Tiffany & Co.

This brooch bears the mark employed by Tiffany & Co. for the pieces they presented at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This ‘World’s Fair’ was an important historical and cultural event that drew over 27 million visitors, equal to almost half the population of the United States. Hoping to surpass their previous success at the 1889 Paris Exposition, Tiffany & Co. built their own pavilion to display jewels and silver designed specifically for the occasion under the direction of its celebrated head jewelry designer, Paulding Farnham. The firm’s offerings included dazzling works in a myriad of styles, many featuring unusual precious and semiprecious stones sourced by the gemologist George Frederick Kunz. This brooch features a striking color palette with a pale yellow sapphire and dark green zircons, mounted in the Louis XIV revival style that found particular favor at the Columbian Exposition. Tiffany & Co. received 56 medals for their pioneering approach to precious objects, cementing their reputation as one of the world’s premiere jewelry houses.