A snapshot of recent eBay sold prices for signed costume jewelry brooches — Trifari, Coro, Boucher, Eisenberg — and the maker signatures that separate $10 pins from $300 pieces.
Snapshot estimated from recent eBay sold-listings data. Numbers refresh every Sunday. For an exact current price on a specific piece, scan it.
Costume jewelry is a category where the signature does most of the work. The same rhinestone flower brooch sells for a few dollars unsigned and many times that with a recognized maker's mark on the back. After the signature, the line and era matter most, then condition. Materials are almost beside the point — this is base metal, glass, and enamel, so value is about who made it and how collectible that specific design is.
Top tier: Trifari (especially the Alfred Philippe design era — enamel figurals, the "jelly belly" Lucite animals, and Crown Trifari rhinestone pieces), Eisenberg (early "Eisenberg Original" rhinestone brooches), early Boucher figurals, Miriam Haskell baroque-pearl work, and Schreiner. Mid-tier: Coro and Corocraft (Duette pieces run higher), Weiss, Kramer, Lisner, Hollycraft. Lower tier: later Monet, Napier, and unsigned production. The signature alone is often a 2-4x multiple over the identical unsigned piece.
Within Trifari, the Alfred Philippe period (roughly 1930s-1960s) is the collector sweet spot — figural brooches, enamel-and-rhinestone "fruit salad" pieces, and jelly bellies are the names that carry the high end. Figural brooches (animals, flowers, bows with movement) generally beat abstract geometric pins. Matching sets (brooch plus earrings, or a Coro Duette that splits into two clips) command a premium over a lone piece. Condition then adjusts up or down.
The fastest value-killers are missing or replaced stones, foil-back rhinestones that have gone dark or cloudy, and plating wear that shows base metal. On brooches, check that the pin stem is straight and the clasp works — a sprung or repaired catch knocks the price down. Original enamel should be bright with no chips. Stones should all be present and seated; a single missing prong-set stone can cut value 30-50% on an otherwise desirable piece.
eBay is the deepest market for signed pieces because buyers search by maker name, and a clear shot of the signature drives the sale. Etsy does well for styled, "wearable vintage" listings, and Instagram dealers move higher-end designer pieces. Lots of mixed signed jewelry are a common reseller play — buy the lot, keep the signed standouts, and move the rest as a group.
Hunting jewelry in person? Find garage sales near you on MapMySales — signed brooches turn up in jewelry boxes at estate and downsizing sales, often mixed in with unsigned costume pieces nobody sorted.
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On a brooch, check the back of the body and the metal near the pin stem and catch. Most signed makers stamped or applied a small cartouche there: Trifari (often "Trifari" with a crown over the T on pieces after the late 1930s), Coro and Corocraft, Boucher (sometimes "MB" with a Phrygian cap, plus a model number), Eisenberg ("Eisenberg Original" or block "EISENBERG"), Miriam Haskell (on an applied oval plaque). A signature is the single biggest value driver — the same unsigned pin sells for a fraction of the signed version.
No. Common signed Trifari, Coro, and Monet pieces from the 1950s-70s often sell in the $10-$40 range because they were mass-produced. The premium sits with specific lines: Trifari "Alfred Philippe" era designs (especially enamel figurals and the "jelly belly" Lucite pieces), early Boucher figurals, Eisenberg Original rhinestone pieces, and Miriam Haskell baroque-pearl work. Those reach $150-$1,000+. Maker plus line plus condition together set the price.
Look at the construction and the stones. Vintage pieces use prong-set or foil-backed glass rhinestones that show age (slight darkening of foil, hand-set irregularity), older C-clasp or trombone-clasp findings on brooches, and crisp period-correct maker marks. Reproductions and fakes often have modern lever-back or roll-over safety clasps on supposedly early pieces, glued-in stones, and either no mark or a too-clean stamped mark in the wrong font. When the signature, clasp era, and stone-setting style don't agree, treat it as suspect.