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Art deco filigree sapphire ring, worn mark

glitterata

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
4,255
Antique & vintage jewelry lovers, I'd love your thoughts on the ring I bought this weekend at NYC JAWS.

It's a 1920s platinum dome ring. It has a bezel-set oval 6x4mm sapphire in the center set off by filigree and trailing curves of diamond melee. The workmanship is very fine, and the little diamonds are full cut. The sapphire is a deep royal blue color, abraded on the top facets and underneath at the culet, with inclusions throughout the stone. The seller pointed out the faint remains of a very worn mark on the shank: "T[...]ANY & C[...]." The ring has clearly been resized more than once (it's currently size 7 1/4), and the platinum stamp is long gone. Because the Tiffany & Co mark (if that's what it was) is too worn to be legible or verifiable, the seller did not charge a Tiffany price, just a very reasonable price for a pretty antique art deco platinum ring.

I'm curious whether this was, in fact, made by Tiffany. Either way is fine with me. I bought it because I loved the ring and did not (and would not) pay extra for the name. My guesses are:

1. It's a genuine Tiffany ring with a very worn mark and sapphire. Judging by the quality of the workmanship, this seems plausible to me.
2. It was made in the 1920s by some other maker with the mark "T...ANY & C..." (Or maybe that T is part of something else, like an inscription--it's much more faint than the "ANY & C"--and the maker is really some other business with "...ANY & C" in its name.) This also seems plausible to me. Whoever they were, they did a good job.
3. There are solder marks where the shank has been cut and resoldered, presumably when the ring was resized over the years. But I can also imagine them being interpreted as evidence that somebody cut off this ring's original shank and replaced it with one from a Tiffany ring with the Tiffany mark, to make this ring appear to be by Tiffany. That seems like a lot of trouble to go to, especially to produce such an unconvincing result, but I guess it's possible. (Wouldn't there be easier ways to fake a Tiffany mark?)

What do you think?

Here I'm wearing my 1.9 ct cornflower blue Ceylon sapphire too, and none of these photos are in direct sun, just bright daylight. These photos don't capture the twinkly, fiery sparkle of the diamonds--they're very lively. The deco sapphire is much darker than my cornflower, but it's not black or greenish as it appears in some of the photos.

IMG_2665 (1).jpeg

IMG_2776 (1).jpeg

IMG_2821 (1).jpeg

IMG_2822 (1).jpeg

Photo on 10-30-22 at 3.36 PM #2.jpeg
 

LilAlex

Ideal_Rock
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Mar 3, 2018
Messages
3,587
Very pretty!

It looks like it was well made and well loved (and a little squashed in the gallery) as opposed to poorly made more recently. Bigger photos would help but it looks like quality work.

The piercing looks nice -- although unusual (can't recall another like that).

I would bet that the Tiffany inscription is real but, like you, I would not have paid a premium for it. Easy enough to find inscriptions from that era -- there was a thread fairly recently on it. (About option #2, I doubt it is a "TUFANY & Co" that has worn down. :cool2:)

Good find!
 

lulu_ma

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
4,081
I don't know if this is actually a Tiffany & Co ring, but I think it's very pretty!

I just did a quick search on Tiffany rings that look of this era and the font looks a little different. The rings were on 1stdibs, but I am strangely unable to paste the links here.
 

glitterata

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
4,255
Thank you, LilAlex and lulu_ma.

I didn't mean "TUFFANY & Co" (ha!!)--I was thinking more along the lines of "ALBANY & CORNWALL," or some such.

I looked for Tiffany marks from the period too. They don't look quite like mine, but they don't all look quite like one another, either; I saw a lot of variation depending on the size and style of the piece being marked. The letters on mine are weirdly spaced out. But some of the difference could be explained by wear. Or mine could not be a Tiffany mark at all.

The other puzzling thing is the wear on the BOTTOM of the sapphire. I can't think how it got abraded down there. Weird.

Here's a bigger photo, though maybe not very sharp. The ring is old and well made (if somewhat worn), I promise, even though I'm not so good at getting my phone to focus clearly. IMG_2779 (1).jpeg
 

Mrsz1ppy

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
1,297
It’s late here, so pictures tomorrow.

I have 2 pieces from Lang that I feel confident are Tiffany of the right time period.

My response, on reading this a viewing the photo, is that the ampersand & is exactly like mine.

I will post pics tomorrow.
 

LilAlex

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Messages
3,587
The other puzzling thing is the wear on the BOTTOM of the sapphire. I can't think how it got abraded down there. Weird.

Like the culet? I have seen vintage crystal ring-holders with a mandrel, shall we say. If the culet overhangs the metalwork, it could get chipped when placed on the ring-holder a thousand times. Or the ring could have been squashed at one point -- and that could account for the squished gallery and the (maybe) new shank. You have seen those "Can this be fixed?!" threads featuring pretty Edwardian rings...?
 

lulu_ma

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
4,081
Thank you, LilAlex and lulu_ma.

I didn't mean "TUFFANY & Co" (ha!!)--I was thinking more along the lines of "ALBANY & CORNWALL," or some such.

I looked for Tiffany marks from the period too. They don't look quite like mine, but they don't all look quite like one another, either; I saw a lot of variation depending on the size and style of the piece being marked. The letters on mine are weirdly spaced out. But some of the difference could be explained by wear. Or mine could not be a Tiffany mark at all.

The other puzzling thing is the wear on the BOTTOM of the sapphire. I can't think how it got abraded down there. Weird.

Here's a bigger photo, though maybe not very sharp. The ring is old and well made (if somewhat worn), I promise, even though I'm not so good at getting my phone to focus clearly. IMG_2779 (1).jpeg

I love the detail!
 

glitterata

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
4,255
Thank you! The ring holder explanation totally makes sense--I can see how that would do a number on the culet. The back of the ring is pretty open, so if someone used one of those dishes with a little cone in the middle and stuck the ring on it face up, the tip of the cone could have destroyed the back of the sapphire. (I don't think this ring was ever seriously squashed, by the way, just worn.)

IMG_2660 (1).jpeg
 

Mrsz1ppy

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
1,297
It’s late here, so pictures tomorrow.

I have 2 pieces from Lang that I feel confident are Tiffany of the right time period.

My response, on reading this a viewing the photo, is that the ampersand & is exactly like mine.

I will post pics tomorrow.

Here you go! Various Tiffany marks
It’s late here, so pictures tomorrow.

I have 2 pieces from Lang that I feel confident are Tiffany of the right time period.

My response, on reading this a viewing the photo, is that the ampersand & is exactly like mine.

I will post pics tomorrow.

Here you go. Various Tiffany marks. 2 old, 1 2001. 060C1B98-D8A4-46C3-A814-79B9FA9086AE.jpeg
 

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