Skip to main content

Presentworth Jewelry

to
65
58
55
35
34
40
21
6
4
4
6
7
119
3
5
2
15
18
14
7
2
2
5
5
2
104
30
1
25
18
6
5
5
12
7
6
4
3
30
19
16
16
12
5
5
4
2
2
1
1
1
1
135
135
Couture DiorDesigner WesternGermany MaxMuller TealCrystal GoldGilt Textural Ring
By Max Müller Kaufbeuren
Located in Chicago, IL
With an overlapping ring interior and textured exterior like raw silk that matches Christian Dior rings marked "Chr. Dior Germany" from the late-1950s, this bold modernist yellow-gol...
Category

Mid-20th Century German Modernist Cocktail Rings

Materials

Crystal, Yellow Gold, Gilt Metal

Vendome GiltLeavesBranch GoldFilagree Handwired BlackGlass Crystals ClipEarrings
By Vendome
Located in Chicago, IL
These post-WWII Vendome hand-wired clip earrings each feature a spray of yellow-gold gilt-metal leaves with a stylized branch and five prong-set clear crystals among a cluster of fac...
Category

Vintage 1940s American Modern Clip-on Earrings

Materials

Crystal, Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold

Cat'sEye 21 BallCut Moonstones Antique Victorian 14KGoldFill TubularLinkNecklace
Located in Chicago, IL
All featuring white cat's-eyes, the 21 gray 3mm ball-cut moonstones of this necklace are beaded symmetrically on this antique choker between stations of shiny 14-karat gold-filled tu...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century American Arts and Crafts Choker Necklaces

Materials

Moonstone, Cat’s Eye, 14k Gold, Gold-filled

Antique StarSapphires BezelSet 17mmHighDome Cabochons WhiteGold Link Bracelet
Located in Chicago, IL
Three violet purple star sapphire high-dome oval cabochons that transition from transparent to opaque are bezel set in this antique white-gold chain link tennis bracelet made during ...
Category

Vintage 1910s American Belle Époque Tennis Bracelets

Materials

Star Sapphire, White Gold, Gold, Palladium

1921 Early ArtDeco SterlingSilver BlackOnyx Marcasite Signed Rectangular Ring
Located in Chicago, IL
On this antique early Art Deco-period solitaire cocktail ring, a long rectangular mirror-cut black onyx is surrounded by 28 faceted marcasite stones. The American silver ring, whose ...
Category

Vintage 1920s American Art Deco Cocktail Rings

Materials

Marcasite, Onyx, Sterling Silver

ArtDeco c1925 Bakelite TriColor RedBlueGreen Carved Ribbon Bow BrassPin Brooch
Located in Chicago, IL
Antique ArtDeco-period Bakelite rare three-color ribbon bow hand-blended-and-carved brooch. Given the colors, narrow style, texture and affixed brass pin...
Category

Vintage 1920s Unknown Art Deco Brooches

Materials

Brass

Art Nouveau Azurmalachite MilapillasMine Cabochon MexicanSilver Ring
Located in Chicago, IL
First appearing like an intense green-blue black opal without the flash, this antique natural azurmalachite oval-cut 10mm cabochon in a bezel setting f...
Category

Antique Early 1900s Mexican Art Nouveau Solitaire Rings

Materials

Malachite, Sterling Silver

Antique FabergeStyle 3AquamarineCabochons 4GreyDiamonds BezelSet Platinum Brooch
Located in Chicago, IL
This antique Victorian platinum filigree bar-brooch or tie-pin from the Edwardian period with Faberge-style elements features bezel settings with three square-cut 10mm sugarloaf aqua...
Category

Antique Early 1900s European Edwardian Brooches

Materials

Diamond, Aquamarine, Black Diamond, Platinum

Trifari AlfredPhilippe 1948-1954 RhodiumPlated Tassel Chain FrenchClip Earrings
By Alfred Philippe for Trifari
Located in Chicago, IL
These mid-century platinum-like silver tassel chain drop earrings were designed by Trifari artistic director Alfred Philippe in an Art Deco style that recalls his earlier work for Ca...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Art Deco Drop Earrings

Materials

Rhodium, Silver, Base Metal

Antique France Fruit Lampwork Carved Glass Beads TuttiFrutti Brass Clip Earrings
Located in Chicago, IL
These antique early-20th-Century French carved lampwork glass bead earrings depict berries and leaves. On each earring, this fruit salad dangles on a single ring that drops from a round convex green "stem", which is attached to miniature brass clips...
Category

Early 20th Century French Artisan Drop Earrings

Materials

Brass

Vintage Navajo Modern BezelSetOnyx GoldFilledTop DoubleSilverBand Solitaire Ring
By Navajo
Located in Chicago, IL
This vintage Navajo modern minimalist solitaire two-finger ring, which was handmade by an unknown Native American, features a sterling-bezel-set black onyx cabochon on one end of a linear-textured yellow gold-filled asymmetrical flat narrow top, which will span nearly three fingers over a soldered silver double band. One band is US-size 8, the larger one is 8.5. On the underside of the flat top, the zigzag mark of a lightning/bolt or snake/serpent may be an individual artist or that of a Native American trading post, which acquired such jewelry when members of the community pawned pieces when in need of goods or credit. Old Pawn jewelry...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Solitaire Rings

