Jewellery

Woolley & Wallis followed the Shannon collection with a mixed-owner sale on November 1. Together the auctions brought a premium-inclusive £2.1m.

The Charterhouse two-day November 15-16 auction in Sherborne includes a substantial selection of jewellery and watches.

This 18ct two-colour gold and enamel Hebe brooch to a design by Georges Braque, c.1962, carries an estimate of $2500-3500 at Leslie Hindman’s Important Jewelry sale in Chicago on December 3.

By the 1950s, as the global economic landscape improved, luxury was making a comeback and so too was the prolific use of diamonds in the jewellery of France’s premier ateliers.

In the end, it was diamonds, not cake, that triggered the tragic downfall of Marie-Antoinette (1755-93) and her family. Even though the doomed queen was innocent of conspiracy, it was the affair of a diamond necklace that lit the powder-keg of revolution.

An unusual entry to Hansons’ September auction in Teddington, south-west London, was a ‘diamond’ in the rough – an uncut 5ct crystal still in its original carrier stone.

This well-preserved medieval annular brooch set with cabochon rubies and sapphires is a rare survivor from the 14th century.

From c.1969-75, Charles de Temple (b.1929) – the son of the American film actor Tom Mix – created his series of ‘nervous jewels’, employing prickly cultural designs in two-coloured gold wire. This 18ct gold and beryl dress ring is a good example.

The white-glove sale of the Shannon collection of jewellery at Woolley & Wallis was topped at £22,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) by a gold bracelet by Omar Ramsden.

An exhibition dedicated to the colourful creations of modern jewellery designer Wendy Ramshaw (b.1939) runs at the Goldsmiths’ Fair in London from September 25-October 7.

This agate, enamel and gemset cameo brooch carved with the profile of a classical maiden is signed verso for Georges Bissinger.

Victoria, Princess Royal (1840-1901), shed her first baby tooth at the age of seven while the royal family was a guest of the Duke of Abercorn at Ardverikie, by Loch Laggan. Her father Prince Albert tugged the tooth free himself and had it set in gold and enamel as a brooch. The milk tooth formed the blossom of thistle.