Catalog (2481)

A lovely 18K yellow gold, diamond and ruby love pendant (“medaille d’amour”) with a rebus spelling out “Plus qu’hier, moins que demain,” (“More than yesterday, less than tomorrow”) a line from the love poem written by Rosemond Gérard to her husband Edmond Rostand (author of “Cyrano de Bergerac”) in 1889. In 1907, the Lyonnais jewelry Alphonse Augis created a love token based on the poem, and his designs became iconic. In this example, the word “moins” is represented by a minus sign set with a synthetic ruby. This is the first time we’ve seen a medaille d’amour incorporated into a larger pendant design that also features a rose and a heart. The pendant is stamped with French 18K marks and Augis’ maker’s mark. The pendant is sold with its chain which is not gold.

• Origin: France, ca. 1950s or early 60s
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 3/4” x 5/8”
• Weight: 2.2 grams.

A pretty 14K yellow gold brooch designed as a cluster of leaves, each accented with a collet-set round ruby. The leaf surfaces have stippled and Florentine finishes for nice contrast. The back is marked “14K” and also has an illegible maker’s mark.

• Origin: America, ca. 1960
• Condition: excellent, all original
• Dimensions: 1-7/8” x –1-1/8”
• Approximate Total Gemstone Weight: .15 carat
• Weight: 6.0 grams

Cold-painted Viennese bronze sculpture of a devil by Franz Bergman. This half-goat half-man figure is very well detailed, even showing the individual vertebrae along his back and the curls of his hair.

• Origin: Austria, ca 1900
• Condition: near mint; tiny surface rubs at sharp points such as the fingertips
• Dimensions: 2-1/4" tall

An elegant boxed set of gilt sterling silver demitasse spoons with fox head finials. Each spoon is stamped with the hallmark for William Suckling. Each is also stamped “Swaine & Adeney,” one of London’s most exclusive luxury goods shops for more than 270 years. The spoons are presented in their original velvet- and silk-lined fitted case. An extra spoon, apparently from a second box, is included.

• Origin: Birmingham, England, 1938
• Condition: excellent, gilding intact; box shows typical wear
• Dimensions: spoons, 3-13/16” long
• Weight: 84.3 grams.

An elegant 18K gold and platinum marquise ring set with a central row of oval sapphires surrounded by rose cut diamonds. The sapphires have nicely saturated coloring, and the diamonds have good brilliance. The design is finished with a pierced gallery along the edges. Marquise rings were very fashionable in the Edwardian period and have a very elegant appearance on the hand. Today, they are among the most desirable shapes for engagement rings. Tested and guaranteed 18K and platinum.

• Origin: America, ca. 1910
• Condition: excellent
• Finger Size: 7
• Crown Dimensions: 15/16” x 5/16”
• Approximate Total Gemstone Weight: sapphire, .70 carat; diamond, .20 carat
• Weight: 3.5 grams

A superb American silver locket and chain necklace from the Victorian era. The book chain is enhanced with three rows of lapidary-cut silver balls. The locket’s cover is decorated with an engraved scene of an egret, bamboo, reeds and a fan in the Japonaise style popular during the Aesthetic period. The interior retains the original frames on either side. The chain can be worn without the locket as a 17” necklace or, with the drop chain in place at the back, as a 19-1/4” necklace. American chains of this style are far more uncommon than English chains. Tested and guaranteed silver.

• Origin: America, ca. 1885
• Condition: chain is excellent; locket has one pinpoint ding to the front and several to the back
• Dimensions: necklace, 17” to 19-1/4”; locket, 1-3/8” x 1-3/4” (excluding bail)
• Weight: 95.3 grams

A French silver watch chain with a button hook on one end and a locking swivel on the other. The beauty of this chain is its absolute simplicity. It would look great paired with additional silver chains of various styles to create a longer necklace. Paired correctly, the button hook would make a superb hook for a locket or charms. The chain is stamped with a boar’s head hallmark for 800/1000 silver purity.

• Origin: France, ca. 1880
• Condition: excellent, all original
• Dimensions: 11-5/8” long
• Weight: 16.9 grams

Possibly the finest Georgian fob seal we’ve seen, this example is worked in multicolored 18K gold. The large swivel features a carnelian plaque on one side that reverses to an amazing crystal-enclosed compartment. Inside the compartment is a three-dimensional fruit basket worked in yellow, white, rose, green and blue gold. The rock crystal cover is slightly domed to magnify the fruit basket decoration. The edges of the swivel are engraved “S Kip” on one edge and “S Kip Poe” on the other, suggesting it was perhaps a gift from a grandfather to a grandson of maternal descent. Women began wearing pocket watches in the 1780s, so it's also possible this fob was a gift from mother to married daughter. Tested and guaranteed 18K gold.

• Origin: England, ca. 1790
• Condition: very good, evidence of 19th century repairs that do not detract from the beauty
• Dimensions: 1-1/2” x 2-1/16” (excluding jump ring)
• Weight: 29.6 grams

A nice silver pendant depicting the solar system and the attributes of the sign Scorpio—a scorpion a depiction of the god Mars representing the planet that rules those born into Scorpio. The pendant is signed “AC” and is stamped with French silver hallmarks.

