Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
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.
2010s American Belle Époque Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Opal, Tsavorite, 18k Gold
2010s American Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Agate, Opal, Tsavorite, 18k Gold, Silver
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Garnet, Diamond, Tsavorite, 18k Gold, White Gold
21st Century and Contemporary American Contemporary Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Tsavorite, Garnet, Tanzanite, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
2010s Unknown Contemporary Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
White Diamond, Blue Sapphire, Diamond, Sapphire, 18k Gold, White Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Contemporary Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Diamond, Opal, 18k Gold
2010s Indian Contemporary Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Garnet, Tsavorite, Sterling Silver
21st Century and Contemporary Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Opal, 18k Gold
2010s British Contemporary Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Tsavorite, 18k Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Modern Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Diamond, Opal, Fire Opal, Gold, 18k Gold
Early 2000s Unknown Modern Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Tsavorite, Diamond, Garnet, Moonstone, Sapphire, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow ...
21st Century and Contemporary American Contemporary Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Fire Opal, Diamond, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
Late 20th Century Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Opal, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
2010s French Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Diamond, Garnet, Tsavorite, Yellow Gold
Early 2000s American Artisan Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
18k Gold, Silver
Early 2000s American Baroque Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Diamond, Pearl, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold, Silver
21st Century and Contemporary American Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
18k Gold, Sterling Silver
21st Century and Contemporary American Marilyn F. Cooperman Drop Earrings
Emerald, 18k Gold