Jewellery

This 18ct gold ring demonstrating French portrait photographer René Dagron’s (1819-1900) invention of microphotography quadrupled its estimate at Bonhams in Paris.

Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas were probably members. So too Charles Robert Ashbee.

A necklace composed of nine ‘Stuart crystal’ memorial slides comes for sale at Sworders’ auction of Fine Jewellery and Watches on June 27.

Featuring in the June 22 Jewellery, Watches Silver auction at Dawsons in Maidenhead is this late Victorian diamond garland necklace.

Collector and author bought pieces for their historical interest as well as beauty

This 15th century ring, set with a rhomb-shaped table-cut sapphire, is engraved with lilies and other flowers issuing from a crescent bowl.

London dealer Susan Ollemans Oriental Art specialises in Asian jewellery.

The professional goldsmith and jewellery designer was not the first woman in such a role but received significant prominence in the Victorian era under her own name

It’s not unusual for an antique jewel containing a particularly high-quality stone to be broken up after its purchase – the intrinsic value greater than the value of the whole.

A group of design objects consigned by British textile artist and designer Ann Sutton (b.1935) was offered as part of the Lyon & Turnbull Modern Made sale.

In the years after the Wall Street Crash in 1929, some of the less expensive gemstones became popular in jewellery manufacture.

The Fine Jewellery auction at Fellows in Birmingham on June 15 includes this Arts & Crafts silver blue gem and bluster pearl foliate pendant.

Led by the multi-estimate £90,000 bid for an intaglio carved with the portrait of a Roman Caesar (see ATG No 2590), the strong market in the glyphic arts was evident among other lots offered at Fellows 25% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham on April 13

A 1920s-30s platinum and 18ct gold french diamond and emerald bracelet and a ring said to have been given by Edward VIII to Wallis Simpson sold for £42,000 (guide £25,000-35,000).

For those wishing to know more about the crown jewels it is wise to tune into a BADA Friends Tea Time Talk with Nicholas Merchant.

In this coronation week, I thought I would share some moments when my path working in the jewellery trade has crossed with that of members of the royal family, including our new king and the late queen.

This Art Deco sapphire and diamond brooch, c.1925, cased by Collingwood, was a gift to Princess Margaret from her grandmother Queen Mary, on her confirmation on April 15, 1946, when the princess was aged 15.

The Armoury of St James’s features a large number of coronation-related items in its next bulletin titled Cyphers & Symbols.

Cotswold saleroom Kinghams (23% buyer’s premium) offered a series of four stick pins gifted by Queen Victoria.

A garnet intaglio ring was bid to 450-times estimate at an auction in Birmingham after speculation that it could be one of the ‘lost’ Marlborough gems.