Catalog (2409)

Very heavy sterling silver soup ladle in Gorham's elegant 1901 "Florentine" pattern. The handle is decorated with a satyr mask surrounded by vines, dolphins, clusters of fruit, acanthus leaves and various other classical decorative elements. The design spills from the handle onto the back rim of the bowl. The back of the handle has complementary decoration. Hallmarked by Gorham and with the patent date, indicating an earlier date of manufacture.

Origin: America, ca. 1905. Condition: excellent, sharp detail, no dings, no monogram. Size: 12-1/2" long. Weight: 262.0 grams.

A classic vintage Mikimoto 14K yellow gold pin featuring ten cultured Akoya pearls, ranging in size from 6.25 to 7.58 millimeters. The pearls are estimated at A+ quality, with cream body color and rose overtones, and strong orient. The nacre is thick and lustrous and the surfaces are blemish-free. The back is signed with Mikimoto’s hallmark.

Origin: Japan, ca. 1980. Condition: excellent. Size: 1-7/8” x 1-1/4”. Weight: 12.1 grams.

A very handsome pair of 14K yellow gold barbell cufflinks, the cube-shaped ends enhanced with waffle-cut engraving. The linear design has a very sophisticated modernist feel and these cufflinks can be worn with anything. Marked 14K.

Origin: America, ca. 1990. Condition: excellent. Dimensions: larger faces, 3/8 x 3/8 x 3/8 inch. Weight: 9.0 grams.

A classic Victorian 14K yellow gold hinged bangle bracelet with black taille d’épargne enameling in scrolling floral pattern. The delicate enamel design is further accented with a stippled background that adds a sense of depth.

Origin: America, ca. 1865. Condition: excellent, no enamel damage, no exterior dents. Dimensions: 1/4" wide, 6-1/8” interior circumference. Weight: 9.5 gr.

Three rich deeply-colored pear-shaped sapphires for the petals of the trefoil in this elegant pendant necklace. The flower is centered with a rose cut diamond. The sapphires are excellent quality with a velvety violetish-blue appearance. The trefoil’s stem curls around on itself to for the Art Nouveau styled border of the pendant. The 18K pendant was originally a brooch but has been given new life as a pendant necklace with the addition of a 14K gold cable chain.

• Origin: France, ca 1900.
• Condition: excellent.
• Dimensions: pendant, 11/16” diameter; necklace length, 18-1/2”.
• Weight: 8.2 grams.
• Approximate Total Gemstone Weight: sapphire, .89 carat; diamond, .02 carat.

A pretty vintage 14K yellow gold pin by Krementz featuring a spray of beautifully enameled bleeding hearts, each dangling a small seed pearl. The enameling on the blossoms has a matte effect that mimics the waxing texture of the flower in nature, while the leaves are in Krementz's more typical shaded translucent style. In Victorian flower language, bleeding hearts were used to represent "deepest love." Pins such as this with a delicate enameled flower against a geometric back represent are typical of Krementz's move Art Nouveau into Art Deco and finally Retro. The original clasp is stamped with Krementz' hallmark. Tested and guaranteed 14K.

• Origin: America, ca. 1930
• Condition: excellent; no enamel damage
• Dimensions: 1-3/16" diameter
• Weight: 7.0 grams

A lovely pair of Victorian 14K gold earrings featuring a rose gold lily with green gold foliage against a yellow gold background. The flower petals and leaves are stippled for added texture. The edges are finished with ornate beading, rope-twists, and appliqués. In Victorian floriography, lilies represented virtue or purity, though in Queen Victoria’s personal floriography, the white lily represented “majesty.” The earrings appear to have been converted from a pair of cuff buttons with the addition of ear wires. Tested and guaranteed 14K.

• Origin: America or England, ca. 1850
• Condition: excellent
• Dimensions: 11/16” x 11/16”; 15/16” long from top of earwire
• Weight: 6.9 grams

A very nice pair of Art Deco 14K gold and enamel cufflinks by Carrington. The enamel is worked in a particularly pleasant shade of French blue with opaque white accents. The gold surfaces underneath the translucent enamel had engine-turned engraving in a pattern that suggests moire silk. The edges of the faces are very slightly, gracefully bowed outward. The connectors are hallmarked by Carrington. These cufflinks, worked in a different color combination, are shown in “Cuff Links” by Jonas and Nissenson.

Origin: America, 1910-15

Condition: excellent, minute surface wear visible under 10x magnification

Size: 9/16” x 9/16”

Weight: 10.5 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

Extremely rare oil lamp featuring a base of mercury glass decorated with floral painting and satin finishing. The floral decoration is an autumnal design depicting leaves and wheat in shades of brown, gold, green and cream, accented with cornflowers in blue and small orange flowers. The mercury glass has extensive satin finish which further emphasizes the shiny surfaces. The oil reservoir is flint glass of the highest quality cut in a 12-panel design. The metal mounting between the oil reservoir and the mercury glass base is gilt in a way that the mercury glass blends seamlessly into the rest of the lamp. The shade, no doubt a plain clear glass shade, is gone. The wick knob is marked "Ideal Brenner 20".

