Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches

Distinguished by the tightly coiled style of Georgian-period-inspired cannetille gold wire that decorates the four pieces of this parure, French costume-jewelry designer Lina Baretti...

French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel commissioned Parisian Maison Gripoix in the 1930s to fabricate this elegant handmade drop-chain choker necklace for one of her couture clients. In the ...

This couture 1930s Coco-Chanel-commissioned French Maison Gripoix handcrafted demi-parure features eight flower pendants whose daisy-like metalsmithed petal frames suspend transparen...

Demonstrating the epitome of miniature decorative art by Renaissance European goldsmiths who fashioned quatrefoil and/or cruciform jewelry with heraldry or religious symbols, this ce...

Among the most in-demand designs by Trifari artistic director Alfred Philippe were his flora and "jelly belly" fauna jewelry from the 1940s. Both iconic styles can be mixed as the go...

Stamped "Made In France" on antique brass back-plates like the initial unbranded couture costume jewelry since 1924 commissioned by French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel for her foreign-cli...

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...

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...

Signed "Made in France", this couture poured and lampwork glass flower-like spray brooch has its artisan-wired construction concealed by a decorative gilt filigree scalloped back-pla...

Between the first ad campaign that legendary fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) commissioned from internationally-admired Paris-based Hungarian-born multimedia artist Marcel Vertes (1895-1961) for her blockbuster perfume "Shocking" in 1937, and in 1940 when they left France after launching her perfume "Sleeping" shortly before the Nazi occupation during WWII, the illustrator-cum-ceramist distinctly handmade--while traditional materials for couture costume-jewelry were scarce in Paris--this whimsical red-glazed ceramic brooch depicting a duck holding a "wet" umbrella dripped with dashes of turquoise and black glaze. Significantly, the trombone clasp of the brooch pin, the long-pronged gilt frame, and the text stamped on its back plate "Made In France" match a similarly sized glazed-ceramic brooch of a decoratively-chained bear that was published in the book Bijoux (page 146). The author Deanna Farenti Cera dated that likewise unbranded unsigned brooch to 1938 when it was commissioned for one of Schiaparelli's themed fashion shows "Circus". The invitation to that show, which was illustrated with circus characters and performing animals by Vertes' Parisian peer Christian Berard, included a domesticated white duck--notably not holding nor wearing a fashion accessory. Unusually, Schiaparelli had commissioned couture umbrellas from other artisans in the 1930s--a couple of which were acquired by TheMet museum. Another relevant Met acquisition of the designer's couture evening gown, which it dates to Summer 1940, features three large glazed-ceramic fasteners in a contrasting color matching our brooch. The like findings, materials, construction, text, object and palette aside, accessory-adorned ducks were also among the figurative animals commissioned by Schiaparelli for that last collection before the Germans dominated Paris by June 1940, which is evidenced by the photo of the dated gilt hatpin depicting a bejeweled bird head with a bill that appears in the book by Patrick Mauries about another Schiaparelli-associated French parurier Lina Baretti (pages 124-125). See our other listing for one of Baretti's uniquely feathered designs, which likewise has a pronged gilt frame with trombone clasp like ours, but whose partridge subject best suits an earlier Schiaparelli collection for Fall 1938 titled "Pagan". For us, distinguishing our brooch from other one-of-a-kind ceramic pieces created for Schiaparelli couture...

A statement necklace from 2010 by Rodrigo Otazu, known for his extravagant creations for Madonna, Lady Gaga, and for the Sex and the City cast. Fashioned from multiple layers of gold...

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...

When fuchsia Burmese rubies were among the most expensive gems in the 1930s, Elsa Schiaparelli began to embrace the "shocking pink" color while designing French couture clothing and ...

Vibrant crystal beaded choker composed of four strands of faceted round yellow crystals in front and two strands in back, separated by quarter-round spa...

With settings and construction like ArtDeco-period unsigned crystal costume-jewelry by Bavarian-born blacksmith Henry Schreiner (1898-1954), this mid-century unsigned silver-soldered...

