Jewellery

A 19th century topaz pendant with cushion-shaped diamond accents raced to £9000 at Mallams’ Silver & Jewellery sale in Oxford on August 23.

This Victorian turquoise and diamond brooch is inscribed verso 'Had Belonged to Dear Grandmamma V. From Mama VR, 14th April 1871'. To Beatrice. It carries an estimate of £3000-5000 at Tennants in Leyburn on November 18.

Something shocking happened on Jermyn Street in 1966. Among the more conservative of London shopping districts – the place for a badger-hair shaving brush or a decent pair of sheepskin slippers – at a stroke it became cool. The charismatic Italian émigré Andrew Grima (1921-2007) had opened a jewellery emporium.

Jewellery designers of the 1930s and '40s were attracted to Bakelite, a plastic resin developed in 1907 for industrial purposes, as it was both hard enough to cut and polish and available in a wide range of colours.

In May 1789, as the political and financial situation in France grew ever bleaker, Louis XVI was forced to summon the three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to levy taxes and implement reform.

Jewels by Buccellati, all from European aristocratic collections, feature in the jewellery auction at Dorotheum in Vienna on October 19.

The coloured stones market remains strong, so Skinner can expect strong international competition for an antique sapphire pendant brooch (below) in Boston on September 19.

The sale at Fellows (23/15% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham on July 31 included this Arts & Crafts pendant designed by Charles Robert Ashbee (1862-1942).

This 19th century gold, turquoise and peridot pomander is exceptional both in terms of size and quality.

A sapphire and diamond coronet designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1840 has been ’saved for the nation’ after its purchase for the London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

Seven phone bidders competed for this 15th century gold heart-shaped brooch, a medieval gift of love from the time of the Wars of the Roses, at Hansons in Derbyshire.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Thieves in Chipping Campden have struck at the core of the Court Barn Museum’s collection of Arts & Crafts silver and jewellery.

Possibly made for a member of the French monarchy, this post-medieval gold ring combines the heraldic fleur-de-lis motif with blue kite-shaped sapphires.

Charlotte Roper – “strictly a champagne girl” – started Plaza Jewellery in the mid 1980s. She specialises in French and European jewellery with a particular focus on pieces from the 1940s-‘60s. Her upcoming fairs include the Cotswolds Decorative Fair.