Hollycraft vintage costume jewellery

Hollycraft vintage costume jewellery (1939-1972)
The history of Hollycraft began in 1939 in New York, when an Armenian immigrant Joseph Chorbajian founded a “The Hollywood Jewelry Manufacturing Company”. The talent and oriental temperament of Joseph allowed him to invent unusually bright ornaments, which the customers liked very much.
The company gradually increased production. At the same time, the circulation of jewelry was still quite limited. In 1939, Archie Chorbajian and Jack Hazard, who had previously worked at CORO, joined the company and brought a lot of ideas.
Unfortunately, the outbreak of the Second World War forced to suspend the family business. A new stage of development began after the end of the war. To begin with, the company had to change its name in 1953. Not to be confused with another famous company – Joseph of Hollywood, Hollywood Jewelry Mfg Co. became Hollycraft.
The peak of its popularity Hollycraft reached in the 1950s. Especially popular became Christmas jewelry collection, as well as charming floral pieces implemented in sets of bracelet, clips, necklace and brooch.

Noteworthy, In the first decade of its activity, the company did not label its products, selling jewelry with a paper tag in the form of a coat of arms and the name of the company on it. In the early 50’s, the company began to label their products with Hollycraft mark and the year of creation. Besides, since 1955, with the entry into force of the copyright law, most of the products also have a copyright symbol. This makes the task of determining the age of jewelry a little easier.

In the late 60-ies the popularity of Hollycraft jewellery was gradually decreasing, and in 1972 the company stopped making jewelry. However, the founder of the company until 1980 continued to develop jewelry design for other companies.

Hollycraft vintage costume jewellery