This chased 14k-gold almost-abstract whimsical ostrich bird with a shiny textural plume features prong-set round cabochons of turquoise and chalcedony with smaller colorful cut gems ...

Likely inspired by the American 1938-commissioned animated-feature movie, Pinocchio, that was produced for two years by Walt Disney based on an Italian children's story, this whimsical kinetic unsigned pre-WWII yellow-gold-gilt brass necklace with elegant draping chains features a three-inch-long flexible multi-textured faux-carved-wood puppet-on-strings pendant with pointed hat, filigree-capped collar and waist, and flexible geometric-shaped limbs. Structured with three chains, notice the additional texture on the slightly larger links of the upper necklace. Unlike the movie, the marionette on our necklace wears a lace-like collar that resembles the original character illustrated by Enrico Mazzanti in the book by Tuscany-born Carlo Collodi, The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883). The necklace otherwise could date no earlier than the turn of the 19th Century when the spring-ring clasp was first in use. Since that time, Pinocchio became one of the most reimagined characters in literature based on multiple authors whose protagonist was a similar anthropomorphic puppet. To be conservative about its age as the necklace is in good condition, we suspect that Austrian-born Hattie Carnegie commissioned it to accessorize her "hat-to-hem" custom-made or ready-to-wear clothing that frequently featured amusing figural subjects with articulated parts, such as mythical creatures, fauna or clowns. Before her death at the age 69 in 1956, not all of the pieces in the costume-jewelry parures of her eponymous brand since 1919 were signed, while based on experience we assume that at least clip earrings accompanied this creative necklace...

With a distinct silver twisted toggle clasp and multiple kinds of nubby rondelles dating to the late 1920s, Parisian parurier Louis Rousselet's workshop handcrafted this glass beaded...

During the Art-Nouveau period while German-born Vienna-based silversmith, niello master and entrepreneur Georg Adam Scheid (1837-1921) was prospering from a related refinery business...

For Trifari by mid-century, its artistic director French-born Alfred Philippe designed this yellow-gold set including the seven-bar linked collar with central invisibly-set diamante,...

This couture French silk-chiffon flower hat-pin brooch accented by emu feathers was painted, cut and appliqued by hand to appear like a large rose. It was acquired in France in Janua...

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 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 glass faux pearls at the time. Either 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 and brooches or 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 dell' Arte" (see our 3 photos), fuchsia jackets are adorned with similar colorful spherical glass beads among embroidered appliques and animal or clown brooches, as well as whimsical painted-ceramic buttons...

This couture French Maison Gripoix-fabricated faux-sapphire-topped-pearl glass cluster brooch and clip-earrings set dates to around WWII, when Parisian fashion designer Elsa Schiapar...

Remarkably more expressive than iconic phoenix brooches by Jean Schlumberger or Marcel Boucher, this unique Georgian-style three-dimensional bird bar brooch by an artisan silversmith...

This vintage cherry-fruit charm necklace featuring red hand-painted wood is constructed of chunky 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. See our photo of a couture Schiaparelli dress from her themed Fall 1938 collection, "Pagan", acquired by TheMet, whose neck is trimmed in the same two-tone plastic leaves. According to the museum notes about the juxtaposition of luxe and pop materials: "using plastic was very avant-garde during this period...". Visit TheMet online archive to view Schiaparelli's most well-known couture necklace from the Pagan collection that is structured from transparent plastic supporting metal insects...

Featuring stamped-brass findings c1930, this Miriam Haskell collar necklace was made by her first designer Frank Hess in an Art Nouveau style with ornate floral motifs for its 15 dangling bud-shaped or fluted-ball pendants, along with intricate textural patterns on the bands that link the oval-ring chain choker. Among the festoon of graduating charms, the largest centered pendant is 1.5 inches long and 0.75 inches in diameter. One of our photos show that the surprisingly light-weight pendants are hollow--some with a hole punched at the bottom. The distinct stamped brass, which include a fold-over clasp, are found in more obviously Haskell-Hess pre-WWII jewelry...

