Today's Featured Vintage Jewelry Designer - Emmons

Today's featured vintage jewelry designer is Emmons. Most collectors of vintage jewelry know the name Sarah Coventry, but many do not know that the Sarah Coventry line was only one line developed by Charles H. Stuart.

In 1949 Mr. Stuart founded the Emmons Jewelry Company, to honor his wife Caroline (Emmons) Stuart. Like Sarah Coventry jewelry, the Emmons line was also sold at home parties. The prices of the Emmons pieces were higher than the Sarah Coventry pieces. (Sarah was founded in honor of his daughter.)

The company was located in New York City and did business until 1981, at which time it closed its doors for the last time. The early representatives for the company were all men, but by the 1950s women were mainly showing the lines to prospective customers with the home party plan.

The Emmons designs were very well made, good looking and, while more expensive than Sarah Coventry designs, still easy on the pocket book. Often a design was made in matching pieces - brooches, earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets. Full parures are much harder to find now than single pieces. The pieces in the line were all marked with a design name.

The Emmons line made great use of pearls in their designs as well as a wide range of silvertone and goldtone pieces with interesting design techniques. Here are a few examples:

The early design mark in 1949 was EmJ, and the later one after 1955 was Emmons. Here are some examples of the markings:

Emmons pieces were plentiful at the time, but are harder to find now than the Sarah Coventry pieces. It is considered a medium range design name. Emmons jewelry seems to me to have a higher value than the Sarah Coventry pieces do. There is no need to purchase pieces with damage. Choose those that you like, and choose pieces in good condition.