Late renaissance memento mori skull ring. "Memento mori" jewelry translates to "remember thou must die", a reminder to all to live life fully, as death awaits. Memento mori rings were meant to encourage the practice of reflection on one's mortality. This is a very early ring with black enamel etching along the sides and back and a perfectly shaped skull in intaglio on the front. The ring is silver gilt with black enamel carving. Circa 1620. US size 8 1/2.
Poesy rings were popular in England and France during the 16th through the 17th centuries as lover's gifts. The quotations were often from courtship stories and are usually inscribed on the inner surface of the ring as is the case in this one. This ring amusingly reads "A virtuous Wife Preferreth Life". We imagine that in the 17th century, a woman was indeed better off being virtuous! We think this could make a more unusual and unique wedding band than a gold band...
Worcester, Dr. Wall period, Blue Scale soft paste porcelain leaf dish with a mock Chinese mark, circa 1770. .
Condition: excellent Height: 9 inches Width: 8.25 inches
Antique marquise shaped 18K gold and chrysoberyl ring is an excellent example of Portuguese jewelry of the late 18th century. The Portuguese mined these gemstones from their colony in Brazil and created jewelry that was typically pave-set as seen here. The ring is size 10 and can be sized to fit.
Georgian rose diamond cluster ring set in silver with an 18K gold embossed band. Rings of this period are very scarce and hard to find in such wonderful condition. This is a real collector's piece. The ring is size 6 and can be sized to fit.
Georgian 18K gold memorial ring set under crystal with a curl of hair and adorned with four rose diamonds. The inscription reads "John Holman ob 28 Oct 1777 age 45.
This exquisite ring is a testament to the feelings of this man's loved ones. The ring is a size 8 and can be resized. It measures 5/8" wide by 3/4" high.
This Chelsea "gold anchor" period porcelain seal of a lady has a motto and a hardstone seal. It dates to 1759-1768. We have a collection of these early Chelsea "toys". You can check our web site for others.
Condition: excellent
This intricately woven gold necklace with enameled serpent biting its tail, known as an ouroboros, is classically Georgian and circa 1790. Woven gold necklaces like this one took weeks to make and created enormous precision and painstaking detail. Our ouroboros snake necklace, with blue and green enameling and gold paint to denote the snake's scales and amethyst paste eyes, is a treasure to behold. It is quite a miracle that this necklace has survived over 200 years.
This early sugar bowl is charmingly decorated with a transfer printed mother and child design. Ca 1780. 3 3/4"dia x 2"H Condition: excellent
This Chelsea "gold anchor" period porcelain seal of a partridge in a next has a motto "marque de ma tendress". It dates to 1759-1768. We have a collection of these early Chelsea "toys". You can check our web site for others.
Condition: excellent
In this stunning suite of necklace and earrings, almandine garnets set in gilt metal are fashioned into a striking pair of earrings and choker with drop, which can be removed. The choker is tied on with a ribbon. Much of the jewelry of this period was set with pastes. These pieces are unusual in that gemstones were used. Though called "Queen Anne", jewelry of this type was actually made some 30 odd years after her reign.
Worcester, Dr. Wall period, polychrome floral soft paste porcelain hand painted shell shaped dish, c. 1765. This item has had some invisible restoration.
Condition: good Height: 7.75 inches Width: 8 inches
Georgian almandine garnet ring circa 1770, in an 18K gold basket setting flanked by two cushion cut diamonds. Almandine garnets are purply red and were flat cut as seen here. This lovely early ring is a size 6 1/4 and the stone measures 5/8" wide by 1/4" high
Popular plate form from a dessert service of the "Fisherman" pattern printed in underglaze blue. Impresed "Salopian" mark and printed initial "S", 8" diameter. Ca 1775. Condition: excellent Height: 8 inches
How rare it is to find an early soft paste porcelain platter of this size, 16" X 20". This platter in excellent condition is made by the "Bow" factory circa 1765
Condition: excellent Width: 16 inches, Length: 20 inches
Exquisite Georgian rock crystal riviere set in silver with a 15k gold mount and an open back. Rock Crystal is transparent quartz often seen in fine antique jewelry. It is extremely hard and was thought to transmit positive energy and to have healing properties. This rare necklace is wonderful for evening wear. With its mass of crystals gems mounted perfectly next to its neighbor, with little to no metal clasps visible in between, this necklace creates a lovely composition on one's neck...
