Sarah Coventry
Sarah Coventry was an American luxury jewelry brand named after the granddaughter of Lyman K. Stuart, the founder of the company. Established in 1949, thousands of women and some men were recruited to sell jewelry at Sarah Coventry home jewelry parties.[1] It is recognized as the oldest direct selling jewelry company in the world. They did not design their own jewelry but used other manufacturers to produce it. Most of the production happened in the state of Rhode Island.[2]
 Sarah Coventry 1976 "Outer Space" pendant | |
| Industry | Jewelry |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1949 |
| Founder | Lyman K. Stuart |
In the mid-1980s a subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises. Inc (the publishers of Playboy magazine) owned the company, as it was planning on diversifying into a brand management company. It later sold the company in the 1990s. However, Sarah Coventry jewelry was re-opened years later by new owners and was being distributed by representatives via catalogs, the Internet, home shopping networks, and other means. The company has since gone out of business.[3]
Marks
Some marks seen on vintage jewelry include:
- "SC"
- "Sarah Cov."
- "Sarah"
- "SaC"
- "Coventry"
There is usually but not always a copyright symbol accompanying the mark.
References
- Bridgeford-Smith, Jan (2009). "All That Glittered: The Rise and Fall of Sarah Coventry Inc". Life in the Finger Lakes (Summer). Retrieved 17 October 2021.
- Miller, Judith (2010). Miller's Costume Jewelry. Great Britain: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-84533-563-2.
- "שרשראות לגברים". Thursday, May 14, 2020
Further reading
- Oshel, Kay (2003). Sarah Coventry jewelry. A Schiffer book for collectors. Schiffer Pub. ISBN 978-0-7643-1704-0.
- Robinson, Deborah A. (2006). Emmons & Sarah Coventry: Jewelry Fashion Show. Schiffer Pub. ISBN 978-0-7643-2145-0.
- Sturdivant, Sandra (2012). Identifying Sarah Coventry Jewelry, 1949-2009. Schiffer Pub. ISBN 978-0-7643-4214-1.