Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
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Item Ships From: Berkshires
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 features curvaceous vivid-green ...
Category
Early 1900s Mexican Art Nouveau Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Malachite, Sterling Silver
Couture 1939-50 Schiaparelli-SchlumbergerStyle GlassBeads ProngSetCrystal Brooch
By Artisan NYC
Located in Chicago, IL
In the style of Elsa Schiaparelli couture jewelry and one of her paruriers since the late 1930s, Jean Schlumberger, this handcrafted highly-textural glass-and-crystal rhodium-plated ...
Category
1940s American Art Deco Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Pearl, Silver, Rhodium
Black Tahitian Pearl Dutch DroogDesign 1998 Unique ThirdNipple GoldDisk Brooch
By Artistian Made
Located in Chicago, IL
In the 1990s when the Dutch collective Droog introduced international leaders of late 20th-Century functional art such as Ron Arad, Marcel Wanders, Jurgen Bey, Hella Jongerius, and Tejo Remy, the Netherlands-based brand was one of the most successful producers of conceptual design. The collaboration was co-founded in 1993 in Amsterdam by the jewelry and product designer Gijs Bakker (b. 1942), who commissioned his protege French artist Frederic Braham in 1998 to create this one-of-a-kind brooch for his young Droog-represented jewelry line "Chi ha paura...?". The Italian phrase means "who is afraid of?".
This natural satin-lustre South Sea black-Tahitian 15 x 10 mm baroque thick-nacred pearl, which is bezel-set in oxidized sterling on a sharp silver stud for push-back fastening as a lapel or tie pin, is surrounded by a removable textured gold disk brooch with the Chiapaura maker's mark, artist's signature, abbreviated year and assay symbol. Notably, while farmed pearls from this French-Polynesian region are scarce, it is rarer to find one over 12mm. This dark gray one is also exceptional for its desirable secondary tone of peacock green with minimal surface imperfections.
From normal use, the unseen back of the disk is missing chips of ecru enamel where it contacts the fastening knob. This reveals that the disk is solid gold.
Like other functional conceptual design represented by Droog, the brooch is more than a beautiful piece of fine jewelry featuring multiple contrasting elements, as it could be a provocative "third nipple" if worn on a tie or scarf. Given the Dutch origin of the brand, we recall the famous 15th-Century oil-painting by Johannes Vermeer, known as "Girl with a Pearl Earring". Who is afraid of girl or boy with a third nipple?
We acquired this brooch from a jewelry collector who had purchased it from the Italian gallery...
Category
1990s Dutch Artist Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Black Pearl, South Sea Pearl, Gold, Silver, Mixed Metal, Sterling Silver
Couture DiorDesigner WesternGermany MaxMuller TealCrystal GoldGilt Textural Ring
By Max Müller Kaufbeuren
Located in Chicago, IL
With a cross-over ring interior and textured exterior like raw silk that matches Christian Dior rings marked "Chr. Dior Germany" from the late-1950s and 1960s, this bold modernist ye...
Category
Mid-20th Century German Modernist Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Yellow Gold, Gilt Metal
MiriamHaskell 1930s FrankHess TripleSeashell RussianGilt Flora WoodLeaf Brooch
By Frank Hess for Miriam Haskell
Located in Chicago, IL
This early Miriam Haskell lacquered-shell and brass-decorated clip brooch was created by Frank Hess, her first designer since 1926. The 1930s brooch features three seashells supporti...
Category
1930s American Baroque Revival Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Gold, Base Metal, Brass, Gilt Metal
Artist Sterling ProngSetCrystalPendants For FreshFlowers Jewelers'Werk Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
Made by a gallery-exhibited artist, this ingenious signed sterling-silver chain link collar necklace that fastens with a handcrafted filigree floral clasp features eight convertible ...
Category
1990s American Artisan Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Morganite, Sterling Silver
MiriamHaskell 1930s Hess GlassFauxPearl ClusterCascade FrenchClip DangleEarrings
By Miriam Haskell
Located in Chicago, IL
Miriam Haskell's first designer since 1926 Frank Hess created in a Baroque style these handcrafted cluster-cascade-dangle earrings that feature coated-glass ecru round faux-pearls wh...
