Calling I'mDanny -- Great Jewelers (including Heyman)

[JewelFreak]

Danny -- Easier to start a new thread than hijack the other one. Glad you like the Heyman things -- if you look in the archives at Sotheby's or Christies, some of the old pieces are breathtaking. Originally Heyman made jewelry for other sellers such as Cartier but also sells under their own name. I just keep my fingers crossed they manage to keep the firm in the family for another (& another) generation!

One of my favorite jewelers in addition is David Webb. Magnificent barely touches it. One of the great jewelers of all time imo. Started in the 1940s & Webb died in '75. His partner took over the company & sadly downgraded quality -- using Webb's designs but lower-quality materials & workmanship was less exquisite & precise. Elizabeth Taylor had 4 pgs of Webb pieces in her Love Affair w/Jewels book. Archives at auction houses have some of his beautiful items -- that's where I first heard of him. Examples:

 

[Imdanny]

Laurie, wow! Much appreciated!

I didn't know there were two "periods" of David Webb, and I didn't have any idea about the quality of the first one.

I did learn yesterday about Heyman making pieces for Cartier and VC&A (and others). It stunned me know that many pieces we think of as Cartier and VC&A were made by Heyman. For example (as I'm sure you know) Elizabeth Taylor's Taylor-Burton diamond was set in a Cartier necklace, but was actually made by Heyman. I've seen her book (I don't own a copy) years ago, and I didn't remember (or didn't really have the time to look) at who made all of the pieces. I do remember she had a JLC watch with the same face as my JLC MUT (and of course the Krupp and some of the other famous pieces).

You are really giving me an education in this. I LOVE this stuff. More than diamonds, colored stones, precious metals, jewels that are necessarily royal. JEWELS are what I like best.

Your pictures are amazing!

Thanks so much!

 

[JewelFreak]

With conception, design, materials, execution, jewelry becomes art, to me. The apex is Cartier's panther bracelet: not only is it gaspingly beautiful in line & mass, it's a darned good portrait of a panther with superb gems, and its mechanical elements still work to perfection decades later. All elements come together with unsurpassed quality.

Here's another wonderful jeweler: Rene Boivin (wish there were accents on this keyboard). His wife Jeanne was the real creative brain, although he started the firm before he married her. Rene died in 1917 & Jeanne continued the business with several women designers, very unusual in Paris in those days. The signature elements were elegant lines, twists, and trembling components. After her death in 1959 Boivin continued & was bought by Asprey in the '70s. Some of their stuff is too Art Deco for me but the quality is spectacular.

 

[JewelFreak]

Michele della Valle, another wonderful jeweler & designer, is still working, his business headquartered in Geneva. He designed his first piece at 16. Opened his own shop in 1978. I think his artistry is masterful and beautiful, his worksmanship exquisite. He uses titanium, unusual, a great deal in his sculptured pieces.

 

[JewelFreak]

Hope I'm not boring with my enthusiasms & idols here! Last one: Sterle (accent aigue over the last e). In 1934, Pierre Sterle opened his own business, creating jewelry for houses such as Boucheron and Chaumet. He was a major award winning designer notable for his innovative approach using baguette-cut diamonds and colored gemstones in sweeping, curling lines. His love of nature played out in his favorite motifs: birds, flowers, leaves, arrows, feathers and bows. Aside from the sheer beauty and grace of Sterle's work, his greatest contribution to the jewelry industry was the invention of a gold plaiting technique called Til d'ange (Angel Tiles) in 1957, permitting the creation of fringes, manes, tails, and flower accents. Chaumet purchased the firm from Sterle in 1976.

 

[texaskj]

JF, you sure aren't boring me. Those are just amazing. I can almost see the feet moving on that panther brooch.
Keep 'em coming if you've got more.

 

[JewelFreak]

That is a work of art, isn't it? Poor PS would be overloaded if I put up everything I have. I keep a file of pieces that knock me out, found browsing around the web -- when I'm cranky or in the dumps these pics actually cheer me right up.

Here are a few more various ones I especially love.

 

[Imdanny]

Laurie, thanks for these!

I'm a bit of a jewel freak myself!

 

[jewelerman]

JF,
I'm in awe!Thanks for posting this beautiful jewelry and including David Webb!I discovered Webb in the 1980s and his earlier work is brilliant! i have been obsessed with jewelry design since i started making jewelry after my 12th birthday and one of my greatest past times is to discover new designers out there that are making their mark in the jewelry trade. I remember when i first started in the trade in the 1970s Tiffany & Company was making bold moves in promoting fresh designers like Elsa Peritti,Paloma Picasso and Angela Cummings.While i enjoy seeing new design ,I am drawn to the old world masters of the trade...1920S Cartier,Edwardian period Tiffany and Lalique, the 1940's Falco and Vurdura ,1950s Tiffany(J.Shlumberger) Van Ceef and Cartier,1960s-70s Bulgari, and 1980s Harry Winston!I think Heyman is very under rated and the quality of craftmenship is superb!Have you seen their multi-colored sapphire and diamond necklace suites froms the 1950s?Stunning!I hope that this thread will grow so i can come here daily for my dose of designer jewelry!Thanks!

