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Modern Art MidCentury Hammered Spiral Sterling Silver Wire Undulating Brooch

About the Item

This modern-art mid-century brooch features a spiral and undulating squiggle that is hand hammered and flattened from sterling-silver wire, which ends as a c-clasp on one side and a sharpened pin on the other for self-closure in back. The patina and abstract curvilinear three-dimensional design suggest it was created no later than the 1940s-1950s when U.S. artists Alexander Calder and Art Smith continued to originate similar biomorphic-shape brooches with minimal like materials and tools. Such antique studio-jewelry works are increasingly collected by leading museums while continuing to set auction records. A triangular impression on the c-clasp may be the maker's hallmark rather than a tool mark on the 1-2mm wire, while it has not been recognized as a jeweler stamp. The secondary owner based in the Chicago area had acquired this one-of-a-kind brooch without significant provenance. While many contributions to studio-jewelry history by Black and/or gay artists have yet to be recognized, we encourage the buyer to seek authentication from the estate experts of Arthur George Smith (1917-1982). Some of the artist's designs made prior to 1946 for NYC jeweler Winifred Mason or as his early independent commissioned works in sterling silver did not include his namesake scripted hallmark. While comparatively clearly signed by Art Smith, please see the online listing by a U.S. auction-house for its sale of a similar undulating-design collar necklace in brass c.1950, which skyrocketed past the high-estimate of $5,000 to realize $23,400 in May 2021.

Metal:
Sterling Silver
Dimensions:
Height: 1.25 in (31.75 mm)Width: 0.07 in (1.78 mm)Depth: 0.25 in (6.35 mm)Length: 2 in (50.8 mm)
Style:
Modern
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
Early 20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1920s-1950s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Chicago, IL
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU3244218145472
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