Category
1930s American Art Nouveau Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Pearl, Brass, Gilt Metal, 24k Gold, Yellow Gold
MiriamHaskell 1947-49 FrankHess EarliestSignature RussianGilt FleurDeLysEarrings
By Frank Hess for Miriam Haskell
Located in Chicago, IL
With the earliest brand signature from 1947-1949, these Miriam Haskell (1899-1981) hand-wired Russsian-gilt brass floral French-wire-clip earrings were created by her first designer ...
Category
1940s American Baroque Revival Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Brass, Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold
Couture GaultierDesigner 2000s SemiPreciousStones Textiles DangleChains Earring
By Jean Paul Gaultier
Located in Chicago, IL
A Parisian haute-couture runway accessory designer for French Jean-Paul Gautier handmade this decadent street-culture-inspired wire-hook earring with multiple tumbled semi-precious stones, gilt chain and cord, and multi-color sequins that suggest divergent international cultures. On both the front and back, an explosion of deconstructed couture-textile remnants...
Category
Early 2000s French Egyptian Revival Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Quartz, Coral, Tiger's Eye, Yellow Gold, Gilt Metal
CoutureChanel Antique Byzantine ThePurpleHeart PearlAmethystQuartz GoldMedallion
By Chanel
Located in Chicago, IL
During the ArtDeco period when Gabriel "Coco" Chanel was at her peak as a Parisian couture fashion-designer in the early 1930s, this antique one-of-a-kind handcrafted gem-fringed and gilt-chain medallion brooch with trombone clasp was commissioned 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 parurer 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 NYC. After he retired in 1973, the brand continued to operate without him with different owners.
Given the duo's designs that played with historic and military references, Chanel's couture commission for this purple medallion may have been sparked in the early 1930s when the internationally-new...
Category
1930s French Byzantine Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Amethyst, Pearl, Quartz, Gold, Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold
Couture 1920s French HandCarved Dogs Hounds Galalith RedPaintedArtPlastic Brooch
Located in Chicago, IL
This Art-Deco period French carved, lathe-worked, sculpted and painted red-enameled black galalith figural brooch depicts a pair of long-limbed dogs, which may be wolfhounds, greyhou...
Category
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
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
1890s Chinese Arts and Crafts Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Jade, Brass, Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold
Schreiner 1950s ProngSet UniqueGreenABCrystals PaveCrystalLeaves Silver Brooch
By Schreiner of New York
Located in Chicago, IL
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...
Category
1950s American Modern Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Silver, Brass
MiriamHaskell 1945 CrystalRosesMontees Filigree Glass Enameled ClimberEarrings
By Frank Hess for Miriam Haskell
Located in Chicago, IL
Before the brand signature was added in 1947, Miriam Haskell's first designer Frank Hess since 1926 designed these asymmetrical Baroque-style climber earrings with hand-painted white-and-ecru enamel leaves, crystal and glass beads, and Russian-gold gilt metal flowers, which are attached to a thick filigree branch that launched the post-war style of covering wires used to attach roses montees and beads behind an additional filigree plate. A similarly constructed and shaped pale-blue pair of climbers dated 1945 are in the renowned Barbara Berger museum-exhibited costume-jewelry collection.
Characteristic of the materials favored by Hess for his designs, the clear rosette-cut rhinestones, intricate gilt-metal decorations, and white round glass beads were handcrafted in France by Parisian Louis Rousselet, who was among the first paruriers for Coco Chanel's couture clothing since the 1920s. In contrast to bold costume-jewelry by Chanel using...
Category
1940s American Art Nouveau Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Pearl, Gold, Enamel, Gilt Metal
Couture 1930s CocoChanel LinaBaretti SatinBlackCamellias PaveCrystals Gold Set
By Chanel
Located in Chicago, IL
This rare signed couture set of pave-crystal and gold-plated brooch and earrings from the Art Deco period is marked in the manner of one-off costume jewelry commissioned...
Category
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Gold, Gold Plate, Silver
Antique ProngSetWhiteJade GoldMilgrainFiligree ConvertibleBrooch RingTop Pendant
Located in Chicago, IL
Known as "mutton fat", a natural milky white tremolite nephrite jade 10mm-long hand-carved oval cabochon is prong set on this antique Edwardian-period convertible brooch, which is de...
