Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
It didn’t matter that Marilyn F. Cooperman didn’t have any formal training when well-known American luxury jeweler Fred Leighton asked her to design jewelry. By then, she had written professionally about fashion, established her own clothing company, and built up so much New York City chutzpah that she could have made it anywhere.
When she was 20 years old, the Toronto-born Cooperman moved to New Zealand and wrote a newspaper column about fashion and beauty. In 1963, she relocated to New York City and opened her first clothing company, Max and Marilyn, where she sold Art Deco–inspired clothing to department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale’s.
Cooperman designed a collection of resort wear for Fred Leighton’s apparel store, but by the mid-1970s, she returned to writing and worked as a fashion director for Seventeen magazine and later held editing roles at Simplicity and Vogue Patterns.
In 1987, Leighton, an esteemed red carpet jeweler who has become known for bringing antique and 20th-century jewels to a discerning international clientele, asked Cooperman to design accessories for his store on Madison Avenue. She accepted his offer and took up studies on wax casting at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
After five years of designing for Leighton, Cooperman opened her own jewelry company, Marilyn F. Cooperman, Inc. Her earrings were brightly colored, eye-catching confections that featured opals, rubies and blue sapphires, and she created innovative, alluring bracelets that mixed patinated silver and 18-karat gold. Her accessories were a hit, especially among celebrities, political figures and royalty.
Cooperman’s jewelry is held in the collections of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, the Yale University Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She was on the Board of the American Society of Jewelry Historians.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Marilyn F. Cooperman earrings, brooches and rings.
Early 2000s American Modern Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Moonstone, Pearl, Diamond, 18k Gold, Silver
Early 2000s American Modern Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Diamond, Moonstone, 18k Gold, Silver
Early 2000s American Modern Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Emerald, Moonstone, Pearl, Blue Sapphire, Yellow Sapphire, Yellow Diamon...
Early 2000s American Modern Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Brown Diamond, Peridot, Sapphire, Tsavorite, 18k Gold, Silver
1890s Unknown Art Nouveau Antique Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Peridot, Diamond, Enamel, Yellow Gold
20th Century Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Diamond, Moonstone, Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Diamond, Multi-gemstone, 18k Gold
1980s American Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Diamond, 18k Gold, Platinum
1970s Unknown Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
18k Gold
20th Century French Contemporary Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Emerald, Moonstone, Ruby, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1910s Italian Victorian Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Diamond, Pearl
Early 20th Century British Victorian Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Peridot, Yellow Gold
1880s Dutch Early Victorian Antique Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Diamond, Moonstone, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1930s Danish Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Moonstone, Silver
1820s Unknown Georgian Antique Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Diamond, Pearl, Silver
1950s French Vintage Marilyn Cooperman Jewelry & Watches
Gilt Metal