Materials

Onyx, Yellow Gold, Sterling Silver, 14k Gold

ArtNouveau Antique ArtistSigned Peacocks Set HandWroughtMetals Earrings & Brooch
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in Chicago, IL
This antique Art-Nouveau period American signed metalsmithed set features intricately etched, chased, chiseled and pierced curvaceous peacocks in unusual copper-gilt silver. "Sterlin...
Category

Early 20th Century American Art Nouveau Brooches

Materials

Sterling Silver, Copper

CatEyeMoonstones Antique PinkTranslucentBallCut 14MM Sterling LeverClip Earrings
Located in Chicago, IL
Rare wide cat's-eye, translucent, blue-tone strong pink, near-spherical, 14mm moonstones with misty lavender-white schiller are showcased on these antique sterling-silver hinged-clip lever earrings from the early 20th Century. They could be mistaken for exceptional Quahog pearls...
Category

Antique Early 1900s Art Nouveau Clip-on Earrings

Materials

Moonstone, Cat’s Eye, Sterling Silver

Couture 1920s French HandCarved Dogs Hounds Galalith RedPaintedArtPlastic Brooch
Located in Chicago, IL
This Art-Deco period French carved, lathe-worked, sculpted and red-painted black-galalith figural brooch depicts a pair of long-limbed dogs, which may be wolfhounds, greyhounds or wh...
Category

Vintage 1920s French Art Deco Brooches

Materials

Brass

Antique ImperialJadeite TranslucentGreen IntricateCarvedFlora 1890sScrewEarrings
Located in Chicago, IL
Made during the crossover Arts & Crafts and Art-Nouveau movements, these antique Chinese earrings feature rare Burmese natural untreated translucent im...
Category

Antique 1890s Chinese Arts and Crafts Lever-Back Earrings

Materials

Jade, Brass, Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold

Couture Chanel 1930s Byzantine PurpleHeart RealPearls&Gems Gold Medallion Brooch
By Chanel
Located in Chicago, IL
When French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was at her peak during the Art-Deco period as a Parisian couture-fashion designer in the early 1930s, this one-of-a-kind handcrafted gem-fringed and gilt-chain medallion brooch with trombone clasp was commissioned by her to accessorize one of her clothing designs. Marked only "FRANCE" like some early 1930s Chanel couture jewelry (without a brand stamp until the 1950s), its artistic origin is most likely from ornate organic-form sketches by her favorite parurier Fulco di Verdura. The Sicilian duke began creating fabric patterns for Chanel in 1927, which shortly expanded to fine jewelry beginning with custom pieces for herself. These include the iconic Byzantine-influenced gem-adorned cuffs referencing the Maltese-military cross, which the French designer can often be seen wearing in circa-1930s photos. This bright-yellow gold brooch suits goldsmith Verdura's early anti-Art-Deco aesthetic that was considered a radical departure from 1920s silver-tone jewelry, which otherwise featured linear geometric designs or figurative representation. The softly-shaped deconstructed gem-bouquet mixes amethyst and rose-quartz beads with natural Keshi pearls and intricate tiny gilt leaves, which are wired to a Baroque-motif open-work frame that dangles another gem surrounded by a thick gilt-rope halo. Notably, Verdura is credited with re-introducing since Victorian times the rope motif to jewelry. Since 1930, Verdura's unique style was influenced by travels with Chanel to explore Byzantine art, Baroque architecture, and exotic flora-and-fauna among his native Italian aristocratic estate. The legendary fashion-editor Diane Vreeland and American entertainment-stars were among the first Chanel clients to acquire couture real-gem-adorned jewelry made by Verdura, while one of the two brooches treasured by Vreeland was titled "Theodora". See our photo of the Byzantine mosaic of Empress Theodora, whose image wearing many teardrop pearls above her chest and surrounded by a golden halo seems to be the inspiration for this brooch. As one of the most important modern-design collaborations, Chanel's close relationship with Verdura lasted largely undocumented years in Paris, until he launched his first outside jewelry venture with a Hollywood designer-boutique after emigrating to the United States in 1934. By 1939 as a financially-backed in-demand goldsmith, he founded the namesake jewelry-company Verdura in New...
Category

Vintage 1930s French Byzantine Brooches

Materials

Amethyst, Pearl, Quartz, Gold, Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold

DaumNancyFrance ArtDeco Signed Glass Applications LeadCrystal Sculptural Vase
By Daum
Located in Chicago, IL
Art glass vase sign: Daum Nancy France. Evidenced by this Daum sculptural colorless blown and hot-shaped lead-crystal heavy vessel vase, the finest irreproducible artistic works in the history of the iconic French decorative-glass maker feature ornamental thick glass applications. Its most in-demand pieces today were made between 1925 and 1935, with very few major ArtDeco-period pieces remaining in private hands and even less without damage. As a significant gift acquired from Don Jacques Daum in 1950, a similarly shaped, constructed and sized circa-1925 vase with "stylized foliage" motif is in the collection of the French Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris as Inventory #36309. A later-produced vase with a similar application-motif at just the rim, but in a "Champagne" bubbled style, is among the photos in the published book about the Leo and Irina Esterkin acquisitions from 1910-1940 titled Daum Art Deco Glass--A Private Collection. On our prime-condition antique vase, applied transparent glass is styled in high relief into a flowing undulating motif that evolved from Daum's Art Nouveau foliage designs. The angular and curvilinear shapes of this vessel epitomize the bold vases, bowls and sculptures for which Daum is best known. Its tiny pencil-etched signature on the side near the bottom reads "Daum (plus the Lorraine-cross symbol) Nancy France", which resembles some published signatures since 1925. Revealing how ahead of its time this particular design was--after WWII in 1945 coinciding with the revitalization of the French glass industry--Daum used...
Category

