A Captivating Collection of Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau Jewellery

A substantial private collection of Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau jewellery will be included in the Jewellery, Watches and Silver Sale on 14^th September. Regular visitors to the Leyburn salerooms over the last twenty years may remember a discerning couple who often viewed our sales quietly and seriously, considering objects they liked with great intensity. Bidding only on the items that they loved and that would sit well amongst the collection, their passion was for jewellery and other objects that transcended the decorative arts. Now, representing a lifelong enthusiasm for inspecting, researching and purchasing, their forty-lot collection is to find a new home.  

Spanning the Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Jugendstil movements, the collection includes silver and enamel pieces, along with examples of plique-à-jour decoration or those set with non-precious stones, and a few plain metalwork pieces.

An Arts and Crafts Enamel and Pearl Necklace (estimate: £150-200 plus buyer’s premium)

Highlights include An Arts and Crafts Enamel and Pearl Necklace, featuring enamelled plaques depicting peacocks, and a pearl suspended below the central panel. Peacocks were a favourite of the esteemed artist Charles Robert Ashbee, founder of the Guild of Handicrafts, whose work perhaps inspired this piece.

Two Enamel Hat Pins by Charles Horner (estimate: £150-200 plus buyer’s premium)

Two Glass Hat Pins by Charles Horner (estimate: £80-120 plus buyer's premium)

The 19^th century jeweller Charles Horner of Halifax is well represented within the collection. Whether hat pins were the most popular of his wares, or if they just survived in large quantities, there can be no doubt that they are the most commonly seen type of jewellery by Horner that comes up at auction. Amongst the items by Horner that are included in the sale are Two Enamel Hat Pins in the shape of butterflies, and Two Glass Hat Pins decorated with thistles. Also entered is a brooch with a more unusual design, featuring a blue and green enamelled fish.

A Silver Art Nouveau Enamel Brooch by Charles Horner (estimate: £100-150 plus buyer’s premium)

An Art Nouveau Enamel Pendant (estimate: £100-150 plus buyer's premium)

There is also a nice example of a light blue enamelled Art Nouveau pendant. Unmarked, and unattributed, this piece is very much of the time and could have been designed by one of many designers working circa 1900.

A Jugendstil Enamel and Hardstone Brooch (estimate: £100-150 plus buyer’s premium)

An Art Nouveau Beetle Brooch (estimate: £80-120 plus buyer's premium)

The Jugendstil movement brought us similar designs to that of the Art Nouveau movement, but made in Germany. On offer is a lovely example of a Jugendstil brooch with a hardstone cabochon centre and enamel decorative sides. That lot will be followed by an Art Nouveau brooch depicting a trio of beetles. The central brooch panel of beetle and leaf design is flanked by two further beetles on chain-link suspensions, which allows movement and perhaps increases the shock factor of wearing a piece of bug jewellery!

An Art Nouveau CYMRIC Enamel Brooch designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co. Ltd. (estimate: £120-180 plus buyer’s premium)

An Arts and Crafts Enamel Brooch, designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co. Ltd. circa 1903 (estimate: £300-500 plus buyer’s premium)

It would be remiss to end this exploration of the collection without mentioning Archibald Knox. Knox was one of many notable designers working for Liberty & Co., and throughout the early 1900s he was pivotal in their ‘Celtic Revival’ that incorporated the ‘Cymric’ collection, and which included silver and gold jewellery designs. Two lots offered for sale by Knox are an Art Nouveau Enamel Brooch stamped with the CYMRIC cipher with a sinuous form and a pseudo-heart incorporated, and a wonderful example of an Arts and Crafts Enamel Brooch depicting blue and green enamelled abstract plant forms.

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