Brooches

  • Bakelite Pear

    Between 1907 and 1909 Dr Leo H. Baekeland was conducting experiments and he accidentally discovered Bakelite. During the 1920s and 1930s it was widely used by costume jewellery manufacturers as it was cheap, could be dyed, easily carved and incorporated with other materials like chrome. You can find bangles, earrings, cufflinks, necklaces and, of course,…

  • Hydrangea

    Michael Michaud is an American jewellery designer. His jewellery is made by creating moulds directly from botanical specimens in a process similar to lost-wax casting. Michael uses real leaves, branches or flowers in place of wax models. A mould is created around the botanical specimen and as it is heated the plant matter burns away…

  • Five Layers

    I first met Clara Breen at Dazzle, a Jewellery show held annually at the National Theatre London. I couldn’t have been happier, two of my favourite pastimes rolled into one evening. I can’t remember which play we went to see but I liked the brooch so much I went back and bought the matching earrings….

  • Champagne Bottle

    This brooch is large and is convex to represent the shape of the bottle. And as is often the case with brooches from the 1930s, there is no indication of who the designer or maker is. It was bought from an American online site and I’m guessing that this is its country of origin. I…

  • Perfect Pink

    This brooch is by Trifari and from the 1960s. Two things drew me to this brooch. The sheer brightness of the pink. It’s not pale and wishy washy, like a baby pink. This pink has panache and surprisingly goes well with loads in my wardrobe. The second unusual thing about it is the shape and…

  • Straw Hat

    This brooch is small and made of gold. The flowers and ribbon decoration are enamel. I don’t know where the brooch was made but I think it’s almost certainly continental. I have seen a similar type of work where gold is twisted to give the impression of basket work in Italy. That was a gondolier’s…

  • Garnet Star

    This brooch belonged to my mother who would have been 91 this month. I remember her wearing it on numerous occasions; it was one of her favourites especially for an evening out. It is made of Pyrope Garnet a blood red garnet and almost certainly from Czechoslovakia and late 19th century. Pyrope garnets were used…

  • Giant Rose

    This oversized rose measures 6 ¾ inches (and for those of you who can cope with the metric that’s a whopping 17 cm). It’s by Dutch designer Michiel Alexander Ansingh who has amassed vast quantities of vintage stones, some dating back to the 1920s. Many are from the heyday of the American costume jewellery industry…