Vintage 1920s French Art Deco Figurines and Sculptures

Materials

Crystal

ModernArtist SilverWire Geometric Spirals HandmadeWithPliers Seven Link Bracelet
Located in Chicago, IL
This modern one-of-a-kind geometric-spirals seven-link bracelet was expertly handmade from silver wire dating to the 20th Century in a style not earlier than Art Deco. There are no marks or jewelry techniques other than from the pliers used to bend the wire into the seven differently-shaped links. If not by mid-century artist Alexander Calder, it is in the style of his thousands of pieces of plier-bent wire jewelry that were astonishingly all unique. This attractive bracelet with atypical three-dimensional pieces would have been reproduced if it had been created by a jewelry designer. While a variety of geometric shapes are often combined in wire bracelets...
Category

20th Century Unknown Modern Modern Bracelets

Materials

Silver, Base Metal

YBA YoungBritishArtist Sculpture JewelryCostume First US Exhibit NYC 2000-2001
By Contemporary
Located in Chicago, IL
Young British artist (YBA) Philippe Bradshaw (1965-2005) was represented by blue-chip international art galleries when he was the first to reimagine iconic-art images as tapestry-like metal-chain installations in multimedia environments. He is best known for transforming hand-assembled colorful anodized-aluminum links into shimmering semi-transparent layered curtains, whose hanging long strands uniquely amplified the light and sound of his projected camcorder videos and DJ'd music. In Bradshaw's first American exhibition "Disco Damage" in 2001 at NYC's legendary avant-garde art gallery, Deitch Projects, this jewelry-costume sculpture became part of the artist's live-in evolving studio installation. While later celebrating 15 years of art happenings that had occurred at that Soho exhibition space, its gallerist-cum-museum-director Jeffrey Deitch--who was physically scarred during this unforgettable chaotic several-month experience orchestrated by Bradshaw--recounted this show in his retrospective hardcover book "Live The Art". When Bradshaw drowned in the Parisian-river Seine in August 2005 while living the high life of his skyrocketing success in Europe, he left a small body of large installations that is mostly distributed among the world's top private art collections. Notably, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has acquired one of his multimedia works. More recently, another assembly of his chain curtains made a rare public appearance at new modern-art museum, Heidi Horten Collection, during its inaugural exhibition in Vienna. Since winning a major British visual-art prize in 2000 that marked Bradshaw's art-world ascent following fellow Goldsmiths-College YBAs who were close friends, this sculpture evolved from one of his most elaborate jewelry costumes that he created in London while seducing the American who became his girlfriend. Unlike other pieces of jewelry that he made as gifts to participating acquaintances while video taping...
Category

Early 2000s British Contemporary Figurines and Sculptures

Materials

Mixed Metal

Antique ArtNouveau Tourmaline Gems & Lampwork Glass WhiteGold Filigree Sautoir
Located in Chicago, IL
Epitomizing the Art Nouveau movement, this antique post-1912 sautoir drop necklace with a white-gold openwork-and-wire pendant and filigree clasp features a rainbow of handcrafted gem beads--the largest of which are carved "Rose of France" and purple amethysts plus faceted-pink and beveled-aqua tourmalines--along with what appears to be lampwork glass...
Category

Early 20th Century Unknown Art Nouveau Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Amethyst, Tourmaline, White Gold, Enamel, Rhodium, Gilt Metal

18thC EnamelDoublePainting SilverFiligree SpanishRococo AprilBirthday Pendant
Located in Chicago, IL
This early 18th-Century Spanish Rococo period silver-filigree double-sided pendant with dangle features miniature colorful enamel devotional paintings on both sides of a white porcelain centerpiece, which are associated with an April birth. One side depicts a mountain landscape with a haloed richly-robed dark woman holding a lap-seated dark child and a holy orb...
Category

Antique Early 18th Century Spanish Rococo Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Silver, Enamel

16thCentury Renaissance Silver Repousse Lovers Pendant Or Engagement Hat Badge
Located in Chicago, IL
This early 16th-Century Renaissance silver-repousse round medallion "lovers" pendant depicts a romantic encounter in a rural landscape between a man and smiling woman wearing Europea...
Category

Antique 16th Century French Renaissance Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Silver, Gilt Metal