Category
Early 20th Century Chinese Art Nouveau Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Jade, Gilt Metal, White Gold
Couture Cis Zoltowska FingerlikeProngSet Red CrackleGlass Balls Silver Earrings
By Countess Cis Zoltowska
Located in Chicago, IL
In the mid-century, Austro-Hungarian Comtesse Cissy Zoltowska designed haute-couture costume jewelry with elements of hand-craftsmanship for some of the leading European houses inclu...
Category
Mid-20th Century European Modern Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Silver, Mixed Metal
AntiqueArtNouveau 1920s RedPouredGlass Czech Neiger BrassFiligree Dangle Brooch
Located in Chicago, IL
In the 1920s in an Art-Nouveau style, Czech costume-jewelry designer Max Neiger created this brass dangle brooch that features three different shapes of ...
Category
1920s Czech Art Nouveau Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Brass, Mixed Metal
Cat'sEye 21 BallCut Moonstones Antique Victorian 14KGoldFill TubularLinkNecklace
Located in Chicago, IL
All featuring white cat's eyes, 21 gray 3mm ball-cut moonstones are beaded on this antique symmetrical choker necklace between stations of shiny 14-karat gold-filled tubes that are b...
Category
Late 19th Century American Arts and Crafts Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Moonstone, Cat’s Eye, 14k Gold, Gold-filled
Schreiner 1950s 22 RuffleProngSetCrystals PaleYellow AuroraBorealis ClipEarrings
By Henry Schreiner
Located in Chicago, IL
In 1956 when Christian Dior's ultra-feminine New Look had dominated fashion for nearly a decade, Schreiner New York handcrafted these opulent unsigned earrings with 22 prong-set open-back crystals to accompany the evening-wear of an American high-end fashion designer. They may have been for client Pauline Trigere when her ready-to-wear collections with accessories including unmarked-Schreiner jewelry were sold by NYC's Bergdorf Goodman and worn by her clients including Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Elizabeth Taylor. Comparatively, Schreiner jewelry produced in the 1950s for direct sale to high-end department stores, such as Neiman Marcus, Henri Bendel and Saks Fifth Avenue, were the only pieces to include a brand signature.
Using the best quality European crystals that were custom-made for him, the founder Henry Schreiner was among the world's leading glass-jewelry designers before he died in 1954, whereafter his daughter and her husband continued with their handcrafted production. The family shared this distinction with Western Germany-based Max Muller and Paris-based Roger Jean Pierre, who were commissioned to create haute-couture pieces for the world's leading fashion houses. Notably in 1949, Henry Schreiner was commissioned by Dior to create several exclusive pieces.
We know these earrings were not created earlier than 1956 because of the use of iridescent coating on some of the crystals that produces a rainbow effect. Known as aurora-borealis (AB) stones, Swarovski initially produced them exclusively for a haute-couture collection that year by Dior. Shortly thereafter, the Schreiner team had access to such colorful stones, and most certainly used them as soon as possible to enable their American fashion-designer clients to compete with the new Dior iridescent-colors trend.
As Schreiner introduced its "ruffle" settings in 1957, we can see that they evolved from a smaller ruffle the year prior that is present on the tips of the marquise-shaped pale yellow stones...
Category
1950s American Modern Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Yellow Gold, Gilt Metal
Cruciform NielloInlay FleurDeLys GiltEngravedCopperAlloy Heraldry Brooch Pendant
Located in Chicago, IL
This 15th-Century period or older gilt copper and silver alloy amulet with niello inlay is an elaborately engraved three-dimensional brooch and pendant, which demonstrates the epitome of miniature decorative nielli in the early Renaissance by European goldsmiths of small cruciform or quatrefoil objects with heraldry symbols.
Beyond a dense array of engraved radiant-light, cloud and star motifs with punchwork, it features a 10mm fine black crested staff that is the Christian symbol for the Holy Trinity. This intricate engraving with niello has fleur-de-lys elements, like a French or Florentine coat-of-arms or monogram used to identify noble families or a significant person like a king. It tops a 5mm bar, which is bracketed by 10mm peaked bars that form a cross. When worn, it is positioned horizontally like an elongated barbed quatrefoil. The bars may be concealing a relic such as wood, while it is not clear how these pieces are attached to the front.
