Tag Archive | Arts and Crafts jewellery

Some of my Arts and Crafts jewellery

I have a few pieces of British Arts and Crafts jewellery in my shop right now. When I started selling jewellery I had hoped to sell nothing but Arts and Crafts jewellery, but it proved far harder to come by than I had naïvely thought – it is very collectable and so pieces get snapped up quickly and often at prices that are beyond me. I have been lucky to get my hands on a few pieces, though.

Some of the British Arts and Crafts pieces in my Etsy shop.

Some of the British Arts and Crafts pieces in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery. Click on photo for further details of Arts and Crafts (and Arts and Crafts style or inspired) pieces I have for sale.

Arts and Crafts amethyst ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Arts and Crafts amethyst ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Lovely Arts and Crafts ring, for sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details.

Lovely Arts and Crafts ring, for sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Zoltan White & Co Arts and Crafts bloodstone ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Zoltan White & Co. Arts and Crafts bloodstone ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Arts and Crafts Liberty or Liberty-style blister pearl brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photos for details.

Arts and Crafts Liberty or Liberty-style blister pearl brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photos for details.

Huge seven stone amethyst Late Arts and Crafts ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Huge seven stone amethyst Late Arts and Crafts ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Arts and Crafts blister pearl and sterling silver necklace. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Arts and Crafts blister pearl and sterling silver necklace. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Late Arts and Crafts sterling silver brooch, in a letter P, by William Hair Haseler, and hallmarked in 1930.

Late Arts and Crafts sterling silver brooch in a letter P, by William Hair Haseler, and hallmarked in 1930. (NOW SOLD).

Late Arts and Crafts art glass and sterling silver floral ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Late Arts and Crafts art glass and sterling silver floral ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

 

Pretty in pink

I was never a girly girl and so pink isn’t my top colour (give me orange any day). But I have a couple of pieces of rose quartz jewellery in my Etsy shop at the moment that I really, really like: the colour is so delicate and light, and the crystal so clear that I find both immensely appealing.

Skonvirke rose quartz and silver ring. For sale in my Etsy shop:

Skonvirke rose quartz and silver ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

I love this Skønvirke ring, which dates from dates from c. 19101920. Skønvirke (often anglicised to Skonvirke, and meaning ‘beautiful work’) was a Nordic offshoot of the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements, with its artistic centre in Denmark. Georg Jensen and Evald Nielsen were perhaps its most famous proponents. This ring isn’t signed, but is unmistakably Skønvirke in style, with the free-form globular and organic silver designs on the shoulders of the ring, and the beautiful split collet. Even though it is almost 100 years old, it looks amazingly modern and funky. The natural striations within the quartz add interest and life.

Rose quartz Arts and Crafts pendant necklace, probably German. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Rose quartz Arts and Crafts pendant necklace, probably German. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

The second piece is an Arts and Crafts pendant necklace, probably made in Germany and dating from just a little earlier than the ring, ie from between 1900 and 1910. It seems likely that originally the necklace had two of the dangling teardrop shaped pendants below the circular cabochon, on single chains of differing lengths, giving an asymmetrical appearance. At some point in the past one of the teardrops was lost, and the necklace reconfigured so that the remaining teardrop hung centrally below the cabochon.  There is some damage on one side of the circular cabochon, with fractures, and a crack and chip in the teardrop, but these aren’t too noticeable given the overall striated appearance of the quartz crystal. It is still a very pretty and delicate piece of jewellery, and perfect for someone who loves a piece with a hundred years’-worth of story.

Lovely as they are, I’m not a Barbie Girl just yet. This is as close to pretty in pink as I am likely to get:

The Psychedelic Furs’ 1981 album Talk Talk Talk was one of the soundtracks to my early ’80s …

Mary Thew, Arts and Crafts jeweller

Mary Russell Thew (1876—1953, née Mary Russell Frew) was a Scottish Arts and Crafts jeweller, perhaps best known for her free-flowing use of silver wire, with trails and beads, as well as using materials such as abalone and cabochon semi-precious gemstones. Her work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Partly gilded silver brooch with abalone, jade, turquoise and citrine. In the collections of the V&A.