 

[jewelerman]

JF,Sorry about the misS-spelling on Flato and Verdura! One other great 1930-40s designer that i dont think gets enough reconition is Seaman Schweps.Do you have anything by him in you catolog of pictures? JM

 

[JewelFreak]

You hit on my faves too, JM! The older stuff where the workmanship is unequaled. I suppose Heyman is not well known -- (not sure about undervalued; their pieces often exceed estimates at auction) -- because they made so much for other houses. It is an injustice for sure! Peretti et al. never thrilled me; ok design but not enough for Cloud 9.

I have a huge file of magnificent pieces -- if I put them all up I'd get thrown off here for using too much bandwidth. Verdura is one of my most admired jewelers -- here are a few of his things. (He's another who should get more notoriety but he also started out making jewelry for others.)

 

[JewelFreak]

I didn't realize these would come out so huge!! One thing I love about Verdura is his humor -- some of his pieces are just plain cute in concept. The first one here's so complicated it was easier to include the catalog description. I have no idea how large or small these are but I'd imagine miniatures. Bet he had a blast thinking up the elements in them. (Love that he signed the botanicals "Fulco Painted This.")

 

[JewelFreak]

A couple of Seaman Schepps pieces, though they didn't do things with the flamboyance of some other designers. Beautiful design.

 

[JewelFreak]

Don't have any Flato -- you see his pieces not so often & they are gorgeous; again workmanship knocks you out.

VC&A made such a varied assortment in the old days, you can't put them in any category. All done with perfection. The vastly differing styles & types of pieces makes me think they had designers & bench people with diverse talents & just let 'em get on with it. What a place to work! Their jewelry ranges from the bird above to more conventional things, still with their characteristic flair.

 

[yennyfire]

Oh my. What gorgeous works of art! Thanks so much for sharing them! I never would have seen them or heard of some of these artists if not for PS....

 

[JewelFreak]

I would like to have a chance to compare old Schlumberger from Tiffany with the current version. My prediction would be that there's a noticeable difference in workmanship to anyone who knows jewelry. Tiffany is a mass jeweler these days & why put the money into exquisite (& slow) craftsmanship when customers will pay the same zillions for the name without the superb quality? I'm not sure if Tiff's is making the complicated old pieces -- there are a few newer Birds on a Rock out there, but don't think I've seen the really difficult marvelous things still produced. His imagination was just amazing.

 

[jewelerman]

JF,
thanks for posting the great pics of Schlumbergers work! the three bow choker is stunning and i agree that the work quality would never be equaled again! it has a edwardian/russian vib going on!what do you think of the big movie star pieces created by Raymond C.Yard?Always liked his big citrine and ruby deco pieces from the 30s!

 

[jewelerman]

JF, Speaking of edwardian russian...what you got in that vast catolog by probably one of the best jewelers that ever created jewelry...Carl Faberg'e! I also would not mind seeing a little some thing by Rene Lelique(another designer who changed how jewelry was designed!)and you can even pick something without wings or claws!

 

[JewelFreak]

you can even pick something without wings or claws!

There is a lot of wildlife in my files, JM! Few bugs, though, ick. A lot of the production of the expert jewelers was animals & attracts me because they require such an incredible array of skills, from concept & design to sculptural, cutting & setting & even mechanical in some cases. I saw a video & can't find it now, sadly, of a Sotheby's guy detailing the Panther bracelet -- how it's constructed, how its articulation & closure are done & still work perfectly after 60 yrs, how the framework is made. Any close-up shows you the breathtaking accuracy of the panther modeling & it even has personality! Plus, of course, the gems, which need no adjectives. I think that bracelet is the pinnacle of achievement of jewelry as art.

OK, anyway -- I don't have any Lalique photos; art nouveau isn't my thing. Faberge neither -- but because their work is so stupendous & so well represented online, it's easy to find whenever you want. I mostly keep photos of pieces that go into private collections & won't appear again soon.

How about a few old-time Boucheron jewels? No claws or wings, but some petals.

 

[JewelFreak]

How about some Harry Winston when Harry still rode herd?

 

[coati]

JF-I'm so glad you started this lovely thread! I love so many of the aforementioned jewelers. Hope you don't mind if I add? I'd love to see this thread grow to many pages of incredible jewels!

Below are a couple of pieces I've been admiring from Hemmerle.

"The house of Hemmerle was founded in 1893, when two brothers, Joseph and Anton, took over a jewelry business in Munich. Quickly recognized for its stylish designs and sophisticated fabrication techniques, it soon became an official purveyor to the royal Bavarian court. In 1904, Hemmerle moved its shop to premises on the fashionable Maximilianstrasse, a location it still occupies. For the next two generations, it dabbled in military ornaments and insignia, its creations influenced by the rigorous discipline of the early 20th-century Bauhaus and New Objectivity design movements. In 1995, when Stefan and Sylveli Hemmerle took control of the business, the company underwent an aesthetic transformation." - Click to read more from the New York Times article on Hemmerle

Tassel earrings with rubies and sapphires set in pink gold and silver



Tourmaline and sapphire necklace with conch pearls! (an exquisite use of conch pearls, I might add)



And I don't know if you have seen Hemmerle's book titled Delicious Jewels, but it's definitely worth perusal. Here's Vogue's coverage of the book with great pics. http://www.vogue.it/en/vogue-gioiello/curiosity/2011/05/hemmerle.

Peas by Hemmerle with jadeite and demantoid garnets


I'm so fond of this house.

eta-had to add these cufflinks with spinel.
Love the use of wood. Such clean, contemporary design.

 

[jewelerman]

wow!that peas brooch is soooooo cool! Thanks for posting the pic of the interesting old house!That made my day!