My articles often give you an idea of what’s good and what’s better when it comes to jewelry. I also throw in a few things in the no-buy zone so you’ll know what to avoid. But when it comes to a huge manufacturer like Trifari, with tons of name recognition and some of the most expensive designs ever produced in the costume jewelry realm, well, you can’t make a mistake, right? That’s not always true.
There are a couple of ways you can go completely astray buying Trifari jewelry, as a matter of fact. Other paths lead to detours you’ll want to avoid. We all learn from our mistakes, so I’ll share a few of mine to hopefully keep you from making the same errors.
Trifari Marks Without the Crown
Before I go further, I will drive home a pet peeve: The name of this brand is Trifari, not “Crown Trifari.” Many sellers use the latter term to distinguish between jewelry made before the mid-1970s when the company changed hands. The high style and quality consumers associated with the brand slowly diminished for the most part as ownership changed again and yet again in the following decades.
So yes, overall, collectors want jewelry made from the 1930s through the 1960s. Most of the time it’s wise to look for marks that do have the crown over the T, which can vary in style, as shown in the Researching Costume Jewelry marks guide and the WorthPoint Marks database.
Be sure to evaluate each newer piece of Trifari for its design attributes and additional marks before leaving it behind. For instance, jewelry pieces designed by Kunio Matsumoto in the late 1970s fall into this category. Trifari also reissued some dated designs in 1996, including the Norman Bel Geddes sailfish jelly belly (originally patented in 1941), an amazing cross filled with colorful cabochons, and a fantastic seahorse, among several others.
1970s Trifari Jewelry
Before I move away from the 1970s, I’ll fill you in on another thing about Trifari: The crown over the T isn’t always a sure sell. Many pieces of costume jewelry from the early 1970s before the business became a part of Hallmark aren’t in demand. Even though the ‘70s have had a style revival over the past decade, with everything from bell bottoms to platform shoes seeming new and exciting on the fashion front, some of Trifari’s pendant necklaces featuring black enameling, polished gold-tone brooches, and a variety of nondescript clip earrings from this era just don’t hold much appeal to vintage shoppers unless they are very inexpensive.
Even when they’re marked down several times, selling them takes a long time, too. Use the WorthPoint Price Guide when shopping to make sure you buy at the right price when investing in these items. If you have to pay more than a nominal sum, you might end up with a regret purchase you’ll have to hang onto months or years before you ever see your investment back, much less a profit. The exception? Diane Love’s designs for Trifari. They’re oddly wonderful and worth far more than the average 1970s Trifari.
White Trifari Jewelry
If it’s white, think twice. That’s a good rule to follow with many brands of costume jewelry, in my honest opinion. It’s especially true with Trifari pieces containing white plastic beads, cabochons, or white enameling. Those just don’t bring much money, often less than $10, in the vintage marketplace unless there’s something special about them. I’m not sure why, because, as I’ve mentioned in a previous article, white jewelry can be beautiful when worn all year long.
Back to the something special about white Trifari jewelry that might be worth more than the average. Even if a piece has white enameling, if it is embellished with opaque “fruit salad” stones shaped like tiny pears or lemons, that would be one worth snatching up. The enameled Precious Pets collection is a series of figurals from the ‘60s that fetches a good price as well. Other glass elements can be worth a bit more, too. However, be sure to do some research before investing too much in white jewelry of any type marked Trifari.
Trifari Jewelry with Missing Stones
Now that I’ve mentioned Trifari fruit salad, it’s a good time to focus on jewelry from this brand that has missing stones. Yes, you can easily repair many different Trifari designs that are missing just a small stone or two. I do that frequently. But I also have a couple of valuable pieces I took a chance on that I may never be able to restore, and they didn’t come cheap. Trifari wasn’t on par with Marcel Boucher when it comes to using odd stone sizes to thwart copyright pirates, but some of their most popular and expensive pieces from the 1930s are very hard to repair if they’re missing stones.
Unlike plain clear or colored rhinestones, there aren’t many molded glass specialty stones available for purchase at any price. Even deep-dive searches online haven’t yielded some of the scarcest shapes, sizes, and colors of stones. As you’re contemplating a rare find, check it carefully for damaged and missing stones that might fall into the difficult-to-replace category. Buying one you must hold onto indefinitely while waiting for the right replacement stone can be a lesson learned the hard way.
Trifari Pearls
Trifari pearls is a marginal no-buy category for Trifari jewelry and one I’m mainly mentioning to illustrate how the market can change over time. When I was just starting to buy and sell vintage jewelry, Trifari brushed gold-tone jewelry set with faux pearls from the 1960s wasn’t popular. Silver-tone styles decorated with simulated pearls elicited even more yawns. I could buy these pieces inexpensively, but they usually ended up sitting for the longest time before they sold, even though Trifari’s pearl jewelry is quite beautiful when you get right down to it.
While overall values have gone up—just as they have for some opaque white Trifari pieces with molded glass flower petals—many pearl designs still sell for less than $25, so while I buy these pearly treasures more often now, I do some style research when deciding which pieces to invest in and take care not to pay too much for them.
Trifari made literally millions of pieces of costume jewelry and the ones you run across most frequently were some of their best sellers. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always translate to selling well all these years later.
Pamela Siegel is a freelance writer and author who has been educating collectors for more than two decades. In addition to three books on topics relating to antiques and collectibles, she frequently shares her expertise through online writing and articles for print-based publications. Pamela is also the co-founder of Costume Jewelry Collectors Int’l (CJCI) and the proprietor of Chic Antiques by Pamela.
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