Mary was born in Hillhead in Glasgow in 1876. She studied for a short time at the Glasgow School of Art in the mid 1890s, becoming friends there with Jessie Marion King and Jessie’s husband E.A. Taylor, before marrying her husband, James Mursell Thew, in 1903. James was an engineer, and enjoyed silversmithing as a hobby and making pieces for Mary; she soon began making designs herself. James died after only a few years of marriage, and with a young son to support, Mary decided to turn her hobby into her career. She took a short course of four lessons in jewellery making from famed Arts and Crafts jeweller Rhoda Wager, who had also studied at the Glasgow School. This must have been some time before 1913, as after that date Wager emigrated, first to Fiji and then to Australia, where she was to live for the rest of her life. Mary became a member of the  ‘Greengate Close Coterie’, a group of friends and artisans who came to live for extended periods in the village of Kirkcudbright, where King and Taylor had settled in 1915. From 1911 Mary was a member of the Glasgow Society of Lady Artists, and she won the Society’s Lauder Award for a case of jewellery in 1925. She also exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. An undated jewellery box of Mary’s is marked ‘Mary R. Thew, 704 Anniesland Road, Glasgow W.4.’  She also lived in Helensburgh at some point in her life.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Silver brooch with a galleon design, set with freshwater pearls, amethysts and citrines. Sold by Tadema Gallery. Source: Zorn Karlin 1993, 143.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Silver and abalone galleon brooch. Sold by Dukes Auctioneers.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Silver and abalone galleon brooch. Sold by Van Den Bosch.

Mary took much inspiration from the jewellery of foreign countries whenever she travelled. She also designed Celtic-inspired pieces, as well as making jewellery with the popular Arts and Crafts galleon motif. Her freeform wirework pieces are perhaps her most iconic, though: trails and beads of wire wrapped to form a circular frame, on which are mounted cabochon semi-precious stones or abalone plaques or freshwater pearls.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Silver and carnelian wirework brooch. Sold by Sworders Auctioneers.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Silver, chalcedony and freshwater pearl wirework brooch. Sold by Tadema Gallery.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Silver, chalcedony and moonstone wirework brooch. Sold by Bonhams.

Mary Thew. Brooch recently sold on eBay.

Mary Thew. Silver and amethyst wirework brooch recently sold on eBay.

Mary Thew. Sold by Van Den Bosch.

Mary Thew. Silver and lapis lazuli wirework brooch. Sold by Van Den Bosch.

Attributed by the sellers to Sibyl Dunlop, but I am pretty sure this is by Mary Thew.

Attributed by the sellers to Sibyl Dunlop, but I am pretty sure this is by Mary Thew. Moonstone and Biwa pearls wirework brooch, with what looks like gilded silver (hard to tell as the photo isn’t the best). Sold by Dreweatts & Bloomsbury.

In 1939 Mary was living in Milngavie, a small town some 10 km (6 miles) north-west of Glasgow. Here Nan Muirhead Moffat, a newspaper reporter, described her workshop:

The desk is surmounted by shelves from which hang the numerous tools required for this complicated craft. The jeweller sits on a high Windsor chair … Within easy reach are her bottle of sperm oil and sulphuric acid, borax (used as a flux), a polishing lathe, a rolling machine, a vice, and a sandbag for hammering repousse. In the sketch, the artists is shown revolving a ring, on a wire ‘wig’, in a Bunsen-burner flame, while she uses foot bellows. While working, she always wears a leather apron and another is fixed under the desk to catch any jewels or pieces of metal which might be dropped.

Mary Thew at work in her studio in her garden.

Mary Thew at work in her studio in her garden.

The reporter then went to look at Mary’s jewellery:

Brooches, pendants, rings, ear-rings, chains, bracelets, buckles and links shimmered and glowed in the afternoon sunshine. I also saw beautiful crosses, showing Celtic influence, with characteristic inter-lacings and whorls, and I admired silver butter-forks, spoons and key-rings.

Mary Thew. Matirx turquoise and silver Celtic cross pendant, signed on the back with Mary's 'T' mark. Her signed pieces are very rare. For sale on Etsy: click on photo for details.

Mary Thew. Matrix turquoise and silver Celtic cross pendant, signed on the back with Mary’s punched ‘T’ mark. Her signed pieces are very rare. For sale on Etsy: click on photo for details.

Mary Thew opal and pearl-decorated Celtic cross. No mention in the description if it was signed on the back. Sold in 2006 by Lyon and Turnbull.

Mary Thew opal and pearl-decorated Celtic cross. No mention in the description if it was signed on the back. Sold in 2006 by Lyon and Turnbull.

Mrs Thew told me that once she had to make silver hinges for an old book, belonging to Professor Latts, the cracked covers of which were made from the wood of an old battleship. Recently she had been making a great many hand-wrought silver tops for the fashionable embroidered handbags. She had also made copies, to order, of antique jewellery.

The artist has an instinct for creating a pleasing balance between space and decoration in her work, and she has a fine colour sense. She neither overloads with ornamentation nor allows her devotion to detail to detract from the general effect of her design. 

Entrancing treasures

In the drawers a heterogeneous collection of gems from all over the world was mixed in an entrancing disorder—American jade from Salt Lake City, Scottish pearls, Connemara marble, New Zealand shells, Mexican fire opals, corals, malachite, crystals, moss-agates, green pebbles, and magic moonstones.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Silver, abalone and freshwater pearl brooch. Sold by Tadema Gallery. Source: Zorn Karlin 1993, 143.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Silver and abalone brooch, for sale at Tadema Gallery.