Antique Amuletic Dozen RockCrystals CagedRing Medieval Style Gilt Bronze Pendant
Located in Chicago, IL
This antique amuletic bronze framed pendant cages a dozen 7mm-diameter single-cut rock crystals that each feature a table-cut decagon crown, deep pavilion, 21 facets and uncut girdle, while the culets range from off-center to blunted. They are tightly set within four linked rings to overlap at the same angle in a sparkling single row. Seeming to retain a little of its original yellow-gold gilding on just the interior, the frame that surrounds each of the four sections of three crystals enables them to reflect pale-yellow-and-lime light when the pendant is viewed from certain angles. Suggesting French heritage, the Medieval Frankish culture in northern France made jewelry in similar segmented or openwork shapes of wheels or whorls, which were worn as gem-decorated disk-shaped brooches or gold-caged rock...
Category

Antique 18th Century French Renaissance Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Crystal, Rock Crystal, Gilt Metal, Bronze, Copper

16thCentury RockCrystal Hogback ScissorCut Silver High Relief Scrollwork Pendant
Located in Chicago, IL
In a rare scissor cut dating to the 1500s, this centuries-old prong-set hogback rock-crystal pendant produces a fascinating play of refractions in low light. With its rectangular nar...
Category

Antique 16th Century European Renaissance Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Crystal, Rock Crystal, Silver

16thCentury Renaissance Ultramarine Angel GiltFiligree Crystal Medallion Pendant
Located in Chicago, IL
With artistic value as a Renaissance chiaroscuro miniature painting with precious ultramarine lapis-lazuli pigment, this early 16th-Century period gilt-filigree silver pendant medall...
Category

Antique 16th Century Italian Renaissance Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Crystal, Silver, Enamel, Copper, Gold

Trifari 1940s Philippe 4PieceParure CrystalFloraMotif GoldNecklaceEarringsBrooch
By Alfred Philippe for Trifari
Located in Chicago, IL
In the late 1940s, Trifari French-born artistic director Alfred Philippe, who had earlier created fine jewelry for Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, designed this flora-motif crystal-s...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Art Deco Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Crystal, Diamond, Gold, Gold Plate, Yellow Gold

ArtNouveau Carved Abalone 18K WhiteGold HighRelief Asymmetric Flora&Bird Pendant
Located in Chicago, IL
This 20th-Century Art-Nouveau style 18-karat white-gold-plated highly textural pendant features a prong-set abalone that is carved into seemingly overlapping flower petals in lustrou...
Category

Early 20th Century American Art Nouveau Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Pearl, 18k Gold, White Gold

Antique 8 BallCutMoonstones French BelleEpoque GiltFiligree Earrings & Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
This antique French Belle-Epoque-period set incudes eight rare ball-cut moonstones beaded on a delicate gilt choker necklace and wire-hook dangle earrings for pierced ears. The necklace features two 12mm gilt-filigree-capped moonstones with atypical adularescence that glows as a sharply defined wide bluish-white circle below the surface. The pearl-like grayish-white moonstones are among beaded stations of cut-glass crystal that are spaced with tiny gilt balls. The matching earrings each feature a 6mm moonstone like the additional four on the necklace. The luminous moonstone beads look like quahog-clam pearls...
Category

Vintage 1910s French Belle Époque Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Crystal, Moonstone, Brass, Gold, Gilt Metal

Couture Fruit HandPainted WoodCherries RedGreenCharms ChainLink Vintage Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
This vintage cherry-fruit charm necklace featuring red hand-painted wood is constructed of silver chain links and its clasp extension-chain is decorated with a single red bead. The green leaves that trim the berry beads are a surprising two-tone plastic, indicating that they were also handcrafted. Notably, the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli is famous for including custom plastic elements in her mostly unsigned jewelry that accompanied her couture collections in the late 1930s. Please see TheMet online archive to view Schiaparelli's most well-known couture necklace structured from plastic supporting metal insects...
Category

20th Century Art Deco Chain Necklaces

Materials

Silver, Silver Plate, Gilt Metal

Antique ArtDeco French ArtPlasticSet BlackSphereMotif CrystalEarrings CoilBangle
Located in Chicago, IL
In the Art-Deco period when geometric, monotone and sparkly designs became fashionable, leading Paris-based couture designer Elsa Schiaparellli set trends with her artistic use of new plastic resins in bold costume jewelry. The progressive French style is exemplified by this unsigned antique black sphere-motif pair of a coiled bangle bracelet and two-tier crystal earrings. The heat-set curvilinear plastic, along with the silver screw-hardware of the earrings, date the set to no earlier than the 1920s and no later than 1930s. Each inch-diameter earring features 18 black molded bezels containing brilliant rose-cut crystals, while their filigree-like concealed black frames are riveted in back where they twist-fasten with very thin silver hardware. The rhinestones rise above the bezels to maximize their sparkle in rainbow colors, which is accentuated by the stacked frames...
Category

Early 20th Century French Art Deco Bangles

Materials

Crystal, Silver

Couture 1950s WestGermany DiorDesigner Crystal DoubleTrimmed EmeraldCut Earrings
By Christian Dior Haute Couture
Located in Chicago, IL
While making similar Christian Dior haute-couture costume-jewelry since 1955, parurier Max Muller based near Kaufbeuren, Western Germany, created these exceptionally-clear crystal si...
Category

