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  • Poinsettia

    This poinsettia brooch is enamel on metal and is quite three dimensional in nature.  During December I try and wear a Christmas themed brooch most days, I like this one because it is not a tree! Legend has it that in the 16th century a young girl in Mexico called Maria too poor to provide…

  • Fan

    This Fan brooch is marked silver and ‘Siam’.  Since 1949 Siam has been called Thailand. The majority of Siamese Silver jewellery was made between 1930s and 1990s, with figures, buildings or animals depicting characters and scenes from Buddhist and Hindu tales and religious texts. Unusually for a piece of Siamese silver, my brooch depicts a…

  • Lucky Cameo

    This is the first cameo I ever bought. I had to fight off several dealers at an auction in Oxford who also had their beady eyes on it.  It is a large shell cameo, set in gold.  The overall brooch measures three inches across (7cm) with the actual cameo measuring a full two and half…

  • Coach & Horses

    This small Sterling Silver brooch was made in Germany in the 1930s or maybe even earlier.  The reason I like it so much is the delicate detail of the enamelling and the added marcasites which give this brooch its charm.  The coach part of the brooch is just 2.5 cm long and within this tiny…

  • Geisha Girl & Domino

    The Geisha Girl is by the Spanish design company Ceraselle, based in Seville.  She is made out of ceramic.  My husband bought her for me as a Christmas present from the Victoria and Albert museum in London.  It was one of the pieces inspired by the museum’s refurbished Toshiba Gallery of Japanese Art, which reopened…

  • Citrine and Pearls

    This brooch is dainty, measuring less than an inch (2 cm) and the central stone is a delicate colour. The name Citrine comes from its yellow colour, and the first recorded use of citrine as a colour in English was in 1386. Its Latin origin is ‘citrino’ meaning lemon.  Citrines can range in colour from pale yellow…

  • Trio of Owls

    Each of these three owls is carved from a single tagua nut, a seed from a palm that grows in South American rainforests.  The tagua nut is known as vegetable ivory and is seen as an environmentally sound alternative to animal ivory.  Once the seed has been dried it can be dyed or left in…

  • Elephant in a Hat

    This brooch is cast in metal which has been mixed with copper to give a rich reddy brown hue.  For a small piece (the elephant is only 2” long (5cm) maximum) of unnamed costume jewellery there is a good deal of detail in the casting. You can see the folds of skin, tassels on the…

  • Boater

    This boater brooch is from the 1980s; though it’s not marked so I cannot attribute it to a known maker it is a well-made and weighty piece, which is often a good sign quality.  The main part of the brooch has been detailed giving the effect of the straw of the boater and the ribbon…

  • Cleopatra Cameo

    Cameos became popular during the 19th century, the most common are made of shell like this one.  The craftsman carves away the design so that it stands out in relief from the background. This achieves a contrast between the design (image) in one colour and the background in another.  This cameo depicts Cleopatra, she is…