Featuring handmade double-spiral filigree links, this vintage collar choker necklace was created by tightly twisting fine silver wire, which was ...

Like the initial unbranded couture costume-jewelry since 1924 commissioned by French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel for her foreign-client ensembles, "Made In France" was stamped on their a...

This couture French Maison Gripoix ornate glass pair of faux-pearl-turquoise-and-diamond gold-gilt clip earrings are both stamped "France" on their convex ear-pads, which is characte...

These antique Chinese earrings feature rare Burmese natural untreated translucent imperial green jadeite, which is intricately hand-carved and polished...

From the Art-Deco period, this signed French couture set of yellow-gold pave-crystal brooch and earrings is marked in the manner of one-off costume jewelry commissioned...

Recalling the recent Parisian Haute Couture Dior women's fashion show runway where most looks designed by Jonathan Anderson were accented by large flower brooches, the Dolce & Gabbana S/S 2000 ready-to-wear show was likewise distinguished by an oversize silk-flower accessory, which in this case was the rose motif of the Italian luxury house's design duo. This pale-peach seven-inch-diameter rosette jewelry was worn by models in various ways (see our snaps of FirstView coverage). With a brand label sewn to the back of this jewelry that was made in Italy in 1999, its unusual "cufflink" rectangular hardware enables it to be looped through a scarf or neckerchief, narrow belt...

Unusual vintage necklace composed of a chain caught with a pearl at the hollow of the neck before it continues to down to a pierced medallion ...

Marked "Made In France" on their antique brass back-plates like the initial unbranded couture costume-jewelry commissioned by Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel since 1924, these painterly earl...

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. Each crystal can be manually rotated. Suggesting French heritage, the Medieval-Frankish culture in northern France made jewelry in similar segmented or open-work shapes of wheels or whorls, which were worn as gem-decorated disk-shaped brooches or gold-caged rock...

During the Art-Deco period when Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was at her peak as a Parisian couture designer in the early 1930s and working closely with her favorite jewelry parurier Fulco di Verdura, for one of her clients, she commissioned this unique handcrafted gem-fringed medallion brooch with a yellow-gold circle rope of flexible thick chain that dangles from an unseen ornate open-work curvilinear yellow-gold base. Marked only "FRANCE" on the bar pin with a trombone clasp, like some early 1930s Chanel couture jewelry collected by TheMet museum, its artistry reflects the colorful organic-form starburst sketches of Verdura, which you can see from our photo of one of them. The Sicilian duke began creating fabric patterns for Chanel in 1927, which shortly expanded to executing fine jewelry beginning with custom pieces for the house founder. These included 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. Chanel reproduced some of Verdura's originals for her clients, but those variations featured faux gems. This softly-shaped abstract brooch design suits goldsmith Verdura's early anti-Art-Deco aesthetic that was considered a radical departure from 1920s silver-tone geometric jewelry, which otherwise featured linear designs or figurative representation. The deconstructed bouquet of gems mixes amethyst and rose-quartz beads with natural Keshi pearls and intricate tiny gold leaves, which are discreetly wired to a Baroque-motif frame that dangles a round gem surrounded by a chain halo. Significantly, Verdura was credited with re-introducing since Victorian times the rope motif to fine jewelry. Since 1930, Verdura's unique style was influenced by travels with Chanel to explore Byzantine art, Baroque architecture, and the 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--with an abundance of teardrop pearls and colorful gems above her chest, and with a gold halo surrounding her head--could have inspired the design of our 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. Within five years, as a financially-backed in-demand goldsmith in the States, he founded the namesake fine-jewelry company Verdura in New...

On par with Castellani goldsmithing since the mid-1900s, which revived ancient Etruscan techniques admired for their highly intricate and ornate gilding and metalwork, these masterfu...