Mid-20th Century German Modern Clip-on Earrings

Materials

Crystal, Silver, Gilt Metal

Couture DiorDesigner WesternGermanyMaxMuller Crystal SinuousDangle Clip Earrings
By Max Müller Kaufbeuren
Located in Chicago, IL
While making similar mid-century haute-couture costume jewelry for Christian Dior, designer Max Muller based near Kaufbeuren, Western Germany, created these dramatic clear-crystal si...
Category

Mid-20th Century German Modern Dangle Earrings

Materials

Crystal, Silver, Gilt Metal

MiriamHaskell 1930s Shells Russian Gilt Filagree BrassFlora WoodLeaf Clip Brooch
By Frank Hess for Miriam Haskell
Located in Chicago, IL
This early Miriam Haskell lacquered-shell and brass-and-wood-decorated clip brooch was created by Frank Hess, her first designer since 1926. The c.1930 brooch features three seashell...
Category

Vintage 1930s American Baroque Revival Brooches

Materials

Gold, Base Metal, Brass, Gilt Metal

Vintage DoubleSpiral Twisted Silver Wire Filigree Link Choker Collar Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
Featuring handmade double-spiral filigree links, this vintage collar choker necklace was created by tightly twisting fine silver wire, which was ...
Category

20th Century Greek Revival Link Necklaces

Materials

Silver

WesternGermany 1950s CherryRed MoldFacetedBead FlowerClasp DoubleStrand Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
Stamped "Western Germany" on the gold-tone underside of its box clasp, this double-strand long necklace with cherry-red beads and decorative clasp features the reflective glossy face...
Category

Vintage 1950s German Modern Multi-Strand Necklaces

Materials

Gold, Gilt Metal, Mixed Metal

Antique ArtDeco Meets BelleEpoque WWI WhiteGold Openwork Link Choker Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
Victorian Belle-Epoque and Edwardian styles transitioned to Art-Deco period jewelry with semi-precious materials and machine-age shapes around WWI when this unique 20-link choker nec...
Category

Early 20th Century American Belle Époque Choker Necklaces

Materials

White Gold

ArtDeco Coro 1919 "PatPend" Lady Bug Enamel FauxGem Vermeil Brooch
By Coro
Located in Chicago, IL
With the Coro signature "script-no-angle" since 1919 and "PAT.PEND.", this early Art Deco vermeil lady-bug beetle brooch features a red enameled face and mixed-cut bezel-set red and ...
Category

Early 20th Century American Art Deco Brooches

Materials

Crystal, Ruby, Blue Sapphire, Gold, Enamel, Gilt Metal, Vermeil

MiriamHaskell 1926-39 Enamel GiltFiligree Scallop BrassClip ArtDeco AquaEarrings
By Miriam Haskell
Located in Chicago, IL
During the Art-Deco period, Miriam Haskell and her first designer since 1926 Frank Hess created these blue-tone enameled scallop-edged Russian-gilt brass earrings with intricate wire...
Category

Early 20th Century American Art Deco Clip-on Earrings

Materials

Turquoise, Gold, Brass, Enamel, Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold

MiriamHaskell 1926-1929 Shell Glass FauxPearl Crystal Silver Art Deco Sautoir
By Frank Hess for Miriam Haskell
Located in Chicago, IL
In the late 1920s during the Art-Deco period, this Miriam Haskell white mostly glass-beaded sautoir was created in New York City by her first designer Frank Hess. This uniquely hand-...
Category

Vintage 1920s American Art Deco Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Crystal, Pearl, Freshwater Pearl, Natural Pearl, Coral, Silver

Georgian Early1800s Cannetille Filigree WiredPearl FloralSpray RedSilk PinBrooch
By Artistian Made
Located in Chicago, IL
Inspired by folk embroidery, filigree jewelry transformed in the early 1800s during the Georgian period into labor-intensive cannetille, like this antique handmade intricately-wired metal-frame brooch depicting a floral spray. Resembling Silesian wire-ornamentation, this metallic wire and red braided-thread brooch...
Category

Antique Early 19th Century European Georgian Brooches

Materials

Pearl, Freshwater Pearl, Gilt Metal, Berlin Iron

Couture 1939-50 Schiaparelli-SchlumbergerStyle GlassBeads ProngSetCrystal Brooch
By Artisan NYC
Located in Chicago, IL
In the style of Elsa Schiaparelli couture costume-jewelry and one of her paruriers since the late 1930s, Jean Schlumberger, this handcrafted highly-textural glass-and-crystal rhodium...
Category

Vintage 1940s American Brooches

Materials

Crystal, Pearl, Silver, Rhodium

French MidCentury Bazot 18KGoldPouredGlassEnameledPlaques SilverPendantsNecklace
By Andree Bazot
Located in Chicago, IL
Acquired in France and featuring French studio-artist Andree Bazot's signature technique of topping free-formed layers of polychrome enamels fused on textural foiled plaques with a d...
Category

Mid-20th Century French Artisan Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Silver, Enamel, Copper, Gold, 18k Gold

MaryMcFadden 1970 TheMetCollected JewelrySeries Gilt Openwork Sculptural Brooch
By Mary McFadden
Located in Chicago, IL
Like Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Hattie Carnegie, and Pauline Trigere, Mary McFadden produced jewelry in the 20th Century to compliment her own couture-clothing designs. Unlike those fashion designers, McFadden handcrafted her sculptural jewelry, whereby her studio designs in brass since...
Category

