Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

The New York Jewellery & Watch Show returns to the city for its third staging from October 27-30.

This late 19th century necklace offered by Peter Wilson's latest sale in Nantwich is a spectacular example of Grand Tour jewellery. Most Georgian or Victorian gentlemen keen to display an appreciation of classical art were satisfied to purchase just one or two hardstone intaglios as a souvenir.

To make any money these days, ladies’ gold pendant watches do need an extra selling point – such as the Cartier name and plenty of Art Deco style.

Glasgow saleroom McTear’s holds a dedicated military watch auction on September 19. Most entries are from a private collection and include watches from the so-called ‘Dirty Dozen’ – the 12 Swiss manufacturers commissioned to supply the British Ministry of Defence during the Second World War.

Among the highlights of the sale at Doyle New York on October 18 are two emerald and diamond brooches set with stones that display the prized deep green colour concentration of Colombian emeralds.

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

The first major fairs of the new season are only just around the corner. The LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair at Berkeley Square is always strong on antique jewellery, this year (September 15-20) attracting more than a dozen specialist dealers from both London and overseas.

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.