Sapphire Bar Pin

Find the exact sapphire bar pin you’re shopping for in the variety available on 1stDibs. Every item for sale was constructed with extraordinary care, often using Platinum, Gold and 14k Gold. Find an antique version now, or shop for 41 vintage or 3 modern creation for a more contemporary example of these cherished accessories. Finding the perfect sapphire bar pin may mean sifting through those created during different time periods — you can find an early version that dates to the 20th Century and a newer variation that were made as recently as the 21st Century. Finding an appealing sapphire bar pin — no matter the origin — is easy, but Gubelin, J.E. Caldwell & Co. and Raymond C. Yard each produced a popular version that is worth a look. While most can agree that any sapphire bar pin from our collection can easily elevate most outfits, but the choice of a Sapphire version from the 28 available is guaranteed to add a special touch to your ensemble. See these pages for a round cut iteration of this accessory, while there are also mixed cut cut and baguette cut cut versions available here, too. When shopping for a sapphire bar pin, you’ll find that there are less available pieces for unisex or men today than there are for women.

The price for a sapphire bar pin starts at $125 and tops out at $29,500 with these brooches, on average, selling for $2,025.

On 1stDibs, shop the bright blue gems that star in sapphire rings, sapphire necklaces and other vintage and antique sapphire jewelry. 

Sapphires — the stone of choice for Napoleon, Princess Diana and Elizabeth Taylor — have been a favorite of aristocrats and the well-to-do since the time of the Ancient Greeks.

Picture a sapphire. If the stone you conjure is a deep cornflower blue, you’re seeing only part of the picture. Although blue Kashmirs are considered the most valuable, sapphires come in every color except red. No matter the hue, this very special gem is rich in history and beloved by royals (FYI, Princess Diana and Kate Middleton share an 11-carat sapphire engagement ring), so September babies are in very noble company.

America’s version of royalty — old money and celebrities — have also shown a predilection for the blue stones. In 1940, John D. Rockefeller Jr. had Cartier mount a 62-carat sapphire he had bought from an Indian maharajah in a brooch for his first wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller; in 2001, the piece sold for a then-record of $3,031,000 at Christie’s New York.

The grand dame of jewelry, Elizabeth Taylor had a passion for the gems that her lovers were happy to indulge. Second husband Michael Wilding gave her an engagement ring set with a cabochon sapphire, while Richard Burton famously presented her with a BVLGARI sautoir set with diamonds and sapphires, including at its center a cabochon Burmese weighing 52.72 carats. One of the star lots in the sale of Taylor’s jewels at the Christie’s New York in 2011, it sold for $5,906,500.

You don’t have to have blue blood or a bulging bank account, however, to get an eyeful of this much-coveted gem. A number of outstanding examples reside in public collections.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History owns the 423-carat Logan sapphire, a gift from the Guggenheim family, and the Hall sapphire and diamond necklace, designed by Harry Winston and featuring 36 fine, well-matched cushion-cut Sri Lankan sapphires weighing a combined 195 carats. Also in the collection is the Bismarck sapphire necklace, designed by Cartier and sporting a central sapphire weighing 98.6 carats, which Mona Von Bismarck donated to the museum.

Sapphires are composed of corundum. Their color derives from trace elements, such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper or magnesium. When the trace element produces a ruby hue, the stone is called, what else, a ruby. (which is, as mentioned above, why sapphires cannot be red by definition).

The allure of large gemstones endures throughout the periods characterized as vintage, and sapphire features frequently in vintage engagement rings. (On 1stDibs, a range of buying guides can be found for those in the market for antique engagement rings, vintage engagement rings or Art Deco engagement rings.)  

Find an exquisite collection of vintage and antique sapphire jewelry on 1stDibs.

Vintage brooches, which refer to decorative jewelry traditionally pinned to garments and used to fasten pieces of clothing together where needed, have seen increasing popularity in recent years.

While jewelry trends come and go, brooches are indeed back on the radar thanks to fashion houses like Gucci, Versace, Dior and Saint Laurent, all of which feature fun pinnable designs in their current collections. Whether a dazzlingly naturalistic Art Nouveau dragonfly, a whimsical David Webb animal, a gem-studded bloom or a streamlined abstract design, these jewels add color and sparkle to your look and a spring to your step. 

Given their long history, brooches have expectedly taken on a variety of different shapes and forms over time, with jewelers turning to assorted methods of ornamentation for these accessories, including enameling and the integration of pearls and gemstones. Cameo brooches that originated during the Victorian age are characterized by a shell carved in raised relief that feature portraits of a woman’s profile, while 19th-century micromosaic brooches, comprising innumerable individually placed glass fragments, sometimes feature miniature depictions of a pastoral scene in daily Roman life.

At one time, brooches were symbols of wealth, made primarily from the finest metals and showcasing exquisite precious gemstones. Today, these jewels are inclusive and universal, and you don’t have to travel very far to find an admirer of brooches. They can be richly geometric in form, such as the ornate diamond pins dating from the Art Deco era, or designer-specific, such as the celebrated naturalistic works created by Tiffany & Co., the milk glass and gold confections crafted by Trifari or handmade vintage Chanel brooches of silk or laminated sheer fabric. Chanel, of course, has never abandoned this style, producing gorgeously baroque CC examples since the 1980s.

Brooches are versatile and adaptable. These decorative accessories can be worn in your hair, on hats, scarves and on the lower point of V-neck clothing. Pin a dazzling brooch to the lapel of your blazer-and-tee combo or add a cluster of smaller pins to your overcoat. And while brooches have their place in “mourning jewelry,” in that a mourning brooch is representative of your connection to a lost loved one, they’re widely seen as romantic and symbolic of love, so much so that a hardcore brooch enthusiast might advocate for brooches to be worn over the heart.

Today, find a wide variety of antique and vintage brooches for sale on 1stDibs, including gold brooches, sapphire brooches and more.