Antique Victorian Diamond Butterfly Brooch

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Old mine cut diamond butterfly brooch, in silver and gold.

English, ca. 1880
Width: 1 9/16 inches

$28,000

This item is available for purchase in the ALVR shop.

back view, Antique Victorian Diamond Butterfly Brooch

September 27 – California Gold Rush Buckles

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Remnants of the golden dream, these buckles of California gold commemorate the state officially joining the Union in 1850. The design includes imagery from the California coat of arms. On the left, the goddess Minerva sits with a grizzly bear at her feet, referencing how California, too, came fully formed, having no territorial probation.

In an 1854 history of the state, one author notes how “the plain traveller [sic] from the east will notice the profusion of rich jewelry worn here by every class, and by both sexes.” Naturally, the adventurers headed west to seek their fortunes included jewelers. Through the jewelry companies they formed they aspired to deflect attention from the jewelry centers of the east and provide the entire Pacific coast with jewelry from San Francisco.

It was not uncommon for the forty-niners to send relics of their labor to loved ones left behind. Those with the tools and time fashioned nuggets into rings, crosses, and other pieces of adornment. Others sent small amounts of gold for family members to have made into wearable relics by their local jeweler.

An assortment of jewelry also catered to tourists encouraged to take away natural specimens as souvenirs. California jewelers met the demand with a variety of trinkets including combs, brooches, and rings, which became quite popular in the early 1850s. Much of these mementos proudly displayed clusters of nuggets and incorporated gold quartz into the design. These buckles are a bit unusual in their apparent break from tradition. Collectors are sure to be struck by their historic and aesthetic value, ready to exclaim, ‘eureka!’

September 20 – Vinaigrettes: Making the Nineteenth-Century Fragrant

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Vinaigrettes are small boxes containing sponges infused with vinegar kept beneath a perforated cover. Worn to cure fainting spells or to cure a headache, they were popular from the seventeenth- through the nineteenth-centuries. They could also provide relief from unpleasant smells by supplementing the vinegar with additional fragrances like orange, mint, lavender, rose, and spices.

Also implements of flirtation, vinaigrettes appear in Victorian literature, usually with a gentleman suitor coming to aid a faint or headache-stricken lady as seen in this excerpt from Samuel Warren’s 1841 novel titled Ten Thousand a-Year:

Then, after a moment’s pause of irresolution, he gently drew her to the sofa, and laid her down. Supporting her head and applying her vinaigrette, till a deep-drawn sigh evidenced returning consciousness. Before she had opened her eyes, or could have become aware of the assistance he had rendered her, he had withdrawn to a respectful distance, and was gazing at her with deep anxiety. It was several minutes before her complete restoration—which, however, the fresh air entering through the windows, which Gammon hastily threw open, added to the incessant use of her vinaigrette, greatly accelerated.

Antique Snake Bangle

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Gold bangle in the form of conjoined snakes with emerald eyes biting a center ring of diamonds.

French, ca. 1900

$14,500

Antique Snake Bangle, back

September 13 – Symbolism in Snake Jewelry

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Snakes have adorned humans since antiquity, their coils naturally forming rings, bracelets, necklaces, and armbands. While designs remained constant, the snake’s symbolism evolved over the last 6,000 years. In antiquity, serpents represented wisdom, eternity, and the form of a guardian spirit. Through much of the nineteenth-century they symbolized everlasting love, but by the fin-de-siècle they came to be seen as a symbol of sinister danger.

In 1840 Albert presented Queen Victoria with an emerald-set engagement ring in the form of a snake biting its tail, a symbol of eternal love. At the time it was customary that an engagement ring feature the wearer’s birthstone. Symbols of love and romance were recurring themes in the jewelry Albert designed for her. A true romantic of her age, Queen Victoria’s love of symbolism made snake jewelry an enduring motif throughout her reign. So precious was Prince Albert’s initial token of affection that Queen Victoria is buried with the ring that inspired a renewed fashion for serpents.

Our collection includes snake jewelry ranging from the early nineteenth-century to the mid-twentieth demonstrating the wide range of meanings and styles as illustrated on our Pinterest board:

http://www.pinterest.com/alvrussie/2013-year-of-the-snake/

September 6 – The Smirnoff Schtof

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This shtof, the Russian word for vodka bottle, features the Russian Imperial Eagle and the dates 1877, 1886, and 1896, marking the increasing prestige the Smirnoff distillery achieved, including the right to use Russian coats of arms, becoming Purveyor to the Tsar, and the numerous awards received for quality and variety at international exhibitions between 1874 and 1897. The back of the bottle features the inscription “SUPPLIER TO THE IMPERIAL COURT, PETER ARSENTEVICH SMIRNOV”

Vodka, derived from the Slavonic word for water, voda, acquired a particular status living up to this root meaning. It has been said that vodka was “the elixir of life, the living water” of the Russian people, becoming both socially and economically vital.

The blue glass of the bottle plays on these water references, perhaps intending to speak to the superior purity former serf Pyotr Smirnov sought when he began distilling vodka in 1864. The quality of his product, coupled with his marketing genius and the strategic shaping of his personal image, allowed Smirnoff to become Russia’s most prestigious vodka brand. Today, the brand is equally highly regarded in the United States, providing Americans with an elixir of life of superior quality.