Most collectors of vintage jewelry are aware of the designer name Sarah Coventry, but did you know that the Emmons Jewelry company is also part of the same company?

 

Charles H. Stuart had a wife named Carolyn Emmons Stuart, and a daughter named Sarah.  In the late 1940s, he founded two companies - Sarah Coventry Jewelry and Emmons Jewelry.  The latter company was, of course, named after his wife.

 

The jewelry was sold by the home party plan. In the early days, the directors were men, but women representatives were more popular after the mid 1950s, most likely since women seemed to prefer purchasing jewelry from another woman, who would be likely to wear it.

 

Emmons jewelry designs were very well made, good looking and easy on the pocket book. Many designs were made in matching pieces - brooches, earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets. Today, full parures are much harder to find now than single pieces.   The Emmons line was originally higher in price than the Sarah Coventry line.

 

Emmons pieces were marked in two ways:  the early design mark from 1949 is EmJ and the later mark, after the mid 1950s is Emmons in block letters. 

 

Emmons jewelry is relatively easily found today, but seems to me much harder to procure than the Sarah Coventry pieces, which are very readily available.  The prices of Emmons jewelry today is slightly higher than similar Sarah Coventry pieces, since not as many of them were made.

 

If you are interested in Emmons or Sarah Coventry jewelry, one resource book that I highly recommend is called Emmons and Sarah Coventy Jewelry Fashion show by Deborah Robinson.  It is one of the most comprehensive of the books on either designer and lists most of the pieces by name and has suggested retail prices for them.  The book is available from Amazon.com and other leading book retailers.