Berkshires - Jewelry & Watches

Retro bracelet by Mazer in gold tone and silver metal featuring lavender and purple stones accented by small rhinestones in a repeated link design.

This Miriam Haskell chain necklace with large pendant coin is a classic. The large coin, a replica of a 1955 5 Deutsche Mark commemorative coin cele...

Vendome parure comprising a brooch, bracelet, and earrings, each composed of aurora borealis and green crystals of varying sizes, and each accented by s...

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...

A remarkable example of 1970s studio jewelry, this large, hinged sterling cuff has immense heft and presence. The cuff itself is crafted of small pieces of silver blobs applied in la...

Robert Goosens, the French haute-couture Chanel-favorite parurier who enjoyed reinterpreting ancient and antique styles of jewelry with rock crystal and faux stones, also collaborated with Madame Alix Gres. Relevant to this statement necklace, the Parisian theatrical-costume designer, who founded the French fashion-house Maison Gres, commissioned Goosens to make spiral-wire adornments for her couture gowns. This handmade hammered brass wire choker necklace with five dropped en-tremblant pendants is decorated with unique colorful beads and wrapped wire. The piece dates between 1969-1971 based on similar unsigned spiraled-wire metal jewelry without goldsmithing marks in the museum collection of TheMet (see our photo), which acquired it from Maison Givenchy founder Hubert de Givenchy, who was one of most supportive fans of Gres. Like the legendary sculptural clothing designs of Madame Gres, this necklace was inspired by Greco-Roman costumes, while its sculpted shapes by Goosens reference her signature curvilinear fabric techniques that earned her the sobriquet of "the master of the wrapped and draped dress". Goosens (1927-2016), nicknamed Monsieur Bijou, also made jewelry inspired by other periods of antiquity to compliment the couture clothing of Coco Chanel, Cristobal Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent. After Goosens collaborated with Gres, he revisited golden spiral designs with Saint Laurent. Similar to the free-flowing fabric manipulated in Gres gowns, this hand-shaped necklace that we photographed in sunlight is a study in motion that drapes across a curvy cleavage. Adding drama to this necklace below its wire choker, the top teetering-wire pendant is a twisted and hammered horizontal double spiral, which is a Hellenistic symbol of life and transformation suggesting the breasts of a goddess of fertility and motherhood. Yet distinctly Goosens, 18 hand-cut and hand-dyed "ancient-Roman-blue" rock-crystal beads are wire-strung to weight a second tier of two separate vertical double-spiral pendants. On each, a wrapped-wire tube divides the blue beads. Between these vertical pendants in two tiers, the central vertical pendants each feature a one-of-a-kind multicolor bead (yellow/blue/red/black/white) in two lengths with abstract organic patterns recalling ancient Italian glasswork. Four more blue beads bracket these larger colorful beads. An additional 10 blue beads and 5 wire tubes decorate the bottom looped wire pendant, as well as the bottom of the wire choker. Like the hammered-wire jewelry designs of modern artist Alexander Calder, the creative complex construction of this necklace surprisingly required no metalsmith techniques, such as soldering or casting, just great skill with a jewelry pliers and hammer. For a bigger picture of couture clothing by Madame Gres during the decade beginning in 1969, she notably designed many museum-collected one-color silk-taffeta draped long gowns with empire waists and simple high collars or geometric cut-outs. Remarkably, the focal points for some of these unique dresses were at the wrists, from where long pouf sleeves voluminously droop around the hands to nearly the floor like two enormous long-petaled flowers. If paired with this equally downward-focused and balanced necklace from this same period, its bold Greco-Roman elements would have pulled a viewer's gaze of the dress from floor to face. Although there is no significant provenance for this necklace, hammered brass and tinted rock crystal were among the few materials repeatedly associated with Goosens from 1969-71. For example, in his overlapping interior-decor collections based on themes of waterlilies or foliage, Goosens hammered gilt brass wire and sheets (see our closeup photo) to represent plant parts or he wired rock-crystal beads to appear as tiny fruits. While the two multicolor glass or resin beads in this necklace are atypical, the combination of blue, yellow and red is a palette that the designer used for other pieces of rock-crystal jewelry and he created many kinds of multicolor faux stones with glass or resin paste, such as faux Tibetan turquoise including black and white. According to journalism based on interviews with Goosens, he often acquired unusual stones and glass for inspiration during his extensive travels exploring museum-collected antiquities. Since Maison Goosens was acquired in 2005 by Maison Chanel, it opened the Parisian showroom Galerie Goosens and associated shops to sell many kinds of reproductions and reimagined works by the founder, which fortunately does not suit the completely handmade elements of this necklace. So this couture piece remains one-of-a-kind. If desiring a vintage haute-couture original by Robert Goosens, we recommend perusing the Maison Goosens website so that a reproduction with a contemporary signature is not mistakenly purchased. Madame Gres (1903-1993) was born Germaine Emelie Krebs, but initially identified her fashion designs with the pseudonym Alix and later Alix Barton...

