Category Archives: French Hair Comb

Some Lovely Things on Ebay and Beyond

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Portrait of a Lady: This painting of the Parmese School, c. 1775, possibly shows Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily (1752-1814) with pearls and ribbons in her hair. It’s oil on cavas, going on sale in London on Sept. 28, est: $3500.



This is one of a pair of art nouveau tortoiseshell hair combs with plique-à-jour enamel flowers and foliate scrolling detail by Braquemond. There is scalloped 18K gold trim, and it is mounted in enamel. These combs formed part of a toilet set for Baron Joseph Vitta, who lived in Paris, and was an important art nouveau patron. c.1900. est: $50,000 – $70,000



This acrylic-on-paper painting of a nude with blue hair is by Wallase Ting, c. 1929, and is estimated at $9000. I love it.



This early 19th-Century silver gilt, diamond and sapphire tiara sold on ebay for $3000 on Sept 19. Congratulations to the winning bidder. It is set with 7-10 carats of natural cabochon sapphires, 3-5 carats of table cut diamonds, and nine large sapphires with a total weight of 15-20 carats.



These are two combs from Africa that just caught my eye. I love the expressions of the sculpture on top of the combs.



This pair of Edwardian tortoiseshell haircombs with diamonds on top have a curved design, as well as curved tines. They sold on ebay for $1800 on Sept 18 to a live auction floor bidder.



This  gorgeous coral diadem with leaves and flowers sold for $500 (great price) on Sept 16 at a live auction to u***g of ebay. Yay! And ebayer got it. Est: $600 – $800. Fabulous treasure.



Now, it’s time to die. This pink diamond tiara, and those pinks come from the Australian mines at Argyle. No one knows what makes a diamond pink. Anyway, I’m dying. It’s listed for $192,732 (I think it will go for more) in Hong Kong for an Oct 7 sale. There is a fancy intense pink diamond in the middle, probably from the Argyle tender. It was made by Garrard, and is set on a platinum band.



And here is a close up.



The pinks of Argyle (don’t let the size fool you), as well as the large D flawless white diamonds are nature at it’s most beautiful. It’s like a drug for diamond collectors and admirers. You just have to have it. I wonder who will buy this. I see it as Elizabeth Taylor-worthy.

At Christies…

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There have been some wonderful things sold. Here are my picks.

c. 1890, blond tortoiseshell hair pin with gold openwork, decorated with leaves and diamond accents. Sold at $1042.



A diamond brooch with open work foliate spray, centered around pear-shaped diamonds, comes with a tortoiseshell comb. This continues the tradition that a beautiful piece of jewelry was used for many purposes. Sale price: $145,000



This set of rose-cut diamond and tortoiseshell hair combs, with this fabulous art nouveau silver comb sold for $1775.



This cameo panel shows Aurora preceeding the chariot of Apollo. It was copied from the work of Guido Reni for the ceiling of the garden pavilion of Palazzo Rospigliosi, Rome. The mount is silver with an engraved decoration to the base, attached to a hair comb fitting. Sale price: $1566.



An art nouveau comb in bone, horn and sapphire cabachons by Lalique, where the women’s arms are elongated into wings sold for $32,449.





This beautiful gold Victorian parure is complete, with the necklace, bracelets, earrings, brooch, and diadem hair comb. The comb has 11 graduated floral ornaments in three colors of gold. Sale price: $14,264.



Finally, this baroque pearl, diamond, and enamel hair pin on tortoiseshell tines. Mounted in silver and gold. Sale price: $10,777.

At Sotheby’s

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There is a pair of tortoiseshell opera combs with a horseshoe-shaped openwork floral design, est. 4000 – 6000 UKP, which will go on sale July 22. c. 1910.



There are also two diadem ornaments c. 1800 with seed pearls and gold, acanthus leaves and flowers, beautifully detailed est. 3500 UKP, also going on sale July 22 in London. Some of the seed pearls are missing.





This beautiful ornament used to have tortoiseshell tines. I guess one could put them back on again in a repair. c. 1915.



And finally, a diamond tiara. It has 5 star jewels. People used to take the jewels off tiaras and use them for other things. A tiara was a multiple-use object. This piece is accompanied by 2 tiara fittings, 5 hair pins, 5 brooch fittings, and one tortoiseshell hair comb. est. 8000 – 12000 UKP.

