Bakelite fruits and veggies

If you follow me on Twitter you probably saw a photo of some bakelite and wood dress clips a little while back. Well, I decided to sell them off-Etsy to a collector in New York (this guy) who maintains a website called The Bakelite Museum among other pursuits. The "museum" portion of the site has one of the best resource collections of bakelite photographs I've seen online. It was the only place where I was able to find examples of pieces similar to mine - carved wood, carved bakelite, "garden" subject. In fact, there is an entire section devoted to fruit and vegetable bakelite figurals. Have you ever seen a bakelite potato? How about beets? Or asparagus? It is worth a visit just to see the asparagus, trust me.

Images courtesy of The Bakelite Museum, ebay and Morning Glory Antiques

Jewelry mark resources

If you collect or sell antique jewelry, I highly, highly recommend this book. I got it about a year ago and it is without a doubt the most useful thing in my reference library. It contains pretty much every American mark from the 1840s through the 1970s - including some very obscure ones - as well as a history of jewelry manufacturing in this country. There have been many times that I have scoured online sources only to eventually solve a mark mystery with the help of this book!

My two favorite online jewelry mark resources (in case you are wondering!) are Illusion Jewels and Morning Glory Antiques.

Delfina Delettrez

 

                                                         

The jewelry designed by Delfina Delettrez is really something. Scrolling through her collection is a whirlwind tour of bumblebees, eyeballs, spiderwebs, kissy-lips, bold shapes and très risqué cufflinks. And apparently she just released a collection of modern hair jewelry. I'm intrigued!

Images courtesy of Delfina Delettrez

Art Deco, 100 years later

This article on the New York Times blog made me gasp. First of all, the prospect of a new "Great Gatsby" movie is just too exciting. Especially with Carey Mulligan! And then there is this jewelry by Jené DeSpain. These pieces are from her Roaring 10s collection (click on the photos to see the full descriptions). I could stand to see a lot more deco-inspired jewelry collections like this one.

Photos courtesy of Jené DeSpain

Happy birthday, Monsieur Lalique

René Lalique and his wife Alice, 1903 | carbon print photograph, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

   Side element of a corsage ornament with pinecones, 1900-1902 | gold, enamel and cast glass
   Pendant brooch with pink carnations, 1901-1902 | gold, enamel, pink sapphire, and cast glass

Vine and berries hair comb, about 1900 | gold and ivory

 Branch brooch with cherry blossoms, 1900-1902 | gold, diamond, and cast glass
Fringe necklace with blister pearls, about 1902-1903 | gold, enamel and pearl

Today is the 151st birthday of René Lalique (b.1860, France), the most important jeweler of the Art Nouveau period. His jewelry is fascinating because it flawlessly incorporates so many materials - metals, precious and semi precious stones, glass, enamel - in such sophisticated designs. It is difficult to believe that these pieces are over 100 years old - they seem so relevant! If I could go back in time and spend one day watching any artist at work, it would be him. Joyeux anniversaire, Monsieur Lalique!

All images taken from Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry by Yvonne J. Markowitz and Elyse Zorn Karlin, with contributions by Susan Ward

Art Deco ring design

These artist sketches leave me pining for the Art Deco designs of yore. Just look at the rings! Oh what I would give to travel back in time and visit a jewelry counter. I love the intense structure of the settings and the strong, confident lines. This ring I just listed in the shop looks like it was created using one of these designs.

Images taken from Authentic Art Deco Jewelry Designs edited by Franco Deboni and arranged by Theodore Menten

Bookish jewelry

My friend Darin sent me a link to a company called Littlefly that makes jewelry from laminated book pages. The jewelry is colorful, shapely and basically unrecognizable as text, which I like. The jeweler Jeremy May stocks a certain variety of titles/pieces in his online shop but you can also have a piece custom made for you out of any book that you choose. He makes your ring and then gives it back to you inside the book, in the little space he "excavated" to make the ring. The book is the jewelry box and also the material source. The whole things gives me goosebumps. What book would you like to wear on your finger?

Conroy & Wilcox

The jewelry from Conroy & Wilcox has so much personality. I especially like their rings. They use a lot of yellow gold and most of their diamonds are rose cut. Their stormy-gray diamond engagement ring is oh-so-lovely.

Fantasieschliffe

I am bewildered by these examples of fantasy cut or sculptured gemstones. The craftsmen and women who do this kind of work are extremely skilled lapidarists, understanding the unique properties and tendencies of each stone to cleave, refract light, etc. Can you imagine having one of these stones custom set in a ring?! I can - I think it would be mighty nice.

See more images of gemstone carvings by American Bart Curren here. And if you are really interested, you can check out this book about the father of fantasieschliffe and his family, the Munsteiners of Germany.

Fit for a queen

This necklace looks like it could be 4000 years old, brought forth from some Mesopotamian ruin. But it wasn't - it was crafted in the 1940s by the Modernist artist/jeweler/sculptor Harry Bertoia. I don't know anything about American Modernist Jewelry, but this piece makes me want to learn. My heart is glued to my ribs right now.

See more examples of American Modernist jewelry at modernsilver.com.