Vintage Brooch Value: Signed Makers, Christmas Tree Pins, and How to Date Them

Brooches are the jewelry box item people skip. They shouldn't. A brooch is easy to identify once you know where to look, cheap to buy in estate sale bags, and right now buyers want them. Etsy's Fall/Winter 2026 Trend Report (search data through September 14, 2026) shows vintage jewelry searches up 75% and men's brooches up 70%. More on that below.

Vintage Brooch Value Chart

Booth and estate-sale prices for brooches with every stone in place and the clasp working, unless the row says otherwise. Rare pieces sell higher online; these are the everyday numbers.

Typical ranges as of October 2026. Prices vary by area and condition. Snap yours with PocketPrice to see what it'll bring near you.

Christmas Tree Pins

Tree pins are their own category. They were made by the thousands from the 1950s on, they get bought as gifts every November, and some people collect nothing else.

Typical ranges as of October 2026. Prices vary by area and condition. Snap yours with PocketPrice to see what it'll bring near you.

How to Identify a Vintage Brooch

Flip it over and find the name

Most signed costume brooches carry the maker's name on the back. Use a loupe or your phone's camera zoomed in; the letters are small.

1. The signature. Often stamped on a small raised oval or rectangle soldered to the back, or pressed into the metal near the edge or on the pin bar. Trifari, Coro, Weiss, Eisenberg, Sarah Coventry and Hollycraft are the names you'll see most.
2. The metal mark. STERLING or 925 means solid silver, which adds value on its own. Many 1940s brooches from Coro, Trifari and others were made in sterling during the war, when base metals went to the military.
3. The copyright symbol. A © next to the name generally means the piece was made after about 1955, when jewelry designs started being copyrighted. No © on a Trifari or Coro piece points earlier.

The makers to know

• Trifari: crisp casting, good plating, clear stones. Crown over the T on many pieces. Steady seller.
• Coro and Corocraft: made huge numbers, so plain Coro is cheap. Corocraft and the two-piece Duettes bring more.
• Weiss: known for bright rhinestones, especially the smoky and multicolor stones. Weiss trees and flowers sell well.
• Eisenberg: heavy, sparkling clear stones. “Eisenberg Ice” is the later line; early Eisenberg Original pieces bring much more.
• Sarah Coventry: sold at home parties, so there's a lot of it. Fun pieces, modest prices.
• Hollycraft: pastel and multicolor stones in antiqued gold tone, and many pieces carry a year (1950s). A dated Hollycraft is a good find.

Juliana: the unsigned one worth money

DeLizza & Elster made jewelry in the 1960s for other companies, and most of it was never signed. Collectors call it Juliana, after a paper hang tag some pieces came with. It's identified by construction, not a name:

• Five-link construction: on the back, the stone settings are joined by small figure-eight links in a pattern collectors know.
• Open backs on the stones so light passes through, and stones that sit on top of other stones (layered).
• Unusual stones: art glass, aurora borealis, molded leaves, watermelon and lava-style glass.
• Heavier than it looks, with a rich antiqued gold or silver tone.

Lots of unsigned rhinestone brooches get called Juliana that aren't. If you can't match the construction, price it as unsigned and let the buyer decide.

Dating by the clasp

The pin back is the fastest clue to age, before you even look for a name.

• C-clasp: a simple open hook with no lock. Mostly before the 1930s. A pin that sticks out past the edge of the brooch is usually older still.
• Safety catch: a small lever turns to close the hook. Showed up in the early 1900s and is on most brooches from the 1940s on.
• Trombone clasp: a tube that slides out to release the pin. Mostly European pieces, often older.

A replaced clasp is common and not a big problem on costume jewelry. A soldered-on modern clasp with fresh solder lines is something to mention on the tag.

Rhinestone quality

Good brooches have prong-set stones: tiny metal claws hold each one. Cheaper pieces have glued-in stones with no prongs. Hold the brooch under light and look for dark or cloudy stones; that's the foil backing failing, usually from water. A few dark stones lower the price; a lot of them make it a craft piece.

Reproductions and fakes

New brooches with faked signatures are out there, especially Eisenberg, Trifari and Weiss. Warning signs: a signature that looks too sharp or too shallow, light thin metal, glued stones on a brand known for prongs, and bright new-looking plating with no wear on the back. Signed pieces you can't confirm get priced as unsigned.

What Raises or Kills the Value

Raises it

• A clear signature from a known maker.
• Sterling or 925 on the back.
• Size and sparkle: big, bold, prong-set rhinestone pieces outsell small ones.
• Every stone in place and all of them still bright.
• A matching set: brooch with earrings is worth more than the two sold apart.
• Figurals: animals, birds, flowers in a basket, and Christmas trees.

Kills it

• Missing stones: one missing stone can take a third off; several makes it a craft piece.
• Dark or dead stones from water damage.
• Worn plating showing base metal on the front.
• Green corrosion around the stones or on the back.
• A broken or missing pin (it can be fixed, but price it as needing work).

Men Are Wearing Brooches

This is the trend most resellers haven't caught yet. Men wearing a brooch on a jacket lapel went from red carpets to regular weddings and nights out, and Etsy's trend report shows men's brooch searches up 70% heading into the season. What they buy: small, bold, a little odd. Animal figurals, insects, sterling pieces, single big stones, and anything that looks good on dark wool. Put a few on a man's blazer in your booth and you'll see them move.

Selling It Locally vs. Online

Brooches are small, light and cheap to ship, so online works for the good ones. A $60 signed Weiss or a confirmed Juliana piece belongs online, where the collectors searching for that maker will find it. Ship in a small padded box, not a flat envelope; the stones pop out under pressure.

Everything under about $25 sells better in person. Shoppers buy brooches on impulse: they see the sparkle, pick it up, and it's a gift. Fees and shipping eat most of the profit on a $12 pin online, while a jewelry case in a booth turns them over all season. Tree pins especially sell in person, from Thanksgiving through the week before Christmas.

Pricing Tips for Booth Vendors This Season

• Get tree pins out by November 1. They sell as gifts and stocking stuffers through about December 20. Price them full in November; mark down only the leftovers after the 20th, or keep them for next year.
• Card them. A brooch pinned to a small card with the maker, the era and the price sells better than one loose in a tray. Write “signed Weiss” right on the card.
• Make a $10 tray. Unsigned and lesser-signed brooches at one price, near the register. It's the easiest gift-under-$25 shelf you'll have.
• Show a few on a man's jacket. Pin two or three onto a vintage blazer and tag them separately.
• Lock up the good ones. Anything over $40 goes in the locked case. Brooches are small and easy to pocket during holiday crowds.
• Clean gently. A soft brush and a barely damp cloth. Never soak a rhinestone brooch; water gets behind the stones and kills the foil.

Related Guides

For necklaces, earrings and the rest of the jewelry box, see our vintage costume jewelry identification and price guide and what vintage jewelry is worth. For the holiday case, read the vintage Christmas decorations price guide and the best gifts under $25 to stock for the holidays.