Origin: American, almost certainly New England Glass Company, circa 1840-80. Condition: excellent, no cracks or chips, painted decoration intact. Size: 17-1/2" tall (to top of burner).

Gorgeous oval bronze jewel box from Russia's Imperial era, the top decorated with opaque champleve enamels. The box is decorated around the bottom edge with a row of cast beads. This decorative element is repeated on the lid. The lid is decorated with typically Russian arabesques worked in five shades of enamel. Exposed areas of bronze around the enameling is further decorated with floral and bright-cut engraving. The interior of the box retains its original royal blue silk velvet lining. The style of enameling, as well as the overal appearance of the box suggests it was more likely made in the Moscow area, rather in the more Westernized area around St. Petersburg.

Origin: Russia, circa 1870. Condition: excellent, old patina, no enamel damage; the lining shows appropriate wear. Size: 5" x 4-1/4" x 3-1/4" high.

An exquisite set of four sterling silver blotter corners by M.C. Cone. Each corner is made up of a pair of leaves flanking a stylized dogwood blossom, all worked from sheet silver. The upper two corners have the initials “AB” worked into the design, indicating that these were commissioned for the original owner. The backs are signed “Cone Sterling”. M.C. Cone, listed as a metalworker in the 1906/07 edition of the “National Directory of Workers in the Artistic Crafts” worked in West Hartford, Connecticut, not far from where these blotter corners were found. The quality of both design and workmanship is of the very highest level.

Origin: America, ca. 1905. Condition: excellent, all original, no dings. Size: 2-3/4” x 2-3/4”. Weight: 158.5 grams.

A beautiful and rare Retro 14K yellow and white gold floral brooch featuring carved jadeite leaves and a carved rock crystal blossom. The rock crystal has an opalescent quality that appears much like moonstone. Both the front and back surfaces are finely engraved to suggest floral textures. The jade is brightly colored and contrasts nicely with the golden stems and leaves. The back is marked “14K”. Carved gemstone floral pins are quite uncommon.

Origin: America, ca. 1940. Condition: excellent, all original. Size: 2-11/16” x 1-1/4”. Weight: 12.0 grams.

A fine pair of mid-19th century 14K yellow gold double-faced cufflinks set with banded agate and gold-bearing quartz. The quartz is generously spotted with gold, showing only isolated areas of creamy white quartz, and the agate is nicely patterned with even bands of cream, brown and tan. Shreve & Co. was one of the first fine jewelers in San Francisco, capitalizing on the new wealth generated by the California Gold Rush. By the mid-1880’s, the store advertised its selection of jewelry made with gold bearing quartz, and it became a specialty. Today, gold quartz pieces—especially those marked by Shreve—are difficult to find. Each cufflink is signed “Shreve & Co. 14K”.

Origin: America, ca. 1885. Condition: excellent. Size: faces, 17/32” x 7/32”.

A very fine 12-piece set of gilt silver and mother of pearl dessert, fruit or cheese knives presented in their original fitted box. The tapered mother of pearl handles are tipped with silver finials and ferules decorated in a Louis XVI-style ribbon and reed motif. Most similar sets have plated blades, but these are silver. The silver is gilt, a process that is decorative, but also serves to prevent corrosion from the salts in cheeses which were often served in France as a dessert course. The gilding has faded to a very nice, light lemony color. The interior lid of the velvet- and silk-lined box is marked by the maker, “J. Fayard/Fabricant Orfèvre Joaillier/St Etienne”.

Origin: France, ca. 1860. Condition: knives are excellent, no dings, no cracks, normal fading of the gilding; the box shows considerable wear and has a slightly warped lid. Size: 7-1/2” long.

A classic pair of heavy 14K yellow gold Edwardian cufflinks. The oval faces are simply finished with an engraved border. Cufflinks of this type are usually fairly lightweight, but this pair has noticeable heft. The backs of the faces and the connectors have 14K marks.

Origin: America, ca. 1920. Condition: excellent, all original. Dimensions: 3/4 x 9/16 in. Weight: 17.1 grams.

A handsome pair of 14K yellow gold cufflinks, the faces fashioned as ornate batons. Each of batons has a lobed device at each end similar to the head on a 16/17th century Ottoman ceremonial mace used to connote that the bearer carried the full authority of the Sultan Khan. Tested and guaranteed 14K.

Origin: America, ca. 1890. Condition: excellent, sharp detail. Dimensions: batons, 1-1/4" long. Weight: 10.4 grams.

A classic Mikimoto ring featuring a cluster of 6.3mm pearls crowned with a star of six round brilliant diamonds of G color and VVS2 clarity. The pearls have fine luster, with cream body color and rose overtones, and are graded AA. The shank is stamped with Mikimoto’s hallmark and for 18K gold.

Origin: Japan, ca. 1980. Condition: excellent. Dimensions: crown, 5/8” diameter. Finger Size: 7. Weight: 5.4 gr. Approximate Total Diamond Weight: .18 ct.