Antique Victorian Taille d'Epargne Black Enamel, Seed Pearl Earrings & Brooch

Description

We are a long time bench jeweler and jewelry appraiser who finds ourselves with A LOT of treasures stashed in boxes and drawers.  After many years of collecting, we have some very fine jewelry and some unique creations to sell.
Please note that we now have a "AS IS" no return policy...bid accordingly.  We have a long "5 Star" history here on eBay but look carefully at the pictures as they are there for you to judge quality and condition.  Questions? ASK.  We can usually answer an email within a couple of hours.
Finally, we require PayPal payment within 48 hours...eBay will step in at that point.
This auction is for a captivating pair of Victorian taille d'epargne enamel earrings and matching brooch.
The round earring faces are edged and ornately decorated with fine hand engraving; center stage is a stepped line of hand set seed pearls  and surrounding all is gossamer black tracery enamels.
This beautiful, delicate enameling is called "taille d'epargne", literally "cut sparingly". Following behind the engraver, it's an enamelers job to fill these minuscule lines with powered glass and then kiln fire; and what a difficult job it was! Fill each line and take a careful walk to the kiln; don't walk too fast or the powered glass will blow away. Popular in the 1870's and 1880's, all sorts
of fanciful motifs can be seen on earrings, brooches, bracelets and even cuff buttons...which is what we have here.
These earrings started life circa 1880 as a brooch and matching pair of "button" backed "cufflinks" though they were so admired they had already been upcycled to earrings using pinchy, slippy screw backs. Earrings of this period certainly looked very much like the ones we're offering; pictured is a lovely Victorian gal wearing a similar style of fancy hook wire earrings.
The brooch and earring faces are, hollow and  made in 14kt yellow rolled gold plate. The antique style ear wires are new, made in solid 14k yellow gold, shaped as they would have been 140 years ago.
The earrings measures 17.5mm in diameter and hang 1 and 1/8th inches long overall in the ear, weighing a very comfortable 6.3 total grams or 3.15 grams each. For reference, a US dime measures 17.9mm in diameter and weighs 2.3 grams. The earrings are in very good to excellent antique condition; the tracery enamels completely intact with no losses, their only faults would be a single seed pearl is slightly chipped and some shallow pressed "dings" on the back.
The brooch measures 1 and 1/8th inches in diameter (28mm) and has a circa 1915 locking safety catch in very good working condition.  This is a replacement for what would have been a "C" catch.  This and the original tube and hinge pin were replaced after a fairly significate accident which seems to have pulled off these original pieces.  Our photos show that the jeweler who did the repairs did a very good job.  Note that while the
back
of the brooch shows the wear and tear of 140 years, the FRONT of the brooch is all but perfect.  There are no dents or missing seed pearls and there are only slight losses to the black tracery enamel.  So little in fact, you almost can't see it the close up pictures.
We are professional jewelers with a eye tuned to see beauty...and we see it every where, even in ornaments as humble as cufflinks and antique clothing buttons.  Apparently, a lot of YOU feel the same way because over the last fifteen plus years we have successfully made and auctioned so many, many pairs of fabulous earrings. Every pair of our earrings are signed with a "A" in a diamond shape...we're very proud to stand behind our work and the "Ace of Diamond" trademark is the proof.
After removing the old screw back parts on the earrings, we attached solid 14k gold ear wires using our laser welder. The welder literally uses a laser beam to perfectly fuse the metals together; no sloppy solders or ruinous torch flame. We always use solid 14k so you have "good" gold for your ears...we don't want less, why would anyone else?
What is it about the Victorian pieces that are so captivating? Perhaps it's the mystery of their hidden past but for us, we love the quality and care made into each piece.
If you love the romance and mystery of the past and have been
wishing for true Victorian jewelry but had hesitated because you we're unsure of the metal or even if they were true antiques, hesitate no further; these
genuine
Victorian brooch and cuff buttons, updated to period style earrings, are everything pictured and more!
To our long time friends and bidders:
We realize that by having to a "no returns" policy we've lost our "best seller" badge along with other "perks" eBay offers.  Know that our 15 plus years of 5 star service to you and to all fair minded buyers WILL NOT CHANGE.  If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us.