A Visit to the "Costume Jewelry Capital of the US"

For a long time now I have been wanting to visit the City of Providence, R.I. to see what, if anything is left of the thriving factories that once made all of the highest quality costume jewelry that I now collect and sell. Some of the best, most creative jewelry companies manufactured out of Providence, R.I. from Coro, to Trifari, Kramer, Monet, and even the original AVON pieces.Of course, like many other American products, a great deal of costume jewelry production has gone overseas, but I had hoped I would find some of the original manufacturers and artisans who worked for these big design houses in the 60's-early 1990's. I was not entirely disappointed... of the nearly ten places I visited, three or four were almost full service manufacturers who make jewelry for well-known American companies. Others were smaller shops that served one crucial part of the multi-step production process that goes into making jewelry. While many of them talked about the long lost "glory" days of Providence, it is clear that there is still a large volume of high quality jewelry you see in stores all over the U.S. that is still coming out of Providence. Almost all of them were eager to share their knowledge of Providence's costume jewelry history, the art of jewelry making, and what is involved in producing a piece from design and concept to a finished product. One shop even showed is one of his old specialty products a "mini penny" (on the right) which essentially just a replica scaled-down version of a regular penny, and let us leave with a few cents in samples:The City of Providence also has an industrial beauty, which combined with the cool, crisp New England air and visits to nearby waterfront seafood shacks, made for a welcome respite from the muggy, oppressive heat of the South. One of the more fascinating aspects of visiting these suppliers and factories was seeing some of the old chains and findings they had purchased from places like Coro when those businesses went under. I even recognized some of my products and components of jewelry I've collected and sold in their archives! In some places, I could have spend days in their jewelry "libraries"...Our last stop of the trip was the much-hyped Wolf & Myrow Inc. that sold old jewelry stock, beads, parts, etc. for pretty much any piece of jewelry you might want to make. They did not have much in the way of finished pieces, but if you are a craftsman or make your own jewelry, it would be worth a visit.One the way back to New York, we drove through Mystic, CT and stopped at the nearby Abbott's Lobster and had deviled eggs and lobster rolls overlooking the New England Harbor. They also had something they are known for called a "Hot Lobster Roll" which was pretty much what it sounds like.... MMMMMmmmm! A perfect end to a trip cut a bit short by hurricane Irene!My hope, in visiting these places, is to establish a U.S. based production resource for a line of "Vintage-Inspired" jewelry I am working on. I figured there is no better way to do it than to try to track down the manufacturers and artisans who made the jewelry we love to collect and sell at Candy Shop Vintage! I will certainly post more details as this unfolds.