8K eighteenth-century portrait ring under crystal of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. Miniature portraits were painted on vellum or ivory and given as tokens of love to husbands and wives or parents and children. Portrait rings with diamond bezels, such as ours, reflect the importance of the subject. The paintings would be commissioned to the leading miniature portrait artists of the day. Sarah Churchill had a close friendship with Queen Anne of England...
Eye catching 15K gold and amethyst ring surrounded by pave set chrysoberyls from Portuguese mines in Brazil. Fabulous jewelry was made from the various gemstones exported from these mines until the French invasion of Portugal in 1809. The ring is size 8 1/4 and can be sized to fit.
Silesian wire jewelry is what is known as Historic jewelry. The craft originated with gunsmiths and armor workers in the medieval town of Gleiwitz, Silesia, (formerly Poland, and now part of Germany and Poland), in the late 1700's. After the business of creating ornamentation for armor was no longer, the artisams found others forms for their craft; mirror frames, purses and other ornamentation where iron was used instead of precious metal...
This beautiful Dr. Wall period Worcester soft paste porcelain compote is a large early piece with fancy birds decoration and blue border. Its probably from the Giles workshop.
Condition: excellent Height: 11 inches
Worcester, Dr. Wall period soft paste porcelain tea bowl and saucer in the "fence" pattern, a well known transfer design, circa 1775
Condition: excellent
Lovely Georgian five stone paste ring set in 15K gold and silver. The center stone is set in an ornate basket setting. This rare ring is great to wear alone or stacked with other rings. The ring is a size 9.
c. 1770, 6 1/2"L x 1 3/4"W x 4" Height. Condition: excellent
Unusual 15K gold memorial ring depicting an urn in hair paint, surrounded by alternating rose diamonds and amethysts. The enameled band reads "John Jenkins died 20 Feb 1780". The back of the ring is engraved "In loving one sincerely there is great merit".
Condition: excellent
c. 1780, 3"W x 5"H. Condition: excellent
Our exceptional 18K Georgian woven mesh featherlight necklace is both light in color and weightless about the neck. Woven mesh chains like this one are rarely found, as their delicacy makes them quite fragile and few have survived over the years. We have found one which has weathered the passage of time beautifully and likely sat in someone's jewelry drawer untouched for many generations...
c. 1780, Candlesconces gone, 6 1/2" Height. Condition: excellent
This marked Dr. Wall period Worcester soft paste porcelain platter has beautiful, crisp "blue scale". It would make a fine addition to an important collection.
Condition: excellent Height: 8 inches
C. 1760, RED ANCHOR MARK, GOLD ANCHOR PERIOD, with glaze crack, 8 3/4" dia. Condition: excellent
c. 1790, 9" diameter. This piece has an incredible mock Chinese mark. Condition: excellent
This is a Worcester soft paste porcelain tea bowl and saucer, in the the well known Worcester pattern "sworl" or "Queen Charlotte", named for Queen Charlotte, wife of George 111 who bought a service for royal use. Ours is marked with the "scratch B" mark of the Flight and Barr period, c 1795. Priced at $ 1200.
Condition: excellent.
Georgian ring of green paste in a basket setting flanked by two clear pastes on each side. Paste is colored or clear glass, often lead or flint, cut in the same fashion as gemstones and used as a substitute especially while traveling. Antique paste jewelry was valued on its own merits and not as an imitation of another piece of jewelry. This Georgian 15K gold, green paste ring is a size 7 1/2 and can be sized. It measures 1/4" at its widest.
Delightful Bilston bonbonniere in the shape of a lion. These enamel on copper boxes were used to hold small hard sugar candies. This adorable lion measures approximately 2" in diameter and 1 1/4" high.
c. 1790, 8"H. Condition: excellent
A rare example of a fully hand decorated early sauceboat , 4"W x 8"L x 2 1/4"H Condition: excellent Height: 2.25 inches Width: 4 inches
Black enameled memorial band, divided into scrolls and with raised gold lettering, for a Mrs. Martha Greswold. This is an excellent example of and 18th-century mourning ring...
