Harry Winston Diamond And Pearl Earrings

Among the famed gemstones that Harry Winston (1896–1978) encountered over the course of his career was the Hope diamond, which he donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. Today, Winston is regarded as the “King of Diamonds” and the “Jeweler to the Stars” as one of the first to recognize the branding power of lending glitzy earrings, necklaces and other fine jewelry for red-carpet events.

Winston’s father had immigrated to New York from Ukraine and ran a small jewelry shop where a young Harry learned about precious stones, enough, the story goes, to identify a real emerald in a heap of pawnshop jewelry at the age of 12. His early success involved turning that eye to estate sale collections that he transformed by freeing gemstones from dated ornamentation, giving them new cuts and modern settings. He opened Harry Winston Inc. in 1932, where he influenced 20th-century-jewelry trends by always elevating the stones rather than adding the lavish decorations that had pervaded jewelry in the 19th century.

The first of the celebrated diamonds to be purchased by Winston was the 726-carat uncut Jonker, acquired in 1935. Many others followed, including the 726.60-carat Vargas from Brazil which, in 1938, he tracked down across multiple continents after he read a brief newspaper notice about its discovery. The rarity and beauty of the gemstones he pursued and presented in his boutiques made the Winston brand synonymous with excellence.

Winston was also a pioneer of marketing as the first jeweler to dress an Academy Awards nominee when he loaned some diamond jewelry to Jennifer Jones for the 1944 Oscar ceremony. Winston was renowned for his eye for the finest of gemstones and the ability to design pieces in order to best flaunt their natural dazzle. He regularly showed off his collection in touring exhibitions, such as the 1949 “Court of Jewels,” which featured the Hope diamond. His storied past and long legacy is continued by the House of Harry Winston and its salons in Japan, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. 

On 1stDibs, find a stunning collection of Harry Winston jewelry that includes bracelets, wedding rings, engagement rings and other accessories.

In the United States, ear piercing didn’t really become popular until the 1950s and ‘60s, but our desire for a dazzling pair of vintage earrings has deeper roots than that. In fact, wearing earrings actually goes back thousands of years, and you can find many tangible connections between now and then in how we continue to talk about these treasured accessories.

Women wore ornamental earrings — studs and hoops at the very least — in Ancient Egypt, which is home to mines that are among the earliest sources of emeralds in the world. Emerald earrings are highly prized today, and their quality lies in their rich, saturated color. The highest-quality emeralds are green or bluish-green. Earrings worn by the affluent in early Roman civilizations were set with precious stones such as diamonds and pearls, and a clean-looking pop of pearl on the front of the lobe is as timeless as ever. Hoop earrings are imbued with symbolism and cultural significance for many, and on view in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Ancient Near Eastern Art Gallery is a pair of simple gold hoops from Mesopotamia dating to between 2600 and 2500 B.C.

Today, ear piercing is very popular all over the world, and, as a result, it is difficult to overstate how much everyone pines for a good pair of earrings — modernist drop earrings, glamorous Victorian hoops, geometrically complex chandelier earrings, you name it. Sure, jewelry trends and the fashion darlings of social media come and go, but earrings have a staying power that seems impenetrable: The still-strong love affair between British royals and Cartier earrings is more than a century old, glossy 1970s hoops from legacy houses such as Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels remain the statement makers they’ve always been and although people have been stacking earrings for many moons, the allure of an expertly mismatched stack of charms and studs still feels fresh and new.

While there is no shortage of modern earring designs to choose from, the classics, like coral earrings, Art Deco–style earrings and diamond drop earrings are still heavy hitters. On 1stDibs, find a wide range of antique, new and vintage earrings today.