Mary Thew. Silver and abalone brooch. Sold at Bonhams.

Mary Thew. Silver and abalone brooch. Sold by Bonhams.

Mary Thew 10

Mary Thew. Silver and Abalone brooch. Sold by Auction Atrium.

Mary Thew didn’t often sign her work, but when she did it was usually in the form of a ‘T’ punched on to the back of the piece.

Celtic cross pendant signed by Mary Thew: a 'T' made of punched dots, punched through from the other side before the matrix turquoise stone was set. Signed pieces are very rare. For sale on Etsy: click on photo for details.

Celtic cross pendant signed by Mary Thew: a ‘T’ made of punched dots, punched through from the other side before the matrix turquoise stone was set. Signed pieces are very rare. For sale on Etsy: click on photo for details.

Her work is now very sought-after, and is sold by specialist jewellery galleries in London such as Tadema Gallery and Van Den Bosch.

I was very lucky to find an unattributed Mary Thew brooch, which I sold in my Etsy shop. It wasn’t signed but had the characteristics of her work, including freeform wirework, trails and beads, as well as an abalone plaque. The Director of Decorative Arts at Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh corroborated my identification. The day I found that brooch was a very special one indeed, and for a short while I was the proud possessor of a Mary Thew masterpiece! I’m pleased to report that it has since returned to Scotland, its ancestral home.

The Mary Thew brooch I sold in my Etsy shop.

The Mary Thew brooch I sold in my Etsy shop.

Another view of my Mary Thew brooch.

Another view of my Mary Thew brooch.

Mary Thew (attrib.) silver and abalone brooch, sold on eBay in November 2015 and a companion piece to my brooch.

Mary Thew silver and abalone brooch, sold on eBay in November 2015 and a companion piece to my brooch.

Another view, showing the trails and beads and flowers.

Another view, showing the silver trails and beads and flowers.

Given the wide range of jewellery types that Mary Thew made, as mentioned in the 1939 article, it would be wonderful to see more examples of her non-brooch jewellery. Tadema Gallery has sold a bracelet of hers, but apart from that, and the two Celtic cross pendants above, the only pieces of which I have seen records have all been brooches. (The pendant/necklace below was made recently, using a Mary Thew brooch.)

Mary Thew. Silver, jade, goshenite and peal pendant and necklace. Sold by tadema Gallery.

Mary Thew. Silver, jade, goshenite and pearl pendant and necklace, made using the original brooch below and sold by Tadema Gallery.

Mary Thew.

Mary Thew. Brooch from which the above pendant/necklace was made. Tadema Gallery ref 7172.

Mary Thew. Silver and opal doublet bracelet. Sold by Tadema Gallery.

Mary Thew. Silver and opal doublet bracelet. Sold by Tadema Gallery. (Looks like lapis lazuli, but I assume that’s the colour reproduction).

An art glass faux turquoise and silver pendant, attributed to Mary Thew. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Mary was also a talented artist and musician. She died in 1953 in North Wales.

Sources: Jewelry and Metalwork in the Arts and Crafts Tradition by Elyse Zorn Karlin, 1993, 142-3; ‘Round the Studios: 7. Mrs Mary Thew – Jeweller’ by Nan Muirhead Moffat, The Glasgow Herald, 18 May 1939, 8; Mary Thew entry at the In the Artists’ Footsteps website; Mary Thew entry in Artists in Britain Since 1945—Chapter T by the Goldmark Gallery.

Further reading: Glasgow Style by Gerald and Celia Larner, Paul Harris Publishing, Edinburgh, 1979; Glasgow Girls: Women in Art and Design 1880—1920 edited by Jude Burkhauser, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1990; Tales of the Kirkcudbright Artists by Haig Gordon, Galloway Publishing, Kirkcudbright, 2006; Glasgow Girls: Artists and Designers 18901930 by Liz Arthur, Kirkcudbright, 2010.

Bernard Instone: Arts and Crafts jeweller

Bernard Instone (1891—1987) is a highly regarded and very collectable jeweller, designer and silversmith of the later British Arts and Crafts movement. I am delighted and very fortunate to have a rare Bernard Instone ring for sale in my Etsy shop.

Instone was born in Kings Norton in Birmingham, and his artistic talent was apparent from a very early age. He was only twelve years old when he won a scholarship to the Birmingham School of Jewellery at Vittoria Street, part of the Birmingham School of Art, where he studied under renowned Arts and Crafts jeweller Arthur Gaskin and learned silversmithing from 1904—1912.

Bernard Instone turquoise crescent brooch, late English Arts and Crafts jewellery. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Carnelian, sterling silver and 9 carat gold pendant by Bernard Instone. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Bernard Instone. Arts and Crafts brooch. Silver, amethyst and citrine. Diameter: 4.1 cm (1.6 in). English, c. 1930. Sold by Tadema Gallery.

