be a perfect match for the center stone color, and they needed to be perfectly prong-set. It was an easy decision to ship this piece to a professional.

The Boucher set was a complex set of decisions, and I made difficult choices for each problem.

• The first choice was to replace all of the stones in the butterfly but not in the earrings.
• The second was to use round replacement stones rather than the difficult to find octagonal stones.
• The third was to select the color of the replacement stones.

Since the round faceted stones are different from the original design, I will keep a record of this repair with the butterfly.

The Coro duette was the most fun to refurbish and had the most visually powerful result. It is fun to see how the “lovebirds” may have appeared to a customer in 1941. A Coro Christmas Advertisement from 1941 describes the birds as “not on speaking terms when worn as a pin; but all is calm when worn as separate clips.”