As a symbol of French conversion to Christianity, the French King Louis in the 12th Century made a fleur-de-lys element of the Holy Trinity vector the official emblem of his royal authority on shields. Later, English kings adopted it when claiming the French throne. By the 14th Century, the fleur-de-lys was used in family insignia that was sewn onto a knight's coat-of-mail surcoat. This coat-of-arms insignia could identify them if found on a battlefield.
The Met Cloisters museum collection includes a similarly sized mid-15th Century French gold brooch...
Category
15th Century and Earlier European Renaissance Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Gilt Metal, Mixed Metal, Niello, Silver, Copper
HaskellStyle PostWarII GlassLampworkPearlBeads GreenMetallic Filigree Necklace
Located in Chicago, IL
This is an excellent mid-century Japanese reproduction of a Miriam Haskell glass green-tone and metallic three-strand choker necklace. It features the American designer's characteristic use of colorful hand-crafted lampwork, seed and faux-pearl beads, along with Parisian-style silver-gilt metal filigree caps and findings.
A supplier of Haskell's post-WWII Japanese-made beads and findings also made its own unbranded designs using the same materials. Whereby "Japan" is discreetly stamped on the hook that enables fastening along the extension chain.
The faux-nacre coating of the pearls has partly disappeared on only the gold-accented smallest round beads. This does not detract from the necklace because similar irregular patterns with a mix of colors are among the multiple styles and sizes of beads (see closeups). The many colors include gold, ecru, brown, seafoam green, olive, mint, and vivid green.
If you want the look of an authentic Haskell necklace for a fraction of the price, then you may want this piece.
Otherwise, we pride ourselves on being able to identify unsigned Haskell...
Category
Mid-20th Century Japanese Baroque Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Pearl, Silver, Mixed Metal, Gold
Vendome GiltLeavesBranch GoldFilagree Handwired BlackGlass Crystals ClipEarrings
By Vendome
Located in Chicago, IL
These post-WWII high-end 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 clust...
Category
1940s American Modern Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Gilt Metal, Yellow Gold
MiriamHaskell 1926-1929 FrankHess Glass Crystal Shell Pearl Coral Silver 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
1920s American Art Deco Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Pearl, Freshwater Pearl, Natural Pearl, Coral, Silver
YBA YoungBritishArtist Sculpture JewelryCostume First US Exhibit 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. Last year, 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 Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Mixed Metal
Antique French LampworkCarvedGlass 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 ro...
Category
Early 20th Century French Artisan Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Brass
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 Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Rhodium, Silver, Base Metal
Vintage Navajo Modern BezelSetOnyx GoldFilledTop DoubleSilverBand Solitaire Ring
By Navajo
Located in Chicago, IL
This vintage Navajo modern minimal statement solitaire ring that 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 narrow top, which spans 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 Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Onyx, Yellow Gold, Sterling Silver, 14k Gold
Antique 3 17mm StarSapphires HighDomeCabochons BezelSet WhiteGold LinkBracelet
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
1910s American Belle Époque Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Star Sapphire, White Gold, Gold, Palladium
CatEyeMoonstones Antique PinkTranslucentBallCut 14MM SterlingLeverClip 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
Early 1900s Art Nouveau Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Moonstone, Cat’s Eye, Sterling Silver
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 Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Sterling Silver, Copper
ArtDeco c1925 Bakelite TriColor RedBlueGreen Carved Ribbon Bow BrassPinBrooch
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
1920s Unknown Art Deco Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Brass
Antique Arts&Crafts Jade 18kGold 10 ProngSetDiamond&Gems ArmHand Amulet Pendant
Located in Chicago, IL
With elements of the cross-over late-Arts&Crafts and early-Art-Nouveau movements, this antique turn-of-the-century mottled-green jade amulet pendant is ela...
Category
Late 19th Century American Arts and Crafts Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Aquamarine, Diamond, Jade, Peridot, Yellow Sapphire, Beryl, Garnet, Blue...