Bernard Instone. Arts and Crafts brooch. Silver, amethyst and citrine. Diameter: 4.1 cm (1.6 in). English, c. 1930. Sold by Tadema Gallery. Note the hand-tooled narrow silver leaves, so characteristic of his work.

After leaving the School, Instone worked for a while for another renowned jeweller and craftsman, John Paul Cooper, in his Westerham studio, and then studied in Berlin under Emil Lettre, Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Court goldsmith. In October 1913 he was back in England, and began part-time teaching at Vittoria Street. As well as making pieces for the Gaskins and Bernard Cuzner and other teachers at the school, he also made his first commissions at this time. In 1920 he set up his own jewellers and silversmith works—Langstone Silver Works—in Digbeth in Birmingham. The company worked from there until 1954 when it moved to Lode Lane in Solihull.

Silver and moonstone earrings by Bernard Instone, sold by Tadema Gallery.

Silver and moonstone earrings by Bernard Instone c. 1930, sold by Tadema Gallery.

As well as making his own designs, Instone produced jewellery for other jewellers, such as Sibyl Dunlop: a family website about Instone records “he visited [Dunlop] every Friday at her shop in Kensington, supplying her with made up designs already marked up with the SD mark ready for the retail market and [in the] 1940s Liberty became a customer after 25 years of trying to sell to them.”  His two sons came to work in the business, and Instone retired in 1963 to the Cotswolds, where he died in 1987.

Instone was strongly inspired by nature, and floral themes occur in most of his pieces. His jewellery can be roughly divided into two types: that with enamel, and that without.

Citrine and silver necklace by Bernard Instone. For sale at Tadema Gallery.

His finest and showiest pieces belong to the latter category: fantastic brooches, rings, necklaces, bracelets, dress clips and earrings with semi-precious stones and sometimes pearls in intricate silver mounts, often with detailed hand-tooled foliage and scrolls. One of his trademark designs are long, fine handmade silver leaves with hand-tooled veins. His favourite stones to use were citrines and amethysts.

Silver, amethyst and peridot bracelet by Bernard Instone. Sold by Van Den Bosch.

The enamel pieces commonly have a floral theme, with leaves and multicoloured flowers often in sugary pastel colours, all picked out in enamel and sometime embellished with marcasites.

Bernard Instone enamel brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Bernard Instone enamel brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Another Bernard Instone enamel brooch in a different colourway. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on link for details.

Another Bernard Instone enamel brooch in a different colourway. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on link for details.

Enamel floral brooch by Bernard Instone, in the collections of the V&A Museum.

Enamel floral brooch by Bernard Instone, in the collections of the V&A Museum.

Instone sometimes signed his work ‘BI’ and ‘SILVER’, but just as often did not sign his work at all. His style is so distinctive it is easy to spot an Instone once you have got your eye in, though! (I recently saw a fabulous Instone silver and amethyst crescent brooch on eBay which was described by the seller as Victorian. It positively screams Instone! Sadly my pockets weren’t deep enough to buy it.)

Instone’s pieces were very popular during his lifetime and have become increasingly collectable. His work is held in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and is sold by London galleries such as Van Den Bosch and Tadema Gallery: the Instone jewellery in the archive sections of their websites is well worth a look.

I am so happy to be able to offer a rare Bernard Instone moonstone and silver ring in my Etsy shop. A near-identical ring was sold by Tadema Gallery (photos here, scroll down a bit and here, in high resolution). The ring has Instone’s famous handmade silver leaves on either side of the stone. It dates from c. 1930.

Bernard Instone moonstone and silver ring, for sale at my Etsy shop.

Bernard Instone moonstone and silver ring, for sale at my Etsy shop. (NOW SOLD).

Click on the following photos to enlarge:

Rare antique Bernard Instone ring Sterling silver and moonstone ring 6

Rare antique Bernard Instone ring Sterling silver and moonstone ring 7

Rare antique Bernard Instone ring Sterling silver and moonstone ring 8

Rare antique Bernard Instone ring Sterling silver and moonstone ring 9

xblogDSCF6254 (3)

xblogDSCF6273 (2)

xblogDSCF6287 (3)

xblogDSCF6289 (4)

xblogDSCF6448 (2)

xblogil_fullxfull.569486379_sjdo

Okay I went a bit mad with the photos, but Etsy only allows you five and it is so pretty I wanted to show it off properly!

Update February 2015: The ring has now sold. Sorry!

UPDATE July 2016: I briefly had a rare early Bernard Instone brooch for sale in my Etsy shop, but it sold in under 24 hours. Sorry!

Early Bernard Instone brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Early Bernard Instone brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).