Jewellery

In the art and antiques market, the jewellery category spans the millennia from ancient artefacts fit for Cleopatra herself to modern branded wares by famous French and American ateliers. This may include objects of significant intrinsic worth – valued for the gemstones and precious metals from which they were made – but also objects fashioned from more humble materials that are appreciated simply for the excellence of their design.


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Victorian ring concealing a practical joke brings sensational bidding in Somerset

23 November 2020

This curious object is the forerunner of a million Christmas cracker prizes. Made in gold and silver, c.1830, the ‘ring’ chased with flowers includes a tiny pin hole which allows a jet of water to be squirted into the face of an unsuspecting admirer via a syringe-like plunger that can be concealed in the palm.

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Obituary: Moira Cohen (1940-2020)

16 November 2020

It is with great sadness that we break the news of the passing of Moira Cohen on September 20.

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The web shop window: 17th century memento mori ring

02 November 2020

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

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Caterpillar Club races to record

02 November 2020

Gold pin awarded to Second World War Polish pilot later executed after the Great Escape

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Devon on a particular high for antiques centre boss

26 October 2020

Vincent Page, owner of Antiques on High centres in Oxford and Sidmouth, reports that trade in both shops has been good with “a significant increase in Sidmouth, on numerous days taking more than AOH in Oxford”.

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Jewellery from George Edward Hunt family brings demand

26 October 2020

The Woolley & Wallis sale on October 6 included 36 lots by the Birmingham Arts & Crafts jeweller George Edward Hunt that had come by descent from his family. They had featured in an exhibition held at Bonhams in 2006.

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Cartier carriage clock and Lalique jewellery are among the five lots to watch at auction this week

19 October 2020

With estimates from £150-35,000 here are five previews of upcoming items this week.

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15 watches and jewellery items coming up at auction including an Art Deco butterfly brooch

14 September 2020

With so many auction houses selling jewellery throughout late July and August this year, there was scarcely a summer break. However, the volume of material offered for sale will increase markedly this month. Pictured here is a brief selection of pieces available to bid for at home and abroad.

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Hellenistic gold bracelets offered in Bavaria

14 September 2020

This elegant pair of finely worked early Hellenistic gold bracelets featuring a rather sympathetic and graceful rendering of the snake-haired gorgon Medusa are believed to have been made by a courtly goldsmith workshop during the 4th-3rd century BC.

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Tiffany ‘Bird on a Rock’ brooch flies in to Hindman's Chicago sale

07 September 2020

Included in Hindman’s September 15 sale of Jewellery in Chicago will be a group of pieces designed by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co. Among them is this green beryl and diamond ‘Bird on a Rock’ brooch.

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Tiffany pendant in Japanese style trebles estimate at Skinner

17 August 2020

Japonisme, the craze for Japanese art first described by the French critic and collector Philippe Burty in 1872, became a key part of Tiffany & Co’s jewellery oeuvre from c.1877.

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Antique pieces dominate at Woolley & Wallis even as bidders move online

17 August 2020

Circumstances are quickly changing the way items are bought and sold at auction – but the first principles of quality, keen pricing and provenance still apply.

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Wièse’s Renaissance revival brooch sells at Elmwood’s

17 August 2020

This brooch – an agate cameo in a diamond and enamel surround – has French assay marks for the Berlin-born, Paris-based historicist jeweller Jules Wièse (1818-90).

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Open for business: Five pieces of period jewellery offered by dealers

17 August 2020

Most antique shops, centres and galleries, closed between March and June, are now open once more and are eager to make up for lost business. Pictured here is a selection of fine pieces of period jewellery for sale today.

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Collector interview: Completely in jewel control

17 August 2020

In the latest in ATG's occasional series of collector interviews, researcher, archivist, gemmologist, specialist and collector Georgina Izzard describes her fascination

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What to wear at Fellows

17 August 2020

Alongside an extensive range of more conventional auction catalogue shots, Fellows has (since July 2019) been picturing every one of its fine jewellery lots being worn.

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Brisbane priest's intaglio seal proves a cut above the rest at Bonhams

17 August 2020

The highlight of Bonhams Australia’s (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) latest Jewels sale was this agate intaglio seal from the collection of Brisbane Catholic priest Father Peter Grice (1943-2019).

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London bracelet surfaces in Sydney

17 August 2020

One of the highlights of Leonard Joel’s jewellery auction in Sydney on August 26 is this Art Deco platinum and diamond bracelet dated to c.1930 fashioned as an articulated line of geometric links of carré, baguette and circular cut diamonds weighing a total of approximately 33cts.

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Locket from the Pocket Venus makes £2800 in Colchester

17 August 2020

This 19th century gold diamond, pearl and blue enamel locket and necklace, sold by Reeman Dansie (20% buyer’s premium) in Colchester on August 11 for £2800, came with a little Hollywood stardust.

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Pendant with hallmarks of Andrew Grima shines in Edinburgh sale

17 August 2020

Many jewels by Anglo-Italian designer Andrew Grima carry the mark HJCo for the Haller Jewellery Company, the workshop of Grima’s father-in-law where he first found work in the accounts department in 1946. It was not until two years later that (untrained) he moved into design.

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