Catalog (174)

This beautiful old miniature depicts a lovely lady, hand painted, in an asymmetrical frame set with seed pearls. It is a watch pin, meaning that there is a hook on the back (invisible from the front) for hanging a dainty watch or some other dangle – or not, if you don’t wish it. It measures 1-3/8 x 1-1/4”. It is unmarked, but has a French/Art Nouveau flavor, and tests 90-100% silver. I have done a little bit of gentle cleaning of the seed pearls and the silver, but the new owner might choo...

This terrific Edwardian watch chain is complete with swivel clip and T bar (most aren’t), and with very nice detail. It weighs a satisfying 36.5g. It is unmarked, but tests as gold fill. 13-1/2” in length; the long bar links measure 1-1/8” each. The T bar is 1-7/8 long. We just love the details! It would be the perfect accessory for your Dickensian outfit, cosplay in general, or it could be altered to make a necklace or bracelet. It shows some wear, so its previous owner loved it very much...

This lovely garland or festoon necklace is from the Edwardian end of the Art Nouveau movement. It is pictured in Vivienne Becker’s excellent book “Art Nouveau Jewelry” on page 185. She describes it as having “festoons of gold chain in the Edwardian manner, set with peridots, and decorated with shaded satin enamel, c. 1900.” It is unmarked, but tests as 14k gold. It is centered by an oval peridot, has an accent diamond and several small pearls, also a dropper ending with another oval pe...

This English jewel reflects the aesthetics of fin de siècle France and Russia, with its pink topazes and demantoid garnets. The fairly large oval topazes are surrounded by swirls of seed-pearl-set gold, and set off by 4 bright green demantoid garnets, two of which are set into the fine chains which connect the top section to the bottom; of the other two, the top one is a modified pear shape, the other is oval. The jewel measures 2” long by 1-1/8” across at the widest point, and weighs 5.4g....

Here is a fabulous and very unusual swag/festoon/garland necklace, with several amethysts and many seed pearls! The rigid cross piece has a chain running above it, through loops over 5 oval amethysts with very nice color, each set into an inverted heart-shaped framework, and separated from the next by a tiny pearl. Set below each amethyst is a seed pearl, and below the framework are draping chain garlands, the central five each having a freshwater pearl dangle. At each end of the bar is an addit...

This necklace has all of the wow factor you expect from French jewelry. It is 18k gold (of course) open-work, with two palmate elements on each side. They join in a filigree-like round element that suspends a fifth, larger palmate element. The elaborate chain consists of marquise-shaped filigree links. The French eagle mark, indicating both French origin and 18 k gold, is on the clasp. The necklace is a generous 17 1/2" long. Circa 1890-1900. For all its dainty appearance, the 18k gold giv...

This fabulous Art Nouveau/ Edwardian necklace would be perfect for a bride … or anyone, really, at any time! The “wow” factor is huge! It measures 1-1/4” at the widest point, and from the top-most diamond to the bottom of the dropper it is 2-1/4”. The dropper is a river or “dogtooth” pearl, 11/16” long, which has a collar of gold around it, set with 3 Old European cut diamonds, and swirls of gold holding 4 more little pearls. The main section features 3 more tiny Old European cut...

This piece is stunning! Some marriages are made in Heaven, and this is one. This brooch is a marriage of three Victorian elements: the bar pin with six diamonds, the enamel bow, and the heart-shaped enamel slide. The bow and slide appear to have been part of the same piece. The pin is 12 k gold, and the bow and slide 18 k. The bar pin is 1 3/4" long.

This fantastic jewel tests as a very strong 14kt, so it’s likely a 15kt English piece. It is set with what we are pretty sure is an iolite (hard to test because of the setting), and 4 pear-shaped purple garnets, all foiled, all set within an Etruscan Revival motif of coiling snake-like decorated gold ropes and leaves, with two dangling gold chains. The brooch measures 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 x 3/4" deep and weighs 8.7g. With the chains, the whole piece measures 2-1/2” long. The pin stem assembly is al...