Myrna’s Enamels

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Art deco comb makers in the mid-1920s to late 30s worked in celluloid, using enamel paint, bold designs, and minute detail work. Bonaz ruled France. First to show are 4 English combs owned by my friend Myrna, which just slay me they are so gorgeous. Three of them were bought on ebay, the rose one was bought at a show. Underneath are two Bonaz combs. The first I sold to Jo, a great collector, during the –loooooong story– Betrayal of 2004. The orange Bonaz is Myrna’s. And last is Myrna’s deliciously wild Dr. Seussian art deco comb where the world is turned upside down. It is unsigned, but French. At this level, all of these are a rare find. The Seussian one is unique. Forget about ever finding anything else like it. Enjoy!



















98 cents, and I could have bought it for $600

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No one bought this unsigned French art nouveau dragonfly comb, whose wings had a triangular silver inlay. It was priced at $1200, made of finely carved horn, and attributed to Elizabeth Bonte. You may refer to auction #280231759350. Seller relisted twice. Once it went for $202. Then Idiot Me met his reserve of $500 too early. Alain-t got it. I had a snipe bid for $750. I’m such an idiot about reaching the reserve so early. Stupid stupid stupid. I missed it. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Oh well, I’ll live. It sold for $750.98. Still a stupendous bargain for what it is. I am sick. SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have to take my anti-anxiety pills and anti-insanity pills and go to sleep now. Hint: the anti-insanity pills won’t work, and I feel like the stupidist person who ever lived. Bonte’s sell at the Tadema Gallery for $220o and $7500 for the cicadas. I’m just sick and having an absolute unqualified diva tantrum about losing. But I must be gracious and congratulate the winner, who is a great collector — through my tears. ;-P

Some Lovely Things on Ebay and Beyond

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I’m sorry I haven’t written in a long time. I am in the middle of this programming project at work, and I’m like dee-doo dee-doo dee-doo. Of course, senile dementia at turning 50 in 7 months has nothing to do with it. ;-P So here is what I have for today. Ebay first. :-)

I bought this bone or ivory peacock comb, via $175 check on May 20, because I had to have this birdie. There is discoloration on the ends of the comb, but I didn’t care because I thought the design on top was flamboyant and original.



This beautiful REAL shell English back comb, c. 1860,  sold for $179.61 on May 22. Dealer thought it was fake. I didn’t. The price reflected that the bidders thought it was real shell, too. It has a beautiful shape.



This tortoiseshell kanzashi with a coral bead sold for $75 on May 16, a fabulous price.



This spectacularly designed swan and tulip ivory comb sold for $305 on May 4 to myrnatoo, her excellent taste of course. Look at the way the swans and tulips interact and are Symbolically elongated to make the design. Also, like the Lalique snake comb in my previous post, look at the swan heads at the bottom of the design, which turn into the tines of the comb. A gorgeous art nouveau piece.



This antique Victorian 14K gold hair pin sold for $325 on May 19th. You see a lot of these in silver, but rarely in gold.



This German art nouveau comb was made in silver, enamel, and horn by W. Rothenhofer c. 1900 and sold at Sothebys for 2133 EUR. The openwork silver mount sits atop a three-leaf clover.



The cameo on this hair ornament, part of a parure, is Apollo on his chariot, c. 1830. The decoration is gold cannetille. The parure sold for 4560 UKP.



And lastly, ladies and gentlemen, I poo you not, some jeweler made a comb out of nuts. I call it the Nutcase Comb, and no I didn’t buy it, thank you very much, but someone did. It was part of a parure with a nut necklace and earrings that sold for 5040 GBP. Nuts like these fall off my pecan tree in my front yard in Georgia for nothing, but the jokes are so many, I have to stop. :-) The gold underneath has a Greek key design, and rests on a tortoiseshell comb.

Some Lovely Things

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The first thing I will show today is a tiara hinged to a tortoiseshell comb. Called the bluebird comb, it was done by Lucien Galliard, c.1900.  Three dark and light blue enamel and gold bluebirds have diamond eyes and soar through pale blue and white plique-à-jour enamel clouds. The stars are made from old-cut diamonds.

Lucien Gaillard employed Japanese craftsmen in order to create jewelry for the 1900 Paris Exposition. When Lalique saw his collection, he told Gaillard to focus on that area. Following the Exhibition, Galliard’s Japanese craftsman created unique pieces such as the Bluebird Comb, even though he put his own signature on them. Price estimate: $100,000 – $150,000.

