Oscar Heyman Gold Diamond and Ruby Bow Brooch

About the Item

This Oscar Heyman 18kt yellow gold brooch contains 2.55cts of calibré rubies and 3.95cts round diamonds (F-G/VS+). The rubies are cut by hand in Oscar Heyman's Madison Avenue workshop by the lapidary. The diamonds are bead set. Azures (cut outs) behind the gemstones and diamonds allow maximum light to shine through this piece, illustrating the finest principles of jewelry manufacturing. It is stamped with the makers mark, 18K, and serial number 74869. Comes in an Oscar Heyman brooch box. This brooch measures 49mm x 30mm x 11mm. It has a standard rollover safety clasp. It is light enough to wear on a shirt without pulling. Bows are a timeless ornament and this gemstone-encrusted version even more so! Oscar Heyman was founded in 1912 and became known as the 'Jewelers' Jeweler'® for creating pieces for Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, and Tiffany & Co. Oscar Heyman jewelry is and always has been made in New York City at the company's own factory.

Creator:
Oscar Heyman
Metal:
Gold
Stone:
Diamond,Ruby
Stone Cut:
Round Cut
Dimensions:
Width: 1.93 in (49 mm)Depth: 0.44 in (11 mm)Length: 1.19 in (30 mm)
Style:
Contemporary
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
2010-
Date of Manufacture:
2019
Condition:
Seller Location:
New York City, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: 748691stDibs: LU1846210006882

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Oscar Heyman

Known as “the jewelers’ jeweler,” Oscar Heyman (1888–1970) designed pieces for Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Harry Winston and Black, Starr & Frost. The family-run Oscar Heyman & Brothers jewelry company was founded by Heyman with his brothers Nathan and Harry in 1912. Jewelers from Latvia, they had trained at their great-uncle’s workshop, which had clients including Russian imperial jeweler Fabergé, before immigrating to the United States in the early 1900s.

After arriving in New York, Oscar worked with Pierre Cartier and Nathan was a tool maker at Western Electric before they came together to open their jewelry business. Highly skilled craftsmen, the Heyman brothers quickly developed a roster of high-profile clients — primarily big-name jewelers — drawn to their work with dazzling stones and meticulous design. In 1917, Black, Starr & Frost commissioned the brothers to design an American flag brooch, which would become a recurring motif in the Oscar Heyman & Brothers portfolio. They also designed the Pansy brooch in the 1930s, another long-popular accessory that was produced exclusively for Tiffany & Co. toward the end of the 20th century. After Heyman designed for four of the five jewelers on view at the 1939 World’s Fair House of Jewels (Cartier, Udall & Ballou, Marcus & Co. and Black, Starr & Frost), the company was given the moniker “the jewelers’ jeweler.”

Heyman & Brothers later designed gem-encrusted medallions that traveled to the moon on Apollo 16, the necklace setting for the 69-carat diamond Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor in 1969 and even a pair of ruby-encrusted Stuart Weitzman stilettos in 2003. Over the years, the company has entranced such clients as Evelyn Lauder, Marjorie Merriweather Post, Billy Porter and Tina Fey with its pieces.

In 2012, the century-old jeweler underwent a rebranding to simplify its name to Oscar Heyman and today is still run by the Heyman family, which manages the whole process from alloying their own metal to cutting and polishing their gemstones to assembling the final product in-house. In 2017, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston published a monograph authored by Yvonne J. Markowitz and Elizabeth Hamilton that details for a broader audience the history of Oscar Heyman, an unsung company that’s long been behind some of the biggest names in jewelry.

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