Tiffany Sapphire Tennis Bracelet

Tiffany & Co. is one of the most prominent purveyors of luxury goods in the United States, and has long been an important arbiter of style in the design of diamond engagement rings. A young Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed to his future wife, Eleanor, with a Tiffany ring in 1904. Vanderbilts, Whitneys, Astors and members of the Russian imperial family all wore Tiffany & Co. jewels. And Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis preferred Tiffany china for state dinners at the White House.

Although synonymous with luxury today, the firm started out rather modestly. Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young founded it in Connecticut as a “stationery and fancy goods emporium” in 1837, at a time when European imports still dominated the nascent American luxury market. In 1853, Charles Tiffany — who in 1845 had launched the company’s famed catalog, the Blue Book, and with it, the firm’s signature robin’s-egg blue, which he chose for the cover — shifted the focus to fine jewelry. In 1868, Tiffany & Co. gained international recognition when it became the first U.S. firm to win an award for excellence in silverware at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. From then on, it belonged to the pantheon of American luxury brands.

At the start of the Gilded Age, in 1870, Tiffany & Co. opened its flagship store, described as a "palace of jewels" by the New York Times, at 15 Union Square West in Manhattan. Throughout this period, its designs for silver tableware, ceremonial silver, flatware and jewelry were highly sought-after indicators of status and taste. They also won the firm numerous accolades, including the grand prize for silverware at the Paris Exposition of 1878. Among the firm’s glittering creations from this time are masterworks of Art Nouveau jewelry, such as this delicate aquamarine necklace and this lavish plique-à-jour peridot and gold necklace, both circa 1900.

When Charles Lewis Tiffany died, in 1902, his son Louis Comfort Tiffany became the firm’s design director. Under his leadership, the Tiffany silver studio was a de facto design school for apprentice silversmiths, who worked alongside head artisan Edward C. Moore. The firm produced distinctive objects inspired by Japanese art and design, North American plants and flowers, and Native American patterns and crafts, adding aesthetic diversity to Tiffany & Co.’s distinguished repertoire.

Tiffany is also closely associated with diamonds, even lending its name to one particularly rare and exceptional yellow stone. The firm bought the Tiffany diamond in its raw state from the Kimberley mines of South Africa in 1878. Cut to create a 128.54-carat gem with an unprecedented 82 facets, it is one of the most spectacular examples of a yellow diamond in the world. In a broader sense, Tiffany & Co. helped put diamonds on the map in 1886 by introducing the American marketplace to the solitaire diamond design, which is still among the most popular engagement-ring styles. The trademark Tiffany® Setting raises the stone above the band on six prongs, allowing its facets to catch the light. A lovely recent example is this circa-2000 platinum engagement ring. Displaying a different design and aesthetic (but equally chic) is this exquisite diamond and ruby ring from the 1930s.

Vintage tennis bracelets are a no-brainer for those of us who remain unabashedly nostalgic for 1980s or 1990s fashion. And as long as the casual-luxe look is hot — and it is — men's tennis bracelets, diamond tennis bracelets and other versions of these understated accessories will remain on trend.

The term “tennis bracelet” is relatively new. It stems from a tennis match that Chris Evert — the first player to win 1,000 singles matches — played in an early round of the U.S. Open during the late 1970s. A diamond and gold bracelet that the celebrated athlete had been wearing broke, and play was stopped while she scrambled to look for it on the court. At the time, minimalist fine jewelry was the order of the day. While fashion jewelry had undeniable appeal, the ornate diamond confections popular in previous decades were neither suited to the office nor the disco dance floor, and many people sought subtle but sophisticated jewelry designs to wear for both work and play.

Subdued ornament in the manner of Elsa Peretti’s versatile 1970s-era necklaces and bracelets for Tiffany & Co. wowed wearers and garnered media acclaim at the time, and the design of Evert’s straight-line bracelet, the kind that had likely been referred to as an “eternity bracelet” before then, spoke to what was a popular type of jewelry during the era. Demand for versions of Evert’s uncomplicated accessory soared in jewelry boutiques across the United States in the years and decades following the match. The tennis star would eventually earn ninth place on the Tennis Channel’s “100 Greatest of All Time” list.

The diamond tennis bracelets worn these days differ little from those crafted during the 1970s, although they’re likely outfitted with sturdier clasps that prevent them from coming apart during extensive tennis matches. Today, there is a wide range of popular unisex tennis bracelets as well as men’s tennis bracelets, although they don't have to be exclusively dotted with diamonds. A vintage Tiffany tennis bracelet, for example, might feature emeralds, rubies or sapphires set in platinum or yellow gold.

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