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

In the Art-Deco period when geometric, monotone and sparkly designs became fashionable, leading Paris-based couture designer Elsa Schiaparellli set trends with her artistic use of new plastic resins in bold costume jewelry. The progressive French style is exemplified by this unsigned antique black sphere-motif pair of a coiled bangle bracelet and two-tier crystal earrings. The heat-set curvilinear plastic, along with the silver screw-hardware of the earrings, date the set to no earlier than the 1920s and no later than 1930s. Each inch-diameter earring features 18 black molded bezels containing brilliant rose-cut crystals, while their filigree-like concealed black frames are riveted in back where they twist-fasten with very thin silver hardware. The rhinestones rise above the bezels to maximize their sparkle in rainbow colors, which is accentuated by the stacked frames...

Featuring five sparkly black opaque spinels with diamond-shaped facets and splintery vitreous surfaces, along with bezel-set champagne diamonds with yellow or peach reflections in su...

With artistic value as a Renaissance chiaroscuro miniature painting with precious ultramarine lapis-lazuli pigment, this early 16th-Century period gilt-filigree silver pendant medall...

Dorothy Bauer was known for her sculptural, whimsical jewelry designs incorporating Swarovski crystals, as exemplified by this brooch. She was active...

Possibly as old as the 1800s or a later Baroque-revival imperceptible reproduction, this antique handcrafted gold gilt-silver vermeil 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...

Henry Schreiner, the Austrian-born blacksmith founder of Schreiner New York in 1932, handcrafted this multi-color prong-set Bavarian-crystal, stylized-flora spray, gold-gilt brass br...

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...

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 ...

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...

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

Featuring the earliest white-swirled glass and enameled faux-pearl round beads handcrafted by Parisian lampwork-master Louis Rousselet for American entrepreneur Miriam Haskell and he...

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 round convex green "stem", which is attached to miniature brass clips...

This antique late-Victorian Italian Murano-glass unsigned necklace features three oblong red beads with miniature multicolor swirled-stripe patterns made with the millefiori techniqu...

Inspired by folk embroidery, filigree jewelry transformed in the early 1800s during the Georgian period into labor-intensive cannetille, like this antique handmade intricately-wired metal-frame brooch depicting a floral spray. Resembling Silesian wire-ornamentation, this metallic wire and red braided-thread brooch...

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 ...

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,...

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 ...

Art glass vase sign: Daum Nancy France. Evidenced by this Daum sculptural colorless blown and hot-shaped lead-crystal heavy vessel vase, the finest irreproducible artistic works in the history of the iconic French decorative-glass maker feature ornamental thick glass applications. Its most in-demand pieces today were made between 1925 and 1935, with very few major ArtDeco-period pieces remaining in private hands and even less without damage. As a significant gift acquired from Don Jacques Daum in 1950, a similarly shaped, constructed and sized circa-1925 vase with "stylized foliage" motif is in the collection of the French Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris as Inventory #36309. A later-produced vase with a similar application-motif at just the rim, but in a "Champagne" bubbled style, is among the photos in the published book about the Leo and Irina Esterkin acquisitions from 1910-1940 titled Daum Art Deco Glass--A Private Collection. On our prime-condition antique vase, applied transparent glass is styled in high relief into a flowing undulating motif that evolved from Daum's Art Nouveau foliage designs. The angular and curvilinear shapes of this vessel epitomize the bold vases, bowls and sculptures for which Daum is best known. Its tiny pencil-etched signature on the side near the bottom reads "Daum (plus the Lorraine-cross symbol) Nancy France", which resembles some published signatures since 1925. Revealing how ahead of its time this particular design was--after WWII in 1945 coinciding with the revitalization of the French glass industry--Daum used...

This highly-textural gold-gilt metal two-piece belt buckle or convertible pendant depicting sprays. of pine cones and needles was designed by Mimi di N in 1981, as noted in the signe...

Large brooch by Robert featuring both clear and aurora borealis crystals along with pearls composed in an intricate flower design. Similar to the work of Miriam Haskell, Robert's des...

