Elegant Retro Style Diamond Clip, Mellerio Dits Meller, Paris, c. 1945

This clip takes us on a journey to Paris. The famous workshops of the jeweler Mellerio dits Meller, which have been in the family without interruption since 1613, are still located at 9 Rue de la Paix, near Place Vendôme. Since 1815, the workshop and its original salesrooms have been located in the Rue de la Paix. Mellerio supplied not only Maria de Medici and Marie Antoinette, but also Empress Joséphine and Marie-Amélie, the wife of Luis-Philippe. And even after the end of the monarchy, the company remained a guarantee for the best workmanship and designs. Even in the economically difficult 1940s, wonderful treasures were created: The clip is a wonderful testimony to this. We see an impressively large nib made of warm, gleaming gold and platinum. The left side of the nib is made of slightly reddish gold. The individual elements of the nib are polished smooth and set close together. Individual diamonds set the tips of the bows; twisted cords accompany the wider sections of gold. The right-hand part of the nib, on the other hand, is covered in platinum, in which diamonds are set close together. Smooth, shiny sections are juxtaposed with areas set with diamonds, contrasting cool brilliance with warm reflections. The fact that diamonds are set here in various old cuts, significantly older than the brooch itself, shows that older pieces of jewelry were obviously reworked into this brooch - surely a tribute to the time of its creation. However, the design is completely in keeping with the times: it is the so-called "retro style" that we see here. Warm colors and shiny surfaces had replaced the cool, icy Art Deco of the 1920s from the 1930s onwards. The brooch is signed. Mellerio apparently produced different versions of feather clips. David Bennett/Daniela Mascetti, Understanding Jewellery (Woodbridge 2010), p. 381, shows a clip with a completely different design, but also made of gold, platinum and diamonds. Further examples can be found in Sylvie Raulet, Schmuckel der 40er & 50er Jahre (Munich 1987), p. 65. We discovered the brooch in Munich. It is in very good condition.

Estimate:$8,973.86

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