Cartier

While prices and interest have been declining in desk sets since computer laptops rendered them largely redundant, there are exceptions.

The star of a recent Chiswick Auctions’ (25/12% buyer’s premium) Jewellery auction was an Art Deco diamond and rock crystal Cartier brooch, c.1925.

In the thrifty years after the Wall Street Crash, many Cartier jewels used fewer large diamonds and more colourful secondary stones. What they lost in intrinsic value they more than made up for with the ‘wow’ factor.

A recent sale at Dorotheum (28/25/22% buyer’s premium) in Vienna was topped by this spectacular diamond and aquamarine tiara-necklace by Cartier London.

John Benjamin reviews the sale of an exceptional collection of desk clocks and Cartier jewels at Bonhams.

Differing echoes of the First World War attracted bidders at Dominic Winter’s (20% buyer’s premium) Cirencester auction in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.

The marathon 12-hour 'Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence' auction of jewellery and works of art from the Al Thani family held in New York last month was a once-in-a-generation event.

Legend has it that, while on safari in Africa with her lover and employer Louis Cartier, Jeanne Toussaint spotted a panther and immediately exclaimed: “Onyx, diamonds, emeralds – a brooch!” The Cartier range of feline jewels was born.