Uncas History
Vincent Sorrentino founded Uncas Manufacturing Company in 1911 Providence, Rhode Island. Originally called the Sorrento Company, it wasn’t named Uncas Manufacturing Company until 1922. Over time, Uncas acquired other companies including Curtman Company and Vargas Manufacturing. The company was eventually renamed Uncas International LLC and all assets were assigned to the new entity in 2014.
Uncas is most popular for the variety of rings they produced. They worked in gold, silver, and costume jewelry. The company produced many gold-plated pieces which were marked as such. They eventually became one of the largest costume jewelry ring makers in the country. Their costume jewelry overtook their finer jewelry in both volume and variety of styles.
Uncas continues to operate their business to this day – well over 100 years since its inception! They create a lot of licensed pieces for large companies – including Disney. They are is still headquartered in Rhode Island and the Sorrentino family is still involved with the company.
Collecting Uncas Jewelry
Uncas jewelry, both new and old, is fairly common and can regularly be found in vintage shops and sales. It is very sought after by collectors.
Uncas jewelry is of high quality and many people think that even the costume pieces look just like the real thing. The 1980 Vanderbilt Jewel ring featuring a cubic zirconia solitaire is one of their most popular pieces and is a great example of how well-made their costume jewelry could be.
Their most recognized mark is a U with an arrow through it. Initially, two small arrows pointed to the U (one on each side). The company then added a mark with a single arrow simply going through the U. A third mark is simply the word Uncas.
The company worked with various other names and marks including Crystogem, Kiddigem, Stylecraft, Stylecraft Gems, Stylerite, Personality, Jokara, Glow-lite, Jewels of Fashion, Curtis Creations, DCE, CC, Bunny, Sorrento, Coronado, Christian Heritage, Juilliet, Ring-O-Rama, Vincenzo, Unicite, Stars of Light, Corsini, Corsini Collection, Lois, Uncaclad, Kyoto, Daryl Lee, and Tisha Lee. Most of these marks and names are no longer in use.
Uncas pieces continue to enjoy extreme popular due to their high quality. Good quality pieces can fetch up to $100. However, exceptionally well-kept pieces as well as the earliest and rarest pieces can command well into the hundreds of dollars.
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