BOUCHER (MARBOUX)
The Boucher Company was founded by French born Marcel Boucher and operated from 1937 until 1971. Shortly after his arrival in New York in the 1930s, Mr. Boucher obtained a position designing shoe buckles for Mazer Brothers. With his extensive experience in designing fine jewelry and accessories, Mr. Boucher decided in 1937 to open his own company in order to market and sell his own costume jewelry designs. The company was based in New York and was named Marcel Boucher and Cie.
Marcel Boucher’s most famous designs of this era are his unusual and exotic bird pins. By adding dimension and a sense of motion to the flat jewelry of the 1930s, these detailed pins revolutionized the costume jewelry industry. Sandra Semensohn came to work for the Boucher Company in 1949 as Mr. Boucher’s assistant. Sandra designed many of the Boucher Company’s watch designs. Eventually, Sandra and Marcel married.
In 1965, Marcel Boucher died. Sandra continued to operate the Boucher Company after his death for several more years. In the 1970s, the Boucher Company became a subsidiary of Dovorn Industry, which made watches. Sandra Boucher continued to design watches for Dovorn until 1975. The last time the Boucher mark was used was in the early 1970s.
Featured design looks of the Boucher Company are the use of faux turquoise beads, many of which featured blue, red and clear baguette rhinestones and exotic bird pins designed to give the illusion of flight and featuring high quality rhinestones and enameling.
Among the marks Boucher used are “MB” for Marcel Boucher. These initials are below a Phrygian cap, and ancient helmet used as a symbol of the French revolution and is sometimes called the bird mark or the chicken mark. The Phrygian cap was used from 1937 until 1949 and occasionally later on hard to mark places. Most of Boucher’s jewelry was marked with an individual inventory number. Other marks are:
- “Marcel Boucher,” beginning in 1938.
- “Boucher” without the copyright symbol and in all capitals from 1950 to 1955.
- “Boucher” with the copyright symbol after 1955.
“Marboux.” Although registered in 1937, this mark was not used until after 1955 and was used for a lower priced line of jewelry. However even though this was used for a lower end line of jewelry, it still retains the Boucher design number found on their higher end jewelry.
- “Earrite” was first used in 1950.
- “Parisina” was used for sterling silver jewelry made in Mexico.
- “LeC,” “LeCouture” was used for a Canadian Line as was “Made in Canada Boucher.”