The next three combs are Lalique. First is a horn shield, scattered with peridots, decorated by two snakes about to strike. In a clear realization of the Symbolist philosophy, the bodies of the snakes are elongated and shaped to make up the tines of the comb. c. 1898. It sold for $107,500.

This Lalique hazelnut comb was made to be worn in December. The carved horn panel boasted hazel leaves, which covered two chestnuts. He textured the leaves and stem in gold, c. 1900. Price est: $200,000 – $400,000. It did not sell.

My final Lalique comb is  a horn comb with a blue and green enameled Japanese landscape  The sunset was done in yellowish orange enamel.  c. 1900. This sold for $273,500. Go Rene!

The next piece I’d like to show is a tiara with horn leaves, apple blossoms, diamond pistels, and textured gold branches and twigs, enhanced by baroque pearl buds by Paul Leinard. c. 1905. It sold for $60,000.

Another tiara that caught my eye was an Italian bronze with gold filigree, pale blue enamel, and the micromosaic art for which the Italians have no peer. c. 1800. It sold for $6000.

And finally, I can’t help myself. Fabrege. Maker’s mark for August Holmström on frame. Sold for $2,071,389. What can you say.

The Lives of Geishas and Ladies

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By Susan Maxwell Schmidt, hair jewelry artist extraordinaire and owner and creator of Longlocks Hair Sticks, for me the best modern hair jewelry artist on the market.

She wrote, “I am a self-described “geisha expert.”  Geishas were NEVER prostitutes. NEVER. During the world wars there were women who CLAIMED to soldiers to be geishas who were prostitutes, but true geishas.. NEVER.

Geishas must be practiced in all the arts to the level of perfection, and spend several years as maikos learning the intricacies of music (both instruments and vocals), dance and conversation.

Also, while some women in the past were forced bytheir families to become geishas, being a geisha has ALWAYS been a *great* honor, and those who still practice the art are held in the same esteem as the most famous and accomplished movie stars are here… and are even more inaccessible by the “common man.”

You cannot be entertained by geisha unless you have reached a level high enough to be invited to enjoy their company, no matter who you are.

Oh, and most Asian communities do not think it is suitable to smile in photographs, even today. I sponsor a little girl in Thailand and I don’t have one photograph of her smiling because they consider photographs to be such a “special event” that it would be unheard of to appear any way but with the utmost propriety.”

These photographs were taken in 1890. You may refer to auctions #260077851984 and 260077841975.






For the Italian ladies, who knows if their marriages were arranged to older men by their parents for financial or political reasons, which means they had to sleep with men who might have repulsed them, too. We will never know the pain behind the pearls.

This is a portrait by Lavinia Fontana, 1552-1614. The lady is wearing a sumptuous yellow silk dress, lace collar, pearl necklace, and pearls in her hair.



This portrait of a lady is from the Neopolitan School in the early 18th Century. The lady is believed to be Francesca Gornia, wife of Francesco del Veglia. She is wearing a red embroidered dress with a beautiful red ribbon in her hair.

LC Tiffany, Queen Anne’s Lace, Lalique and the Fish

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LC Tiffany designed 3 Queen Anne’s Lace hair ornaments, one of which is in the Metropolitan Museum. It is made of silver, copper, opals, demantoid garnets, garnets, and enamel and is 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Like Lalique, Tiffany favored the common forms of nature, and did 3 of these ornaments to show the flower at different stages of bloom.



Another common form of nature is the fish pond with goldfish in it. I happen to have one, and goldfish are feisty creatures with a lot of personality. Here is Lalique drawing one, which is giving its opinion of being trapped in a comb. “I don’t want anything to do with this!” the goldfish says, as the butterfly flies away.

Some Lovely Things on Ebay

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Recently a gorgeous Meiji ivory Japanese kushi whose intertwining dragons had diamond eyes did not sell for $400. It has the typical Meiji characteristic of the carving folding over the top of the comb. You may refer to auction #270224867132.



There was also a complete set of what I think are 10 Edo ivory combs, decorated with gold inlay, to wear, and also cleaning items like a shoe horn and a tooth brush. Some teeth were missing on the combs, the gold inlay is worn on some combs, and it belonged to a famous NYC fashion designer. I have never seen anything like it. It was selling for $1295.