Collection: Art Nouveau Jewelry

Art Nouveau jewelry represents a revolutionary design movement from about 1890 to 1910, characterized by sensuous, naturalistic motifs inspired by nature including orchids, water lilies, butterflies, mythical creatures and even Japanese-influenced aesthetics. The style emphasized artistic merit over intrinsic value, incorporating materials such as opals and  moonstones. Fine enamel work showcasing translucent, stained glass-like designs epitomized by the technically difficult plique à jour enamelling technique was brought to new heights by masters such as Louis Comfort Tiffany, Rene Lalique and Georges Fouquet.

This brief but significant period values design and expert hand-craftsmanship over precious material. Due to its fragility, intact art nouveau pieces are quite rare and highly valued by collectors today.

Diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald jewelry is remarkably easy to maintain as long as it is kept clean and stored in a soft pouch or individual bag to prevent scratching from contact with other hard materials. 

Jewelers have professional grade ultrasonic machines and steamers for cleaning, but portable at-home models are typically less effective. Liquid jewelry cleaners such as Hagerty’s, available online and in most grocery stores, is an excellent ready-made cleaning solution that comes with a small soft brush, but a toothbrush and homemade mixture of warm water, a squirt of dish soap to cut grease and a tiny splash of ammonia to prevent spots works just as well. Soak diamonds, platinum, colored stones and even gold, but NEVER PEARLS, for 5 minutes or longer in the solution, then with the drain closed, rub with an old toothbrush under warm running water to remove any remaining dirt or oily residue and dry with a soft hand towel. You may like to go the extra mile and dry your pieces for a few short seconds with a hair drier to avoid spotting. 

Over time, lotion, perfume and skin oils can damage the surface and lustre of pearls. To prevent that, after wearing gently rub pearls with a damp cloth to maintain their natural beauty and shine. With wear over time, the silk strands may stretch and space between the pearls may appear, indicating the need to have the pearls restrung to avoid unexpected breakage and loss.

Authenticating pieces of jewelry requires more nuanced expertise. Many thousands of pieces of jewelry have passed through our hands for over 40 years from every era and every maker. This familiarity enables us to know what a piece should look and feel like and if it has the expected quality of material and workmanship, the accurate makers marks and the correct signature in all the right places. Indeed, one of the easiest ways non-experts can be fooled is to assume a designer piece of jewelry is truly by that maker as pieces by commercial manufacturers are often outright fakes or signed fraudulently by a third party. 

In practice, we first look at the front and back of a bracelet, ring or brooch, turning it over in our hands to see​ that the workmanship on ​the reverse is just ​as ​fine as the detail on the front. Using the jeweler’s important tool, the loupe, we look carefully at many different touchpoints including the precision with which the ​diamonds are mounted in their settings, the manner in which gold or platinum links are connected to each other, the quality of the azuring, a most difficult and refined aspect of metalwork, the fineness of the material and we look for ​flawless ​polish.

If we have any doubts whatsoever as to authenticity, we submit the piece to the firm itself, be it Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Verdura, David Webb and others. We also request the original bill of sale, box and papers for those items most commonly faked such as Cartier Love brackets and VCA Alhambra pieces. And just as banks know their customers, we, too, ensure we know enough about our clients to assure ourselves of their ownership and provenance. 

Our team of GIA-certified jewelry experts has such a well-regarded reputation in the international jewelry industry that we are frequently called upon to advise auction houses, appraisers and other dealers in matters of authenticity and value.