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Antique FabergeStyle 3AquamarineCabochons 4GreyDiamonds BezelSet Platinum Brooch

About the Item

This antique Victorian platinum filigree bar brooch or tie-pin from the Edwardian period in a Faberge style features bezel settings with three square-cut 10mm sugarloaf aquamarine cabochons with indistinct schiller and greenish sheen, plus four brilliant-cut gray diamonds with black inclusions. The last two photos were taken in natural light to best show the chatoyant effects in the open-backed semi-translucent blue stones, which appear like water refractions. The fine details, arrangement, and combination of bezel settings in our 5.5-cm-long geometric piece strongly resemble the sapphire-and-diamond gold brooch #244 in the hardcover catalogue, Carl Faberge: Goldsmith To The Tsar, that accompanied the Nationalmuseum exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1997. Enabling light to enter from all around the bottom of the blue stones, the similarly aligned diamond-shaped settings are intricately decorated with serrated rims, as well as with rectangular-openwork filigree and embroidery-like punchwork found on other Faberge brooches before the family fled to Switzerland in war-time 1917. While our brooch is signed on the pin with an indistinguishable linear impression including letters, it is unclear without closeups precisely how the book piece is marked. Dating the brooch craftsmanship between 1896-1908 in St. Petersburg where Russian Cyrillic letters were used to mark Faberge works, the book notes that its brooch marks also included the initials of Faberge work-master Andrej Gorianov and assay-master A. Richter. Helping to date our brooch to the early 1900s in Europe before the first world war, its C-clasp has a flip-up lever safety catch that was in use around 1900, while the modern safety clasp that soon made it obsolete was invented in 1911. Also, at the beginning of the 20th Century the use of yellow gold in jewelry wained, while interest in platinum and white metals surged. Given the petit-point punchwork on our brooch that can be associated with the female Faberge jeweler Alma Theresia Pihl--the granddaughter of Faberge principal jeweler August Holmstrom--it is notable that her early works were unmarked or merely included an inventory number, such as her snowflake-inspired jewelry that included platinum. Further, according to the book, Faberge In The Royal Collection, published in London in 2003, her first major project was in 1912 when she created 40 small brooches that were ordered by one of Faberge's best customers Dr. Emanuel Nobel, whereafter the following year she designed her first Imperial Easter Egg.
  • Metal:
    Platinum
  • Stone:
    Diamond,Aquamarine,Black Diamond
  • Stone Cut:
    Mixed Cut
  • Weight:
    4 g
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 0.6 in (15 mm)Width: 2.17 in (55 mm)Depth: 0.6 in (15 mm)
  • Style:
    Edwardian
  • Place of Origin:
    Europe
  • Period:
    1900-1909
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1900-1917
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Chicago, IL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3244219432012
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