This detailed and beautiful festoon or garland necklace features a winged heart, which is symbolic of love and openness. The heart is enameled in green with orange highlights, and the heart and the wings are set with seed pearls. Above are curlicues of gold, and below is a (tested) diamond dropper. It’s got a faint 10k mark on the back, but tests as 14k (this is not unusual). The spring ring is marked Gold Filled, but the chain tests for 14k, so it’s probably a replacement. The central desig...

Here is a fascinating Georgian-era ring, possibly a mourning ring, which could have been worn by one of Jane Austen’s more affluent characters. It features a rose-cut diamond (pointed top instead of flat), set in 14kt gold with decorations in black enamel on the shank, which are still in excellent condition. The ring is approximately size 5. It isn’t possible to estimate the weight of rose cut diamonds in a setting. It is in the I range for clarity – normal for its time. Unmarked. It is ju...

This beautiful pendant features a circle of 6 ginkgo leaves radiating out from a diamond center, with seed pearls in between. The enamel is detailed and subtle. It is both a pendant and a brooch. The bale is on a swivel; it folds down neatly so that it’s invisible when worn as a brooch. Unmarked but tested 14k rose gold, about 33 pearls, and an approximately .02 full cut old diamond, very slightly chipped (not visible without magnification). The piece measures 1-1/16” in diameter and weighs ...

This beautiful pendant/pin has a stylized floral motif, with enamel that shades from green to yellow, in a design reminiscent of a French fleur-de-lis. It is centered by a small diamond (approx. 5 points), surrounded by a pearl-set modified starburst which accents the enameled “petals.” In 14k rose gold, it measures 1” in diameter at the widest point. The bale folds down nicely when it’s worn as a pin. We had the enamel touched up a little at the edges, to restore it to its original exce...

This sweet brooch depicts two adorable cupids, a boy and a girl, looking serene and loving. Their plique a jour (translucent enamel) wings are a pale purple or mauve color, nicely complimenting the 900 silver. The girl is wearing a tiny necklace of roses. The pin measures 1” x 1-3/4” and weighs 5.7g. The clasp might be a replacement, but the rest is all original, and the pin is in excellent antique condition. It is stamped “DEPOSE” (“patent or registration in France,” but other count...

This fabulous bracelet by Schaverien & Eastmead of Birmingham, England, is 7” long and 3/8” wide at the widest points. Each panel features enamel shading from dark green to pale green to magenta and back again. In between each panel is a round blister pearl. Each connecting link has a hard-to-read mark, probably a lion, also the marks for Birmingham, 1909, and “S&E”. The clasp has a safety chain. One enamel panel has a very small black spot, and one has a tiny chip in the enamel, barely ...

This Victorian pin is a gorgeous Egyptian Revival design executed in plique a jour (translucent) enamel framed in gilded silver. The design is a noble vulture holding feathers with lotus blossoms in his (or her) talons. The vulture’s wings are detailed in both opaque and translucent enamels; the tops of the wings are opaque enamel in yellowish green, and the feathers are detailed in yellow-green plique a jour shading to burnt orange. The body of the vulture is a matching yellowish-green ‘sto...

Fit for a museum, this rare and wonderful Egyptian Revival pin has a portrait painted on porcelain. It is mounted in 800 silver and surrounded by 16 coral beads on wire. There have been some repairs [not visible from the front] as is so common in jewelry repaired in the 19th century. 1 1/4" diameter. Circa 1875.

Here is a lovely antique ring in unmarked but tested 18kt rose gold. The center stone is a ruby cut in an old style, but in really excellent condition. (It’s possible that it’s a replacement stone.) It is surrounded by 8 rose cut and more randomly-cut diamonds which are definitely original, and which might be foiled, but in any case are in a closed-back setting. Typically for the period, a couple of them are chipped or have feathers (inclusions). The ring is a size 8-1/4, and could be sized...