- 325
Gold, Platinum-Topped Gold, Pink Tourmaline and Diamond Brooch, Designed by Paulding Farnham for Tiffany & Co.
Description
- gold, platinum, pink tourmaline, diamond
Catalogue Note
Tiffany’s was proud to offer the public rare and interesting gemstones. The first showing of pink tourmalines occurred when the firm displayed a selection from Maine at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris and, then, again at the 1900 Exposition in the same city. Perhaps the two most important jewels with pink tourmalines Tiffany exhibited were a wild rose brooch set with sixty-two pink tourmalines in the 1900 Exposition and a life-sized pink tourmaline carnation brooch at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.
The pink tourmalines Tiffany offered in their jewelry designs were from Maine. These deposits tend to produce crystals in raspberry pink-red such as the gemstones in this brooch, one of largest pink tourmaline brooches from Tiffany’s extant. The pink tourmalines are perfectly matched, most likely cut from the same rough stone. The pink palette is complemented with diamonds that would have sparkled in gas lit rooms and is a superb example of the jewelry Tiffany offered their clientele at the turn of the twentieth century.
- Janet Zapata, Specialist in Jewelry and American Silver