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 in a Faberge style features bezel settings with three square-cut 10mm sugarloaf aquamarine ca...
Category
Early 1900s European Edwardian Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Diamond, Aquamarine, Black Diamond, Platinum
Trifari AlfredPhilippe ArtDeco Jade&GoldGlass MicroBead 20Strand Necklace
By Alfred Philippe for Trifari
Located in Chicago, IL
Indicating that French-born Alfred Philippe designed this bicolor glass-beaded necklace between 1936 and 1955, the crown-topped Trifari signature appears without a U.S.-copyright sym...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Art Deco Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Jade, Gold, Yellow Gold, Base Metal, Gold Plate
Antique GiltFiligreeSet FauxEmerald Chrysoberyl Pearl Gold Link & Chain Bracelet
Located in Chicago, IL
Possibly as old as the 1800s or a later Baroque-revival imperceptible reproduction, this antique handcrafted gilt silver filigree-frame textured-chain link bracelet likely originated in the European region of Austria-Hungary-Germany. We partly base this on its brilliant blue-green glass jewels in the rare trace-mineral saturated color of authentic alkaline Columbian emeralds. Including a decorative box-clasp, the ornate bracelet also features 14 prong-set round white pearls mostly mounted on the open-work filigree and 6 marquise-cut vanadium chrysoberyl...
Category
Early 1900s Austrian Baroque Revival Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Zircon, Chrysoberyl, Beryl, Pearl, Emerald, Silver, Gilt Metal, Gold
Artist 1980s NevelsonStyle Sculptural GiltMetal Crushed Jagged Pendant Necklace
By Contemporary
Located in Chicago, IL
Louise Nevelson, an American modern sculptor who enhanced found objects throughout the 20th Century, in the 1980s transformed found, crushed and gilt m...
Category
1980s American Artist Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Brass, Gilt Metal
Couture 1930s ElsaSchiaparelliStyle Pink FauxRubyGoldGlassBeads Tassel Sautoir
Located in Chicago, IL
Long before Barbie, 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 jewels were fuchsia Burmese rubies. In this antique glass-beaded sautoir tassel-necklace, 37 "shocking pink" balls 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 faux pearls. 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 Gabriel "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 tri-color sautoir featuring fuchsia spheres particularly suits 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 tri-color 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
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Pearl, Gold
Antique ArtNouveau DemantoidGarnet Gems & LampworkGlass WhiteGoldFiligreeSautoir
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 lavender amethysts, faceted maroon garnets, and beveled aqua topaz, as well as periwinkle-blue lampwork glass...
Category
Early 20th Century Unknown Art Nouveau Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Zircon, Topaz, Rock Crystal, Garnet, Amethyst, Gilt Metal, Rhodium, Enam...
Antique Amuletic DozenRockCrystals CagedRing MedievalStyle GiltBronze 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
18th Century French Renaissance Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Rock Crystal, Gilt Metal, Bronze, Copper
Trifari AlfredPhilippe GoldDemiParure TasselEarrings & CrystalDiamanteLinkCollar
By Alfred Philippe for Trifari
Located in Chicago, IL
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,...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Art Deco Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Gilt Metal, Gold, Yellow Gold, Base Metal
Antique 8 BallCutMoonstones FrenchBelleEpoque 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
1910s French Belle Époque Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Moonstone, Brass, Gold, Gilt Metal
16thCentury RockCrystal Hogback ScissorCut Silver HighRelief 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
16th Century European Renaissance Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Rock Crystal, Silver
Trifari 1970s Necklace and Chandelier Earrings
Located in Alford, MA
c.1960s-'70s Trifari necklace and earrings set, the necklace comprised of three gold chains, the shortest of which features a large pendant with free-...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
HAR SerpentSnake 1950s Enameled Floral Crystal FiligreeHearts Clamper Bracelet
By Hargo Creations
Located in Chicago, IL
With all the mid-century hallmarks of handcrafted costume jewelry by New-York-City-based Hargo Creations but without the post-copyright signature (HAR), for this early bracelet the d...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Victorian Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Peridot, Brass, Enamel, Gilt Metal, Gold, Base Metal
18thCentury EnamelDoublePainting SilverFiligree SpanishRococo AprilBirth 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
Early 18th Century Spanish Rococo Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Silver, Enamel
Vendome Emerald and Lime Crystal Brooch and Earrings
Located in Alford, MA
Vendome semi-parure of dome-shaped brooch and clip-on earrings composed of large round green crystals, each surrounded by small lime-colored crystals in a floral manner, and each wit...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Emerald
Bauer Flower Basket Brooch
By Dorothy Bauer
Located in Alford, MA
Dorothy Bauer was known for her sculptural, whimsical jewelry designs incorporating Swarovski crystals, as exemplified by this brooch. She was active...