Grosse brooch from 1968 composed of an open network of gold tone crownlike elements, each point terminating in a textured drop, and each circular groupin...

French costume-jewelry glass-master Louis Rousselet was among a handful of paruriers favored by the leading Parisian couture houses, primarily Chanel in the late 1920s. Beyond the st...

With distinct handmade glass by French Maison Gripoix for a faux-amethyst 25mm domed open-back oval cabochon poured into a forged wire ring topped with a serrated-bezel setting, this...

Signed "Trifari" with a crown and without a post-1955 U.S.-copyright symbol on all three matching pieces, this likely late-1930s highly-textured yellow-gold-plated demi-parure was designed by American Trifari's French-born head designer Alfred Philippe after he had honed his fine-jewelry craftsmanship while creating luxury parures for Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. The set features a heavy tasseled eight-strand chain sautoir necklace and earrings with dropped fluted-ball pendants, With French-style signed clip fastening, the contrasting-texture two-inch-long earrings each have two twisted fluted round beads in different sizes, with the larger one capped at both ends with additional shapes and textures. On the necklace, this textural contrast is amplified with the inclusion of many chains. The decorative chain caps and...

Strongly resembling the Harry Bertoia Foundation's archived c.1947 unsigned small brooch (D.JE.27) that is essentially an elegant hammered silver curvilinear three-humped squiggle by...

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...

Signed FRM, these Art-Deco style mixed-metal drop earrings feature four bezel-and-prong-set faceted red garnets along with 16 hand-wired beaded thin chains. The 32 dangling teardrop-...

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...

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...

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...

This unique Jugendstil Art-Nouveau period early-20th-Century intricate sterling pendant with celestial-motif openwork recalling shape-shifting bats in flight by master silversmith Ge...

Distinguishing these couture Christian Dior Spring/Summer 1956 "Western Germany"-stamped silver earrings featuring the first Swarovski gold-foi...

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel's earliest fashion motifs of camellias, hearts, and topaz are combined in this Art-Deco period tightly silk-strung metallic-glass couture set of a mixed-bead ...

Wreath-shaped brooch of various pearls, rhinestones, crystals, and micro gold beads by Robert, c.1960. Hook in addition to pin, so can be worn as pendant. Some of the Original by Robert...

Trimmed with 40 rose-cut diamond-like stones and marked "deposee" on the Swiss clasp like antique European couture jewelry, this Art-Deco period unique Bucherer luxury snake-chain dr...

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...

This Miriam Haskell (1899-1981) brass-wire wrap coil bracelet that features handcrafted peacock-colored beads and decorative gold-gilt brass was created by her first designer Frank H...

Encrusted with enameled turbo shells shaped like miniature mollusks and mixed with iridescent crystals, this elaborately ornamented and intricately textured unsigned pair of yellow-g...

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...

In the style of Elsa Schiaparelli couture costume jewelry and one of her paruriers beginning in the late 1930s, Jean Schlumberger, this handcrafted highly-textural glass and crystal ...

This antique French chain necklace with three-inch drop pendants features 33 natural citrines including 16 polished-teardrop and 17 faceted-bead golden quartz. It was constructed by ...

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...

This colorful prong-set crystal spray brooch by Schreiner New York was made to compliment luxury clothing by a U.S.-based fashion designer, such as Pauline Trigere, in the late 1950s. This piece is special because it shows the unique decorative technique that Schreiner used for a period of several years in reaction to the limited availability of the first aurora-borealis (AB) stones by Swarovski in 1956, which had been designed for Christian Dior. In response to the availability of only the initial AB color that mostly reflected bright blue and the high demand from other designers, Schreiner's creative family soon applied transparent glass paint to create additional colors, such as the light-green painted AB crystals on this brooch. According to Henry Schreiner's late daughter who took over the business with her jewelry-designer husband, this enabled them to become the first to produce costume jewelry with AB stones in different colors, while Swarovski took several years to introduce similar colors. All original painted AB crystals are intact in this brooch, which is significant since a lost stone...