An art deco double clip brooch

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The diamond brooches 1930s
Detachable borders late 1930s/1940s
Brooch fitting stamped 18K to clasp, clips and leaves correspondingly numbered 1 and 2

Dimensions of each clip brooch: 35 x 29 mm
Each mounted within gold leaf frames: 63 x 50 mm
Mounted together on brooch fitting: 72 x 29 mm.

DESCRIPTION

The two open work brooches of shield-shaped outline and open work construction, set with geometric arrangements of circular-cut and baguette diamonds in millegrain borders, wearable separately or together via a separate brooch fitting, or within later removable outer frames in yellow gold modelled as grape vine leaves.

Double clip brooches first soared to popularity in the early 1930s. Extremely versatile, they could be worn clipped on the straps of a dress, the lapels or cuffs on a jacket or shirt, worn at the hip or even in the hair or on a hat. The jewels of the early 1930s were predominantly monochrome, and the symmetrical layout of clip brooches of this era provided an excellent canvas for geometric arrangements of various diamond cuts.

While these Art Deco clips retain a delicacy and lightness of construction from the opening years of the 20th century, with their millegrained borders and ornately scrolled details, they have also been given a removable outer ‘jacket’ in yellow gold. Many jewellers specialised in updating jewels in this way, most commonly rings, adding removable yellow gold outer fittings or ‘jackets’ to these icily geometric Art Deco jewels to ensure that they could continue to hold their own against the increasingly colourful jewels of the 1940s and 1950s, when yellow gold once again returned to the forefront of fashion.

With a unique mix of styles, these extraordinary brooches bridge across the contrasting aesthetics of multiple decades – a rare level of versatility which makes them just as wearable today as they were when they were made.