This antique Art-Nouveau period American signed metalsmithed set features intricately etched, chased, chiseled and pierced curvaceous peacocks in unusual copper-gilt silver. "Sterlin...

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...

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 "Rose of France" and purple amethysts plus faceted-pink and beveled-aqua tourmalines--along with what appears to be lampwork glass...

Beginning in the mid-1920s, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel collaborated with Parisian Louis Rousselet for a wide variety of handcrafted unsigned glass-beaded costume jewelry to compliment h...

Miriam Haskell unique vintage brooch, c.1960s, incorporating an array of contrasting beads, in black, pale gray, and salmon, each topped by a small crys...

This antique French early Art-Deco period two-strand necklace is strung with a variety of Parisian handcrafted beads that date to the early 1920s, including sea-green lampwork glass,...

New York City designers Delizza & Elster created this eye-catching sparkly colorful chunky heavy six-link gunmetal bracelet in the late mid-century. ...

Epitomizing the organic subjects and hand-craftsmanship spanning the Arts-&-Crafts to Art-Nouveau movements that were led in The United States by Louis Comfort Tiffany, this commissi...

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...

Beginning in 1939, Miriam Haskell asked her first costume-jewelry designer Frank Hess to spare the use of metal during WWII while war materials were needed in the United States. So t...

Italian-Riviera goldsmith Ugo Cacciatori designed this signed one-of-a-kind sterling-silver hook earring featuring four hand-cut rubies for a fashion show during a Paris Couture Week...

With the mid-century hallmarks of handcrafted costume jewelry by New-York-City-based Hargo Creations but without the post-copyright signature (HAR), this early clamper cuff bracelet ...

This vintage handcrafted brass-wire pendant was shaped and hammered into lively three-dimensional spirals, loops and squiggles with wrapped construction by an unknown 20th-Century st...

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...

Like elegant multi-pendant festoon necklaces from the mid-1800s, this antique 19th-Century Italian glass choker collar by the Seguso family that founded Vetri d'Arte on the Venetian island of Murano features three one-inch-drop pendants, which here include reddish pink mouth-blown glass balls with golden reflections that are supported by brass findings and unusual ecru glass links that form a chain. The handcrafted closed links appear to be miniature versions of the style made famous in the next century by the family's descendant Archimede Seguso (1909-1999), whom Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel worked...

Louise Nevelson, an American modern sculptor who enhanced found objects throughout the 20th Century, in the 1980s transformed crushed and gilt metal in...

This mid-century modern sterling-silver openwork stylized-leaves set of brooch and screw-back earrings was handcrafted by metalsmith Otto Robert Bade (1921-2019). His distinct work i...

Like the pendant collected by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this bezel-set lava rock was handcrafted as a modern sterling silver brooch by studio-artist Joan Parcher...

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 tiny brooch...

With a silver clasp that could be as old as the Victorian period and in an Art-Nouveau style with pale intricate flora motifs, this antique long glass necklace features lampwork-like...

Designed to accompany Parisian couture by French Christian Lacroix, this unused late-1980s large pale-celadon-green silk satin, which feature textural black topstitching and a sleek ...

This modern one-of-a-kind geometric-spirals seven-link bracelet was expertly handmade from silver wire dating to the 20th Century in a style not earlier than Art Deco. There are no marks or jewelry techniques other than from the pliers used to bend the wire into the seven differently-shaped links. If not by mid-century artist Alexander Calder, it is in the style of his thousands of pieces of plier-bent wire jewelry that were astonishingly all unique. This attractive bracelet with atypical three-dimensional pieces would have been reproduced if it had been created by a jewelry designer. While a variety of geometric shapes are often combined in wire bracelets...

Rhinestone-studded gold metal hoop earrings punctuated by three oval cabochons - green in center, red on one side and blue on the other. By Vogue Bijoux. Great for holiday.

Hobé earrings featuring clear, sapphire, and ruby crystals in a goldtone metal paisley shaped frame. Signed "Hobe" on interior of ear clip.

Beautifully worked round brooch by Robert, intricately constructed of faceted black glass in a wreath-like setting. Can be worn as a brooch or pendant.

This vintage handcrafted brass-wire pendant was shaped and hammered into lively three-dimensional spirals, loops and squiggles with wrapped construction by an unknown 20th-Century st...

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...

Dramatic rhinestone and ruby stone ear clips that follow the curve of the earlobe. The earpiece, composed of clear and ruby crystals, tapers at the top a...