Signed CFW vintage costume jewelry

13.07.2022

5 1 minute read

Signed CFW vintage costume jewelry
The history of CFW began as a jewelry line by Hargo Creations, founded in 1955 in New York. The successful family business of Joseph Heibronner and Edith Levitt ceased to exist after Joseph’s death in August of 1968.
Noteworthy, some sources mistakenly associate the abbreviation CFW with the name of the English couturier Charles Frederick Worth (October 13, 1825 – March 10, 1895). However, Charles was an Englishman who worked in England and France, and the second reason – the date of his life and death. That is, he could not have had anything to do with American costume jewelry in the 1950s and 1960s.
Although there is no record of either the CFW company’s registration or the CFW trademark, yet, it was a line of jewelry by the American company Hargo, known as HAR. There are at least three reasons. First, the identical designs of many enameled figural pins marked CFW and HAR. Secondly, the time of making jewelry marked CFW and HAR is 1950-60s. Thirdly, the same style and font of marking – capital block letters with a copyright sign.

African native drummer pin brooch. Silver tone, bakelite, enamel

CFW costume jewelry was featured in many reference books on vintage costume jewelry. Handcrafted with exquisite artistic design and meticulous attention to detail, all of these figural pins are highly collectible.

Meanwhile, the 1937 Jewelers’ Circular keystone mentions the name of a jewelry maker C. F. W. REINHARDT. The head of the company, located in Pawtucket, R.I., was 80 years old in 1937. So, he could hardly have been making jewelry in the 1960s.