• Origin: France, ca. 1970
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 15/16” x 1-3/8”
• Weight: 8.6 grams

An interesting silver pendant depicting the solar system and the attributes of the sign Leo—a lion and a depiction of the sun representing the heavenly body that rules those born into Leo. The pendant is signed “AC” and is stamped with French silver hallmarks.

• Origin: France, ca. 1970
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 3/4” x 1-1/4”
• Weight: 5.2 grams

A classy pair of dangle earrings featuring oval cabochon aquamarines and round cabochon sapphires in a simple collet setting. These would look equally good with jeans or a cocktail dress. Tested and guaranteed 18K gold.

• Dimensions: 1-7/16” long
• Approximate Total Gemstone Weight: aquamarine, 8.52 carats; sapphire, 1.06 carats
• Weight: 5.0 grams

A pretty 18K yellow gold pendant in a shape that suggests a pair of wings, each set with rose cut diamonds. The design is completed with an additional diamond at the top in a buttercup setting. The pendant was likely fashioned from a larger piece of jewelry that was no longer fashionable. The reverse is stamped with a goldsmith’s mark and also with the Birmingham date mark for 1849. The jump ring is 14K.

• Origin: Birmingham, England, 1849
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 13/16” x 11/16” (excluding bail)
• Approximate Total Diamond Weight: .15 carat
• Weight: 1.9 gram

An elegant 23” necklace of alternating natural amber oval beads and ribbed melon-shaped 14K gold beads. The gold beads have a slightly matte finish that contrasts nicely with the resinous surfaces of the amber. The amber beads are beautifully matched for color and clarity. The overall effect is understated chic. Marked “14K”.

• Origin: America, ca 1980
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: length, 23"; gold beads, 10.9 mm diameter
• Gold Weight: 28.0 grams

A very fine and rare Georgian locket in the “giardinetti” style featuring an oval rock crystal compartment bordered in gold completely surrounded by silver leaves and flowers set with 117 rose cut diamonds in closed-back settings typical of the period. The matching bail is in the form of a countess’ coronet. This piece is a very rare survival from the Georgian period. Tested and guaranteed silver and 18K. The bail is stamped with illegible hallmarks.

• Origin: probably France, ca 1780
• Condition: excellent, a few minor scratches on the back crystal and a small nick to an interior edge of the front crystal
• Dimensions: 1-3/8” x 2-7/16” (including bail)
• Approximate Total Diamond Weight: .59 carat
• Weight: 14.2 grams

A stunning Georgian floral pendant worked in silver-topped 18K gold. The radiating petals are studded with diamonds in the newly fashionable “a jour” or open settings that came into vogue around 1800. The selection of diamonds is a virtual history of early diamond cutting and includes rose cuts, Mazarin cuts, table cuts, and Peruzzi cuts. The flower is centered with an unheated cornflower blue sapphire, likely of Ceylon origin. The back of the setting is ornately engraved in a sort of starburst pattern. There’s a small hole in the back of the setting that would have held a long pin attachment so the piece could be worn as a hair ornament. The flower has been converted for wear as pendant with the discreet additional of a hidden bail. Tested and guaranteed 18K gold.

• Origin: France or England, ca. 1795
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 1-1/2” diameter
• Approximate Total Gemstone Weight: diamond, 5.6 carats; sapphire, 1.65 carats
• Weight: 18.3 grams
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A very fine Victorian Albert chain fashioned from a set of nineteen sizable natural gold nuggets (approximately 20-24K). The nuggets are connected by short sections of handmade chain worked in 14K. The chain has a t-bar enhanced with small nuggets and a short length of chain to suspend a fob. Nugget jewelry became popular during the California Gold Rush in 1849 and again during the Alaska Gold Rush in 1896. Nuggets were difficult to find and a collection this large was a significant indicator of wealth. Tested and guaranteed for gold content.

• Origin: America, 1850-1900
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 15-1/2” long (could be extended by adding additional plain links at the clasp)
• Weight: 55.3 grams

A very good French Art Nouveau 18K gold watch pin in the form of a mythological creature that appears to be a dragon with outspread feathered wings. The details are beautifully worked. The reverse is engraved to match the front. The creature grasps an antique cushion cut diamond in its jaws. The pin retains its original watch hook on the back. This piece could easily and inexpensively be transformed into a pendant with the additional of two pendant hooks at the wingtips. The back is marked with French 18K gold hallmarks, an illegible master goldsmith’s mark, and a design number indicating that the piece was made by a renowned maker of the period.

• Origin: France, ca. 1890
• Condition: excellent, sharp detail
• Dimensions: 1-1/4” x 1-1/8”
• Approximate Total Diamond Weight: .10 carat
• Weight: 12.7 grams

An elegant Art Nouveau bracelet worked in 18K gold, each link is the form of a pansy enclosed in a scrolling border. The Victorian floriography (the “language of flowers”), the pansy represented the sentiment “think of me.” Jewels with pansies were often given as a romantic gesture or by the parents of a young woman upon her marriage. The bracelet is stamped with 18K fineness marks and an unidentified goldsmith’s mark.

• Origin: France, ca. 1900
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 7-7/8” long; 1/2" wide
• Weight: 16.4 grams