Brooches

  • Firework

    Ten years ago, I posted a brooch by Sphinx which I called ‘Glitz & Sparkle’.  At the time it was the nearest brooch I had to a firework.  I mentioned in the post I needed to look for a ‘proper’ firework brooch.  Finally, after many years searching I have found one.  This month’s brooch to…

  • Stone with Two Leaves

    This brooch is by Kramer.  It is made of gilt metal, caste as two finely defined leaves with a large piece of moss agate at its centre.  The company was started in 1943 by Louis Kramer in New York.  Once WWII was over Louis was joined by his two brothers Morris and Harry.  Christian Dior’s…

  • London Taxi

    This cute little brooch of a London Taxi is by Atwood and Sawyer, one of the few UK based vintage jewellery companies.  Atwood and Sawyer was founded by Horas Atwood (Mr Sauer was a silent partner) in Wales in 1956, at that time most costume jewellery was made by American firms; Trifari, Coro, Eisenburg etc. …

  • USSR Building

    This brooch is made of glass (the red background) with an overlay of chrome.  On the back there is a rather poor-quality pin, reminiscent of a safety pin.  The brooch was probably made as a souvenir from the Paris Expo in 1937. The Paris Expo was held between 25th May to 25th November 1937, just…

  • Pencil Case

    I have known Jo McAllister for a number of years, we first met at the Designers Jewellery Group exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London, where I bought a brooch from her ‘Sketchbook Series’ which was featured as a Brooch of the Month in May 2015.  I first spotted the ‘Pencil Case’ at the Goldsmiths’…

  • Flower Circle

    This brooch is made of silver in a stylized flower form with a nod to Pre-Columbian design.  I found the brooch in a small jeweller in the Northamptonshire market town of Oundle.  Usually when I purchase a brooch the seller is keen to tell me all about it, in some cases at extreme length, but…

  • Star Burst

    This is very much a ‘statement’ piece, measuring  8cm by 10cm.  As well as being a brooch it also has a hook on the back so it can be worn as a pendent. This brooch is by Panetta, an American costume jewellery firm, prominent between 1945 and the late 1980s.  Benedetto Panetta emigrated in 1901…

  • Circle of Pearls

    This brooch is by the UK designer Jed Green.  Jed’s jewellery is highly individual and distinctive.  Jed uses as her main material inexpensive Borosilicate clear glass tubes, which are widely used in laboratory and medical environments.  Borosilicate glass was first developed in the late 19th century by the German glassmaker Otto Schott, its principal ingredients are…

  • Star

    This brooch is made of cut steel and is seen as a precursor to marcasite.  Cut steel jewellery was popular during the 18th and 19th centuries and originated in Woodstock in Oxfordshire in the early 1700s where they specialised in making chatelaines.  A chatelaine is hung from the waist, made up of a series of…

  • Cupid

    This little brooch is from the 1930s.  It is not a valuable brooch, it is made of ‘white metal’, the term given to items not made of silver and decorated with enamel and marcasites.  The enamel is not of particular quality.  I think it is probably British, but it has no markings so I can’t…