Jewellery

Nearly 200 items of Al Capone memorabilia are coming to the market for the first time after being consigned to a California auction by his granddaughters.

The central stone to this Art Deco seed pearl and diamond pendant is an elongated cushion-shaped pink sapphire, weighing about 25ct.

Gold wedding rings belonging to poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes have been bought by London jeweller Wartski.

The Hôtel des Ventes de Monte Carlo (25/23/20% buyer’s premium) held a sale series this summer that featured auctions devoted to jewellery, watches and accessories, antiquities and modern art.

Simon MacLachlan owns and runs Piccadilly Vaults, a relative newcomer to the fine jewellery scene based in London’s Piccadilly Arcade. Founded in 2017, it is named after the wall of working bank vaults installed in the basement.

Humphrey Butler has announced the rediscovery of a bracelet from the famed suite of sapphire and diamond jewels made for a young Queen Victoria.

A quintessential example of avant-garde Art Deco jewellery by a French designer who was renowned for such modernist pieces was the toast of Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) online Jewellery sale in Paris which closed on July 7.

While prices and interest have been declining in desk sets since computer laptops rendered them largely redundant, there are exceptions.

This liver bird brooch, hallmarked for 1943, appears to have been commissioned as a bespoke order for Margaret Hall, the daughter of a lord mayor of Liverpool who, from 1935-6, was herself the lady mayoress of the city.

Kashmir sapphires have acquired a near-legendary status, due to their lustrous cornflower colour, soft velvety texture and extreme rarity.

The star of a recent Chiswick Auctions’ (25/12% buyer’s premium) Jewellery auction was an Art Deco diamond and rock crystal Cartier brooch, c.1925.

The appeal of this bracelet hung with eight enamel charms depicting Snow White and Seven Dwarfs lies in its Disney subject matter and its association with Cartier.

These two fine examples of archaeological revival gold jewellery come for sale in the regions in July.

An episode of BBC Antiques Roadshow filmed at Windermere and broadcast in February included this 18ct gold and pearl necklace by HG Murphy.

The collection of about 800 engraved gems formed by the nobleman and politician George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (1739-1817), was the largest and most important of the age.

In the thrifty years after the Wall Street Crash, many Cartier jewels used fewer large diamonds and more colourful secondary stones. What they lost in intrinsic value they more than made up for with the ‘wow’ factor.

Here we feature a selection of very different brooches coming up for sale in the UK regions in July.

Halls’ (23% buyer’s premium) Summer auction in Shrewsbury on June 16 included a private collection of nine pieces of Boucheron jewellery.