"Valiant" is the name given by Swank to this highly desirable set of mid-century cufflinks, and I personally love them!

Part of Swank's 1955 "Designer's Collection", this pair features a Wedgewood-look cameo, mounted in a silver tone frame. A great set!

Condition (perfect/new/mint; near mint/excellent; Very Good; Fair; Poor) (See Definitions below) Very good

Date: c.1956

Collection (If known): Designer's Collection

Name (if known): Valiant

Item Type ((see shop home page: www.etsy.com/shop/vintagemenswag for definitions) : Cufflinks, toggle

Frame type (Cufflinks): (see shop home page: www.etsy.com/shop/vintagemenswag for definitions) : toggle, thick shaft

Metal: Alloy

Metal Color: Silver

Brand: Swank, Inc.
The “King” of brands in the vintage men’s costume jewelry game, Swank has a long history as well as high name recognition. The company began as Attleboro Manufacturing Company in Attleboro, MA in 1897, by Samuel Stone and Maurice Baer, making women’s jewelry. Men’s jewelry was added in 1908, and during World War I the company produced dog tags in support of the war effort. Swank’s first line of men’s cufflinks were a unique design called “Kum-a-Part” (sometimes marked as Baer and Wilde Company), and are a strong collectable today. More cufflink styles were added in the 1920s as the wearing of cufflinks returned to popularity, and in that decade, the name “Swank” was first used in advertising. The company itself became “Swank Products Inc” in 1938 and in 1941 the name was simplified again to “Swank Inc.” In the 1950s the men’s accessory market exploded and would grow continually into the 1960s, with Swank riding the wave of popularity. Leather goods and other men’s accessories were added in that decade as well. In the 1960s, during the height of popularity of cufflinks and tie accessories, the company produced over 12 million pairs a year, at an average cost of around $2.50 a pair. In 1967 Swank introduced the chain-back tacks, probably based on a recent patent they obtained. They called them “Action Chain”. The popularity of the brand was driven by the high number of unique styles produced, from very traditional to very artistic and modern. Swank men’s pendants and chains, as well as other items, are also moderately common on the market. That variety continues to drive the demand for vintage Swank pieces in the collectables market today. The company name changed several times. It became Swank Products, Inc in 1938, then just Swank, Inc. in 1941. Swank seemed to have a name for everything in the mid-1950s, including a jewelry box for sets which they called “Florentine Golden Embossed Gift Box”, which was black imitation leather with a gold grid with shields and things inside the squares of the grids. Old ads are typically used to identify items from ‘collections’, although the “Grand Prix”, “Arts of the World”, “Collezione Contintale”, “Royal Copenhagen” and other collections are also found in original boxes with the box bearing the collection name. If other cufflinks have not been put into the boxes for those collections can also identify what cufflinks or accessory sets belong to a ‘collection’. Also, cufflinks which are identified in certain collections based on advertising are also found in variations of the illustrated examples. Those variations can be in metal color, paint color, color of rhinestones or other stones used, or a change to a major component of the design. The brand is now a division of R..A. Randa, who also owns tie manufacturer Wembley.

Swank Designer’s Collection
Items in the Designer’s Collection, as was true of many of the designs by Swank from the 1950s, given names by the company. The ‘Collection’ is primarily known as such due to Swank’s advertising of the sets, although they are also found in boxes with “Designer’s Collection” stamped inside the lid. Occasionally, as a very rare treat, sets are found in the original box with the “Designer’s Collection” label as well as a paper ‘banner’ across the inside cushion with the name of the design.
Many of the designs can be found in either gold or silver, as well as in a variety of enamel or stone colors. Typical colors for many are black, pink, orange, green, red and yellow. Rarely seen is lavender. Collections of only Designer’s Collection cufflinks can have some designs in a range of colors!
Also, some designs are found with similar shapes but different feature decorations, such as Trojan. Typically, it is found with a chess piece look Knight, but also found with the face of a lion and other features.
Tie accessories are sometimes found. These can be either tacks or tie clips, and while some are identical or a smaller version of the cufflink face, others are a design that simply complements the cufflink design and are hard to identify as such when they are found without the matching cufflinks. These can sometimes be identified using old ads, but sometimes can be recognized only because a boxed set including the tie accessory has been seen before.
Interestingly, other items in some designs from the “Designer’s Collection” are found, such as bolos. These are a great addition to a good collection of the collection.



Stone or applied decoration: Man-made cameo

SHIPPING: Vintage Men’s Swag prides themselves on the quality and speed of their shipping. Each item you purchase will be carefully wrapped and boxed to insure its safe arrival.
CONDITION GUIDE FOR MY DESCRIPTIONS: Perfect/New/Mint in Box: The item and or piece of jewelry has no visible flaws and no signs of wear or use. Excellent: The item and or piece of jewelry has evidence of wear. Very Good: The item and or piece of jewelry has small flaws that are not usually noticeable during wear. These flaws could include light scratches on the surfaces of imitation pearls, light scuffs on rhinestones, or light marks on the metal's finish. Good: The item and or piece of jewelry is completely wearable with working hardware. However, the rhinestones may be yellowing or beginning to turn gray (dark spots are visible when you are looking into the stone). Wear may be more visible, and there may be light chipping. Fair/Poor: The item and or piece of jewelry has visible damage that may include dark stones, missing stones, or broken parts. This item should be considered for repair or restoration purposes only.
REMEMBER: You are buying a vintage item. Even for items I indicate are in ‘perfect/mint/new/Mint in box, there still may be some minor scratches or other issues when the item is examined very closely. Most items in my shop are 40 to 60 years old, with many even older. They will have some ‘acquired character’. Also, even if I indicate the original box is present, the condition of that box may not be very good, particularly the exterior.
PHOTOS: I try to get sufficient pictures, of good quality, that allow you to see the details, construction, condition, and color of the items I list. However, with gold tone and silver tone items, by their very nature, it is difficult to capture the ‘exact shade’ of their color. Compounding that issue is the difficulty of photographing certain rhinestones and crystals. Many will flash a variety of colors or have a luminesce that is hard to capture. In those cases, I try to indicate that in my description.