Vintage 1970s American Modern Brooches

Materials

Gold, Gilt Metal, Brass

ArtDeco 1927-1936 Mazer Faux Citrine GrayDiamond Stylized Heart GiltLinkBracelet
By Joseph Mazer
Located in Chicago, IL
Signed with the earliest "Mazer Bros" signature on the colorless-crystal-decorated silver metal clasp, Joseph Mazer designed this Art-Deco period gold-gilt s...
Category

Vintage 1930s American Art Deco Link Bracelets

Materials

Citrine, Crystal, Black Diamond, Gilt Metal, Gold, Silver

MiriamHaskell 1945 CrystalRoseMontee GiltFiligree Glass Enameled ClimberEarrings
By Frank Hess for Miriam Haskell
Located in Chicago, IL
Two years before the brand signature first appeared in 1947, Miriam Haskell's first designer Frank Hess since 1926 designed these asymmetrical Baroque-style climber earrings that fea...
Category

Vintage 1940s American Art Nouveau Clip-on Earrings

Materials

Pearl, Crystal, Gilt Metal, Enamel, Gold

Swedish 1960s Sterling Poured Glass Signed Tennesmed Stigbert Geometric Brooch
By Rune Tennesmed
Located in Chicago, IL
Made in 1962 by Swedish Rune Tennesmed, this modern minimal sterling silver geometric brooch features a faux ruby poured-glass red cabochon, concave sheet metal, and openwork that forms two corners of the two-tier triangular brooch. This simple abstract design is characteristic of the rounded geometric shapes that framed his silvery pieces, while his early work sometimes included a pop of brightly colored glass. Tennesmed (1929-2011) was a 20th-century studio metalsmith, who changed his given name Carlsson to reflect his craft and his business name, which means "pewtersmith" in Swedish. This unusually elegant and sleek piece was made for Scandinavian Atelje Stigbert, which was recognized for producing modern jewelry designs in sterling silver and gold. The brooch was likely commissioned by the Stigbert workshop founder Stig Engelbert who died in 1962, before his artisan sons evolved the family business to be known as Engelbert. Recognized as one of the most significant and popular Scandinavian artists of the mid-20th century, Tennesmed revived ancient Viking...
Category

Vintage 1960s Swedish Modernist Brooches

Materials

Ruby, Sterling Silver

Artist 1950s Modern Sterling Set OpenworkLeaves RebajesProtege Earrings & Brooch
By Artistian Made
Located in Chicago, IL
This mid-century modern sterling-silver openwork stylized-leaves set of brooch and screw-back earrings was handcrafted by metalsmith Otto Robert Bade (1921-2019). His distinct work i...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modernist Brooches

Materials

Sterling Silver

Swedish 1990s Silver Signed Pia Wallen Black Wool Felt Discs Link Bracelet
By Artistian Made
Located in Chicago, IL
Swedish artist Pia Wallen made this modern bold black overlapping-discs link bracelet from her signature thick 100%-wool felt, which is assembled with silver round hardware for interior snap closure at the one signed "PW". Like Surrealist-artist Meret Oppenheimer's famous use of fur on a bracelet interior for Elsa Schiaparelli, Wallen's snug sheep-hair cuff...
Category

1990s Swedish Modern Modern Bracelets

Materials

Silver

Couture ChristianLacroixParis CL Embroidery DoubleBowHandle PinkSilk Evening Bag
By Christian Lacroix Paris
Located in Chicago, IL
This couture 1980s fuchsia-pink evening bag by Christian Lacroix in ribbed silk moire features a double-bow stitched handle and his script-monogram "CL" embroidered on the exterior of the snap-fastening flap. The interior is printed in gold with "Christian Lacroix Paris". Signs of wear that are not visible until inspection of the wavy reflections and shadows of the textural shiny fabric include: a lighter area below the closed flap that could be part of the moire-watermark pattern; interior loose threads at top corners; and thread-bare spots underneath at two of the four corners. The handle, back side and interior of the bag are in excellent condition. As we found it difficult to capture the bag's bluish-magenta color, our photos include some taken with studio lights and others in sunlight. We have listed this evening bag among bracelets, boxes and cases because we assume that the buyer will be a collector of Christian Lacroix jewelry...
Category

Vintage 1980s French Artisan Bangles

Antique Art&Crafts FiligreeGoldFill ScrollingTwisted DanglingHearts Shell Brooch
Located in Chicago, IL
Epitomizing the organic subjects and hand-craftsmanship spanning the Arts-&-Crafts to Art-Nouveau movements that were led in The United States by Louis Comfort Tiffany, this commissi...
Category

Antique Late 19th Century American Arts and Crafts Brooches

Materials

Chalcedony, Coral, Turquoise, Gold-filled

AncientRevival Gold MotifRondelles Carnelian Beads Knotted BlackSilk Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
Featuring yellow-gold sinuous-pattern rondelles and carnelian rock-crystal round 8mm beads, this ancient-revival heavy necklace is knotted in stations a...
Category

