Elegant Art Deco brooch with diamonds in platinum & white gold, circa 1930

A tradition lives on

Elegant Art Deco brooch with diamonds in platinum & white gold, circa 1930

€ 6,980.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

In previous generations, people who wanted to own jewellery in line with the latest fashion rarely went to a jeweler to buy a finished piece. Far more often, they went to a goldsmith to have a new piece of jewellery made according to their own ideas and in exchange with the craftsman. Around c. 1900, there were already large jewelry department stores with an immense selection offering finished manufactured goods - Wilhelm Müller in Berlin was one of them. But the older tradition of having jewellery individually made was still alive. We can observe a typical approach of the time time and again: Instead of creating new pieces completely from scratch, existing rings, brooches and necklaces were often incorporated. The gemstones in particular were often re-set and thus reused. Here is an example of an advertisement by the jeweller Kind & Sons from Philadelphia in the USA, published around 1925, which advertises precisely this approach. The idea of re-setting the gemstones was not only due to cost savings. Last but not least, it also resulted in pieces that continued the history of their own family and could be as traditional as they were modern. This brooch was created in exactly this way. An elongated oval is set with palmettes on the right and left. Five larger diamonds are arranged in the middle along the horizontal and individually set in fine frames. The surfaces of the palmettes and the oval are adorned with 52 further, smaller diamonds. The design of the brooch, with its strict symmetry and delight in geometry, as well as the workmanship of the brooch with a platinum display side on a white gold base, show that the brooch was created in the years around 1930, at the height of Art Deco. The cuts of the diamonds, however, are typical of diamonds from the early to mid-19th century. They therefore obviously come from older pieces of jewellery and were given a new lease of life around 1930. Because the brooch is elegant, perfectly crafted and has become a worthy setting for the precious heirlooms. Will you now give the brooch the opportunity to establish a new family tradition?

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The shape of the diamond has evolved over many centuries. For a long time, it was not technically possible to make more than rudimentary changes to the rough crystal, as the diamond is so exceptionally hard. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was then possible to wring more and more facets out of the crystal, and in the course of the 19th century, the cuts came closer and closer to the shape we know today as a brilliant. It was not until 1919, however, that Marcel Tolkowsky calculated the ideal shape of the brilliant on an optical-physical basis; the exact shape that is the standard in Germany today, the so-called fine cut, was not even defined until 1938. The shape of the modern diamond really became established after the war. The brilliant is therefore actually a fairly new invention - and this also means that the proportions of a diamond that was cut in the 19th century or at the beginning of the 20th century, a so-called "old cut", do not follow the standard of today's brilliant. In those days, old cuts were always cut individually: The aim was to find the optimum balance between the best brilliance on the one hand and the least loss of material during cutting on the other. We believe that it is precisely this individuality that makes old diamonds so interesting. They are less easy to compare and their value cannot simply be determined using a table: This is because you have to look at each stone individually to really be able to tell whether it has the fire and sparkle you expect from a diamond.

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Size & Details

A tradition lives on

€ 6,980.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

We want you to be 100% satisfied! For that reason, we examine, describe and photograph all of our jewellery with the utmost care.

You can rely on our years of experience in the trade and our expertise as a professional art historians for reviews of the antique jewellery. As a member of various trade organisations and the British Society of Jewellery Historians, we remain committed to the highest possible degree of accuracy. In our descriptions, we always also indicate any signs of age and defects and never hide them in our photos – this saves you from any unpleasant surprises when your package arrives.

Should you for some reason not be satisfied, please don’t hesitate to contact us so that we can find a solution together. In any case, you can return any article within one month and we will refund the full purchase price.

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A tradition lives on

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