BEAUTIFUL BAGUETTES

Detail from a circa 1920s photo of a geometric diamond clip brooch, Gustav Manz archive, courtesy The Joseph Downs Collection, Winterthur Museum

The vintage Parke-Bernet catalog for liquidation of "valuable jewelry" from the estate of John Kirkpatrick seemed, at first glance, a dull census of stones and carats with a modicum of photos to engage Depression era tire-kickers. The Jazz Age had run out of gas—no more madcap soirees, like the night Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald collected jewelry from guests and served it back to them in tomato broth. In March 1932, when the Kirkpatrick gems went on the block, LIFE magazine's cover was an F.G. Cooper caricature of the Big Bad Wolf in Grandma Prosperity's bed, with Little Red Riding Hood cowering in the corner, clutching a passbook and tax bill in her basket of goodies. 

 

Newlyweds Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald at her mother's home in 1921; the following year, Scott published his story "The Diamond As Big As the Ritz" (Time Life Pictures/Mansell/Getty Images)

 Vogue's July 1926 cover by Edward Garcia Benito promoted "Hot Weather Fashions" spelled out in diamonds (image Conde Nast Publications) 

Even with wolf at the door, the Kirkpatrick name drew a crowd of serious buyers to the Anderson Galleries. On day one of the sale, 36-year-old Harry Winston picked up a platinum-set diamond bracelet for $2,100 and a necklace with one hundred and twenty-three Oriental pearls (239.82 grains) and a diamond snap for $2,000. Starting as a wholesaler, Winston purchased and re-sold rare gems using the social register for his mailing list, as The New Yorker's Lillian Ross later wrote. Now he was stocking his first retail store at 527 Fifth Avenue, betting that happy days would come again for his customers whether Hoover or FDR won November's election. 

  Kirkpatrick estate sale catalog, March 10-12, 1932; Margaret Wallace displays assorted gems from Harry Winston's "Court of Jewels" exhibit, August 1949

The first day's session brought in $44,192 according to The New York Times; the second day, $53,497—for a cumulative total of $97, 689 or about $1.6 million in today's dollars. And there was a third session still to come. As we flipped to the final day's lots, what to our wondering eyes did appear but brooch we instantly recognized — Eureka!—as identical to a photo in Gustav Manz's papers at Winterthur (see them side by side, below). Designed as a modern Edwardian bowknot with Cubist/Aztec lines, Lot 303 sported 220 round and 20 baguette (1.54 and 2.24 carat) diamonds in a platinum mounting. An alternate view illustrated the combination brooch magically popped out of its frame and separated into a matching pair of dress clips. 

The undated brooch photo found in Manz's business archive shown with image of Lot 303 in the circa 1932 Kirkpatrick sales catalog

The catalog did not specify the maker, but Manz's business ledgers indicate he made unique mountings in diverse motifs for T. Kirkpatrick & Co. (founded in the mid-1800s by John Kirkpatrick's Scottish-immigrant father, Thomas). Perhaps the jeweler's daughter Doris, who worked as his sales rep, retained the glossy photo as reference for future buyers. Now, if we could just figure out who went home with that zinger of a pin. (Talk to us, Harry Winston…) 

Credits: Scott and Zelda, wire photo of Winston gems, and March 1932 Vogue cover via web. All other images © Gustav Manz LLC

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GUSTAV MANZ LLC

PEEPING THROUGH PIN HOLES: GUSTAV MANZ'S FLAPPER JEWELRY

Gustav Manz's jewelry archives at Winterthur record many of the pieces he produced for Tiffany & Company from the Edwardian period through the Jazz Age. Shown here is a jade, enamel and seed pearl bar pin fabricated in spring 1923—about two years before Fitzgerald finished his Great American Novel. Sufficiently vintage, we'd say, for a stroll down the red carpet. (If you have information on where this "broche" might be found, please write to us!)  

Raising the bar: jade and enamel brooch 

Gustav Manz for Tiffany & Co, circa 1923

Photo (c) Gustav Manz LLC 

The Tiffany & Co jewelry archives recently proved an invaluable resource "in looking back at this Golden Era of affluence..." according to costume designer Catherine Martin, who is collaborating with husband/filmmaker Baz Luhrmann on a remake of The Great Gatsby. Tiffany & Co has been tasked with recreating period bling for the film's star-studded cast led by Carey Mulligan (Daisy Buchanan), Leonardo DiCaprio (Gatsby), and Tobey Maguire (Nick Carraway). 

Carey Mulligan (Daisy Buchanan) having what appears to be a bad wig day on the set of The Great Gatsby; but love her pearl and diamond ear-vices 

Photo via CelebBuzz 

While jewelry hardly gets mentioned in Fitzgerald's novel ("It's the funniest thing, old sport"), one of the saddest, most memorable scenes in the book occurs when Daisy smoothes her hair with a brush from Gatsby's "toilet set of pure dull gold..."

An Edwardian lady's gold toilet set

(image courtesy of Christie's) 

Women of the pre-World War One decade began to shift away from the oversize collars favored by stylish turn-of-the-century ladies: "It may be surprising to hear that Dutch collar pins have gone," observed The New York Times' fashion correspondent.  It is only the name, however, that has passed. Pierrot pins have taken their place. The fan-shaped Pierrot pin has the advantage of following the lines of the frock where it meets the throat. Bar pins are in the ascendancy."

This silk crepe dress from the 20s, advertised on Etsy (@ Veronica in Canada), has small holes at the neckline and on the front left side—brooch stigmata

By the 1920s, fussy collars were totally out and dress brooches or clips became popular, sometimes offered as door prizes or, if a hostess was particularly generous, as party favors. Pin stems in any era inevitably do damage to garments, so it probably took a Daisy Buchanan mentality to wear them on diaphanous flapper dresses and not worry about rending the fabric ("They were careless people, Tom and Daisy...")... 

On the red carpet at the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony, Michelle Williams cinched the Oscar for Best Accessory with a diminutive diamond bow pin 

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Copyright © Laura Mathews, 2014 
All Rights Reserved 

 GUSTAV MANZ LLC

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