Vintage bejeweled butterfly brooch

This 18K red and yellow gold Vintage brooch from 1930 depicts a colourful butterfly with silver topped wings attached to a pearl thorax and an opal abdomen. Its slightly convex openwork wings have a lobbed rim of 38 rose cut diamonds with two pear cut rubies as its apices. The wing veins assemble into a flower with two ground leafs and a green spinel for a bloom bud in the forewings and a pearl in the hindwings. Once this adorable butterfly has landed on your shoulder with its gold legs, you'll see good fortune gleaming from its ruby eyes whenever you wear it.

Antique jewelry object group: brooch

Condition: excellent condition
  -  (more info on our condition scale)

Country of origin: Although it does not carry any legible control marks we believe this to be of Belgian origin.

Style: Vintage
  -  See also: vintage jewelry or more info on styles

Period: ca. 1930
  -  (events and facts in 1930)

Source of inspiration: Mother Nature

Theme: butterfly

Material: Silver on top and backed with 18K yellow and red gold (see explanation on silver on gold).
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Extra information: Butterfly - Artistic depictions of butterflies have been used in many cultures including Egyptian hieroglyphs 3500 years ago. In the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, the brilliantly colored image of the butterfly was carved into many temples, buildings, jewelry, and emblazoned on incense burners in particular. Today, butterflies are widely used in various objects of art and jewelry: mounted in frames, embedded in resin, displayed in bottles, laminated in paper, and used in some mixed media artworks and furnishings.

Butterfly symbolism - A butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guestroom and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you. The Russian word for "butterfly", bábochka, also means "bow tie". It is a diminutive of "baba" or "babka" (= "woman, grandmother, cake"), whence also "babushka" = "grandmother".

The ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is psyche, which primarily means "soul" or "mind". According to Mircea Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion, some of the Nagas of Manipur trace their ancestry from a butterfly. In Chinese culture, two butterflies flying together symbolize love. Also, Butterfly Lovers is a famous Chinese folktale. In some old cultures, butterflies also symbolize rebirth after being inside a cocoon for a period of time. Some people say that when a butterfly lands on you it means good luck. The idiom "butterflies in the stomach" is used to describe a state of nervousness. (From Wikipedia)

Diamonds: 38 rose cut diamonds. We do not have the weight of the diamonds which is normal in our trade when it comes to rose cuts.
Note: All diamond weights, color grades and clarity are approximate since the stones were not removed from their mounts to preserve the integrity of the setting.

Precious stones: Four rubies . We did not check if the rubies are lab produced or not as this information has no influence on the value of this jewel. Natural rubies and lab produced rubies were both used in this era, rather more for their effect than for their intrinsic value. Three pearls, one opal, and two, what we believe to be, green spinel
  -  (more info on precious stones)

Birthstones: Diamond is the birthstone (or month stone) for April, and opal for October. and ruby for July.
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Hallmarks: No trace.
  -  (more info on hallmarks)

Dimensions: 4,31 cm (1,70 inch) x 4,11 cm (1,62 inch)

Weight: 14,70 gram (9,45 dwt)

Reference Nº: 15047-0130

Copyright photography: Adin, fine antique jewelry

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