Antique 19th Century American Early Victorian Beaded Necklaces

Materials

Carnelian, 14k Gold, Gold-filled, Gold

Bakelite 1940s CoroCraft GoldGilt & Black Beads "Hugs&Kisses" TwoStrand Necklace
By Corocraft
Located in Chicago, IL
This mid-century like-new Bakelite and yellow-gold-gilt beaded double-strand necklace still sports the CoroCraft pegasus 1940s retail foil-tag as if never worn. As an elegant take on...
Category

Vintage 1940s American Modern Multi-Strand Necklaces

Materials

Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold

Couture 1930s ElsaSchiaparelliStyle FuchsiaFauxRubyGoldGlassBeads Tassel Sautoir
Located in Chicago, IL
Elsa Schiaparelli famously embraced "shocking pink" for her Surrealist-aesthetic couture clothing and handcrafted costume jewelry, which she commissioned from Parisian paruriers beginning in the late 1920s--when some of the most expensive gems were fuchsia Burmese rubies. In this antique glass-beaded sautoir tassel necklace, 37 unusual fuchsia faux-pearls are each delicately caged like hot-air balloons by seven textural strands of faux-pearl-and-gold seed beads. These spherical stations are spaced by lustrous white medium-size faux pearls, ending in a four-strand seed-bead tassel that cages four of the fuchsia beads. The beads are strung on bright magenta silk cord without a clasp. Sautoirs were an essential element of flapper style since Schiaparelli's couture-mentor Paul Poiret changed the silhouette of clothing in the 1920s, while the long necklaces remained popular until wartime 1939. To compete with her rival couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, Schiaparelli (1890-1973) relied on the same French glassmakers, Maison Gripoix and Louis Rousselet--the masters of faux pearls at the time who added organic-ingredient coatings to their handmade glass beads. Either glass workshop that was established by the 1920s could have been commissioned to make the progressive hot-pink pearls for this unsigned necklace that dates to the Art-Deco period. The design of this highly-textural tricolor sautoir featuring fuchsia spheres could suit the style of one of Schiaparelli's most frequent paruriers through the 1930s, Jean Clement. Some of his relevant unsigned work for Schiaparelli is in museum collections like The Met, including highly-textural tricolor sphere-decorated buttons/brooches and a fuchsia-toned metal-rosebud bead necklace. After Schiaparelli had become associated with fuchsia, she made particularly prolific use of this bright magenta in the late 1930s. In her demi-couture collections such as "Circus" and "Comedia del' Arte" (see our 3 photos), fuchsia jackets are adorned with similar colorful spherical glass beads among embroidered appliques and animal/clown brooches, as well as whimsical painted-ceramic buttons...
Category

Vintage 1930s French Art Deco Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Pearl, Gold

Krementz 1950s Boxed RoseFlowerCharms TriColor GoldPlate Chain Link Bracelet
By Krementz & Co
Located in Chicago, IL
Featuring five intricate rose-flower charms, Krementz finished this chain link bracelet with its characteristic multi-color gold gilding, which is known for being as much as 30 times thicker than the overlay of other jewelry companies as a testament to the enduring quality of its designs. The elegant textured linked shapes and flowers recall the Art- Nouveau style that distinguished the earliest designs by Krementz for women in the 1920s. The brand signature is on the fold-over clasp. As three pieces of this listing, the excellent-condition bracelet comes with its original signed green-velvet...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Art Nouveau Link Bracelets

Materials

Gold Plate, Rose Gold, White Gold, Yellow Gold

Vendome 1948-55 Crystal Beaded Set Earrings & 3Strand Capped Faux Pearl Necklace
By Vendome
Located in Chicago, IL
Between 1948-1955 this early Vendome crystal set was made for a high-end line by Coro to include a three-strand tricolor beaded necklace with flowe...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Baroque Revival Multi-Strand Necklaces

Materials

Pearl, Crystal, Silver, Base Metal

HattieCarnegie 1955 Signed Glass Crystal HandWired MixedBead GiltMetal Earrings
By Hattie Carnegie
Located in Chicago, IL
These Hattie Carnegie multicolor glass, crystal and gilt-metal earrings notably include her script last-name signature without copyright symbol that is found on clips produced before...
Category

Vintage 1950s American Baroque Revival Clip-on Earrings

Materials

Crystal, Coral, Gold, Brass, Copper, Gilt Metal

Line Vautrin Set Enamel Carved Resin Edelweiss Brass Clip Earrings & Brooch
By Line Vautrin
Located in Chicago, IL
Line Vautrin created "flame-radiating" resin mirrors in mid-century that are very similar to this sculptural resin edelweiss-flower set of highly-textural, hand-carved and enameled c...
Category

Early 20th Century French Artist Clip-on Earrings

Materials

Brass, Enamel

Dolce & Gabbana 1999 RunwayAccessory Silk Rosette Flower Cufflink Or Boutonniere
By Dolce & Gabbana
Located in Chicago, IL
Dolce & Gabbana featured silk-rose jewelry like this versatile pale-peach seven-inch-diameter accessory on many of the runway looks from the design-duo's Spring/Summer 2000 collection (see photo). The rose is a signature motif of this pair of Italian designers, while the Dolce & Gabbana brand tag is sewn to the back of this piece that was "Made in Italy" in 1999. The unusual "cufflink" hardware on the back of the faux rose enables it to be secured through a buttonhole or as a pendant for a necklace, neckerchief, or narrow belt...
Category

