Fire and Brilliance

Unusual Antique Fire Opal & Diamond Brooch in Platinum on Gold, c. 1920

€ 2,890.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Unusual Antique Fire Opal & Diamond Brooch in Platinum on Gold, c. 1920

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

An unusual gemstone shines as the protagonist of this brooch: it is a radiant orange-red fire opal, the national stone of Mexico. In contrast to its better-known namesake, the opal that was primarily mined in Australia at the time, it is not milky and pastel-colored, but transparent and intensely colored. The Maya and Aztecs were already familiar with it in stone. In the ancient civilizations, it was called "quetzalitzlipyollitli", the stone of the bird of paradise, in accordance with the belief that such a fiery gemstone could only have been created in paradise. Here, such a gemstone is set in a bar brooch. This variation of the bar brooch, which is only optically weighted at one end, is also called a "wand brooch" because of its appearance. It originated at the turn of the century. Here, however, it was stylized into a more angular form, in keeping with the beginning of Art Déco. Both the angular shape of the double leaves, already familiar from the Belle Époque, and the octagonal setting of the fire opal are simple yet striking stylistic features of the early 1920s. A hallmark shows that the brooch is probably of German origin. However, it has survived in an antique case from the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company in London, which is marked with the English date of July 18, 1922 and which originally housed another piece of jewellery. This case has a story all of its own, as July 18, 1922 was a Tuesday, and the most important social event of the year took place in London on that day: The wedding of Edwina Ashley and Lord Louis Mountbatten in Westminster. There may have been a gift in it to mark the wedding - to a bridesmaid, or the bride herself. The brooch is in very good condition and an unusual piece of jewellery from an exciting era – in an equally exciting case.

Size & Details

Fire and Brilliance

€ 2,890.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

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