Pierre Sterle Earrings

The loss of his father in World War I led to Pierre Sterlé’s mentorship under his uncle, who supported his ascension into the jewelry design world. At the height of his success, Sterlé designed for jewelry titans Boucheron, Chaumet and Ostertag. He won the De Beers Diamond Award three years in a row and operated out of an exclusive boutique in Paris that served the elite and royal families by appointment only.

His uncle was a Parisian jeweler on the rue de Castiglione. Sterlé started his own workshop at the age of 29 and spent five years designing for eminent Parisian jewelry houses on rue Sainte-Anne. By the mid-1940s, Sterlé had moved his atelier closer to the Place Vendôme to better serve his wealthy patrons, who included French author Colette, King Farouk of Egypt, the Maharani of Baroda and the Begum Aga Khan.

Sterlé had a remarkable ability to “knit gold” into woven masterpieces. His technical prowess was unmatched by anyone in Paris, and arguably the world. His “angel wire” technique, considered his signature style, incorporated gold into fine ropes that became link bracelets, cocktail rings and accents on decorative pins and brooches. The effect gave a sense of movement and life to the pieces, something Sterlé strived for in his attempts to make metal and precious gemstones less rigid and cold. 

Two misfortunes derailed his business. The first was a failed venture into perfume, which resulted in having to sell many of his designs to Chaumet and New York jeweler Montreaux. Sterlé rebounded with a successful display at the 1966 Biennale in Paris, where he was the first modern jeweler ever invited. His second misstep was more damaging. He opened an exclusive shop on the rue Saint-Honoré in 1969. It was unsuccessful, and he was forced to declare bankruptcy, selling most of his stock to Chaumet in 1976.

Sterlé stayed on with the company as a consultant until his death two years later in 1978. 

On 1stDibs, find a collection of vintage Pierre Sterlé rings, earrings, bracelets and more.

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.