BROCHES AND PINS IN THE ANNIVERSARY AUCTION

Brooches are pieces of jewelry that have a lot to tell - and sometimes the stories go back to antiquity. As in the case of the gold coin from the time of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), which is incorporated into a brooch from about 1915. The obverse of the coin depicts a profile view of the goddess Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet. The reverse shows the goddess Nike facing left, holding an implied wreath with a trident below in her right hand and a stylis with her left. The coin inscription names King Alexander. The brooch is a gift from the Greek royal couple Paul and Friederike on the occasion of a state visit to Bonn in September 1956 (lot 305).

Antiquity also brings into play a brooch by Carlo Giuliano (1831-1895) (lot 278). The goldsmith and jeweler began his work in Naples for Alessandro Castellani. In 1860, he was sent to London to establish a branch of Casa Castellani. He left Castellani in the early 1860s and went on to work for London's top jewelers. In 1875, Giuliano went into business for himself, opening a retail store at 115 Piccadilly. Influenced by his great teacher Castellani, who had brought Etruscan-style jewelry back to prominence after 2,500 years, Giuliano made a name for himself as one of the founders of what is known as Archaeological Jewelry. Our brooch (including two earrings), made around 1870, clearly shows the reference to the Etruscan models. Especially the use of granules, gold balls of different sizes applied to a surface, as well as the bow shape of the pieces, can be found in Etruscan jewelry from the time around 700 BC.

Also a stick pin made in England in 1925 (lot 319) and a brooch also made in Portugal around 1925 (lot 321) should delight friends of historical jewelry. Both brooches are set with emeralds and diamonds. In the Art Nouveau era, "chimeras" were popular motifs in jewelry design. One of the auctioned brooches shows such a creature - half dragon, half snake. The gold surface of the piece originating from America was very finely engraved and decorated with diamonds (lot 291).

The themes are varied, and nature is often at play. And so it blossoms and flutters in the September auction. For example, there is a pansy brooch from America (lot 292), as well as a Boucheron "Églantine (Vine Rose)" flower brooch (lot 359) and a brooch in the shape of a bouquet of flowers (lot 346).

Other brooches show motifs from the animal world. Butterflies (lot 345) and flamingos (lot 383) are represented, and a diamond-decorated lion brooch by Cartier, made in Paris around the turn of the century (lot 290). And then there is an Italian panther brooch with about 970 diamonds and two emeralds, as sparkling eyes of the predator (lot 347). By the way, the panther as a jewelry motif has a long tradition. Jeanne Toussaint (1887 - 1976), a good friend of Coco Chanel, took up the theme and introduced it to the jewelry world in 1918.