1990s Italian Romantic Pendant Necklaces

Materials

Base Metal

Couture CocoChanel-Rousselet-Style GlassGold FauxCarnelianPearl Torsade Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
Beginning in the mid-1920s, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel collaborated with Parisian Louis Rousselet for a wide variety of handcrafted unsigned glass-beaded costume jewelry to compliment h...
Category

Vintage 1930s French Art Deco Beaded Necklaces

Materials

Carnelian, Pearl, Gold, Sterling Silver

Couture RobertGoosens 1969-1971 MadameGres RockCrystal Stone HammeredWire Choker
By Robert Goossens
Located in Chicago, IL
Robert Goosens, the French haute-couture Chanel-favorite parurier who enjoyed reinterpreting ancient and antique styles of jewelry with rock crystal and faux stones, also collaborated with Madame Alix Gres. Relevant to this statement necklace, the Parisian theatrical-costume designer, who founded the French fashion-house Maison Gres, commissioned Goosens to make spiral-wire adornments for her couture gowns. This handmade hammered brass wire choker necklace with five dropped en-tremblant pendants is decorated with unique colorful beads and wrapped wire. The piece dates between 1969-1971 based on similar unsigned spiraled-wire metal jewelry without goldsmithing marks in the museum collection of TheMet (see our photo), which acquired it from Maison Givenchy founder Hubert de Givenchy, who was one of most supportive fans of Gres. Like the legendary sculptural clothing designs of Madame Gres, this necklace was inspired by Greco-Roman costumes, while its sculpted shapes by Goosens reference her signature curvilinear fabric techniques that earned her the sobriquet of "the master of the wrapped and draped dress". Goosens (1927-2016), nicknamed Monsieur Bijou, also made jewelry inspired by other periods of antiquity to compliment the couture clothing of Coco Chanel, Cristobal Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent. After Goosens collaborated with Gres, he revisited golden spiral designs with Saint Laurent. Similar to the free-flowing fabric manipulated in Gres gowns, this hand-shaped necklace that we photographed in sunlight is a study in motion that drapes across a curvy cleavage. Adding drama to this necklace below its wire choker, the top teetering-wire pendant is a twisted and hammered horizontal double spiral, which is a Hellenistic symbol of life and transformation suggesting the breasts of a goddess of fertility and motherhood. Yet distinctly Goosens, 18 hand-cut and hand-dyed "ancient-Roman-blue" rock-crystal beads are wire-strung to weight a second tier of two separate vertical double-spiral pendants. On each, a wrapped-wire tube divides the blue beads. Between these vertical pendants in two tiers, the central vertical pendants each feature a one-of-a-kind multicolor bead (yellow/blue/red/black/white) in two lengths with abstract organic patterns recalling ancient Italian glasswork. Four more blue beads bracket these larger colorful beads. An additional 10 blue beads and 5 wire tubes decorate the bottom looped wire pendant, as well as the bottom of the wire choker. Like the hammered-wire jewelry designs of modern artist Alexander Calder, the creative complex construction of this necklace surprisingly required no metalsmith techniques, such as soldering or casting, just great skill with a jewelry pliers and hammer. For a bigger picture of couture clothing by Madame Gres during the decade beginning in 1969, she notably designed many museum-collected one-color silk-taffeta draped long gowns with empire waists and simple high collars or geometric cut-outs. Remarkably, the focal points for some of these unique dresses were at the wrists, from where long pouf sleeves voluminously droop around the hands to nearly the floor like two enormous long-petaled flowers. If paired with this equally downward-focused and balanced necklace from this same period, its bold Greco-Roman elements would have pulled a viewer's gaze of the dress from floor to face. Although there is no significant provenance for this necklace, hammered brass and tinted rock crystal were among the few materials repeatedly associated with Goosens from 1969-71. For example, in his overlapping interior-decor collections based on themes of waterlilies or foliage, Goosens hammered gilt brass wire and sheets (see our closeup photo) to represent plant parts or he wired rock-crystal beads to appear as tiny fruits. While the two multicolor glass or resin beads in this necklace are atypical, the combination of blue, yellow and red is a palette that the designer used for other pieces of rock-crystal jewelry and he created many kinds of multicolor faux stones with glass or resin paste, such as faux Tibetan turquoise including black and white. According to journalism based on interviews with Goosens, he often acquired unusual stones and glass for inspiration during his extensive travels exploring museum-collected antiquities. Since Maison Goosens was acquired in 2005 by Maison Chanel, it opened the Parisian showroom Galerie Goosens and associated shops to sell many kinds of reproductions and reimagined works by the founder, which fortunately does not suit the completely handmade elements of this necklace. So this couture piece remains one-of-a-kind. If desiring a vintage haute-couture original by Robert Goosens, we recommend perusing the Maison Goosens website so that a reproduction with a contemporary signature is not mistakenly purchased. Madame Gres (1903-1993) was born Germaine Emelie Krebs, but initially identified her fashion designs with the pseudonym Alix and later Alix Barton...
Category

Mid-20th Century French Greek Revival Drop Necklaces

Materials

Rock Crystal, Crystal, Brass

Recently Viewed

View All