Category
Early 2000s American Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
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
1970s American Modern Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Gold, Gilt Metal, Brass
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 Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Pearl, 18k Gold, White Gold
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 in mid-century, designer Max Muller based near Kaufbeuren, Western Germany, created these exceptionally clear crysta...
Category
Mid-20th Century German Modern Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Silver, Gilt Metal
Couture 1936-49 Schiaparelli-Dali-Style Set FauxSapphire&Pearl Earrings & Brooch
Located in Chicago, IL
This surrealistic handcrafted faux-sapphire-topped-pearl cluster brooch and clip-earrings set dates to around WWII, when fashion designer Elsa Sch...
Category
1940s American Modern Vintage Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Pearl, Sapphire, Mixed Metal
16thCentury Renaissance SilverRepousse Romantic Engagement Pendant Or HatBadge
Located in Chicago, IL
This early-16th-Century Renaissance period silver-repousse round medallion pendant features a romantic encounter in a rural landscape between a man and smiling woman wearing European-nobility fashion, including a men's feathered hat, tights and sword. A silversmith was commissioned by this unknown man to make the pendant as a hat badge to promote his affectionate nature, which is conveyed by the welcomed gestures between the adult couple, who stand cheek-to-cheek and hand-in-hand. As there is a church in the distant landscape, this may have been his wedding-engagement announcement.
It is worth noting that romantic love via marriage was a rarity before the 18th Century. The tragic romantic Italian legend of Romeo and Juliet was first translated into English for publication in 1562--several decades before Shakespeare turned it into a famous play about a deadly consequence of separating lovers.
The pendant medallion is framed with a filigree-like inward-curving bezel and a flat metal backplate, while its bail enables it to be pinned as a brooch or strung on a necklace.
A perfect engagement or wedding gift for a man or woman who loves antique...
Category
16th Century French Renaissance Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Silver, Gilt Metal
ArtDeco Coro 1919 "PatPend" LadyBug 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 Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Ruby, Blue Sapphire, Gold, Enamel, Gilt Metal, Vermeil
Renoir MidCentury ArtNouveau-Style Copper Openwork Curvilinear Link Necklace
By Renoir
Located in Chicago, IL
With organically-shaped copper openwork links recalling the rhythmic motifs of American architect Louis Sullivan from the Art-Nouveau period, this Renoir mid-century curvilinear 17-l...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Art Nouveau Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Copper
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 Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Pearl, Crystal, Silver, Base Metal
Couture DiorDesigner WesternGermany MaxMuller CitrineCrystal Gold ChokerNecklace
By Max Müller Kaufbeuren
Located in Chicago, IL
While making similar mid-century haute-couture costume-jewelry necklaces for Christian Dior, designer Max Muller who was based near Kaufbeuren, Western Germany, created this unsigned gold-tone choker collar featuring faux-diamond mixed-cut brown and clear crystals with safety chain.
He was internationally known for his historic-replicas for the film industry. So today, some of the largest collections of his rare work were acquired by female movie stars, such as Sophia Lauren...
Category
Mid-20th Century German Modernist Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Brown Diamond, Gold, Gilt Metal
16thCentury Renaissance GiltFiligree Silver PaintedAngel CrystalMedallionPendant
Located in Chicago, IL
With artistic value as a Renaissance chiaroscuro painting, this early 16th-Century period gilt silver-filigree pendant medallion encases a colorf...
Category
16th Century Italian Renaissance Antique Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches
Materials
Crystal, Silver, Enamel, Copper, Gold
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