Tiaras Made From Unusual Materials

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Although we swoon from the diamond, emerald, pearl, and sapphire tiaras, there are some, which are made of unusual materials. Just like Lalique used horn, when no one else was using it, these artists experiment, too.

I’m going to start with two by contemporary artist Jan Yager. This one is in the Victoria and Albert museum in London sitting right next to the diamonds. It is made of aluminum, glass, steel, cow’s horn and feathers.



This Jan Yager tiara was featured in “Craft in America: Expanding Traditions,” in the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon. It is called “Tiara of Useful Knowledge. City Flora: The Philadelphia Series (2006)” and is made of oxidized sterling silver, 18K and 14K gold.



The third piece I want to show was made by Liz Wallace, from the Navajo/Maidu/Washoe tribes and was purchased by the Wheelright Museum of the American Indian, c. 2006. It is made of plique a jour enamel, 18K gold, and sterling silver, and I love this one.



This “Fire and Ice” tiara c. 1990 was made by Geoffrey Rowlandson for The Metal Gallery. It is made of freshwater pearls, diamonds, and 18K gold. It was commissioned by the Victoria and Albert Museum as one of 4 pieces to represent contemporary art.



This Berlin tiara made of iron was a specialty of German foundries starting in 1804. In 1813, to finance the War of Liberation from Napoleon’s armies, German women donated their gold jewelery in exchange for iron ornaments.  This parure holds cameos of classical themes and is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It was made c. 1810.



This sterling silver tiara was made by a scientist studying brain waves in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. He made a tiara cast of one of his siezures in sterling silver. What an amazing thing to do.



I will end this post with the sublime. A complete parure made of rare pink coral, known as “angels skin coral” because of its translucent appearance. It is carved with sea horses, mermaids, dolphins, and shells, attached to a gold framework that sits to make us feel glorious at its existence in the British Museum. It was owned by the De Beaumont family since the 19th century.



Here is a closeup of the tiara.

Alexandre de Paris

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My favorite brand of modern hair accessories. I called Jovy at the New York store the other day because I wanted to buy something. The things I used to get, the couture beaded barrettes, snoods are now selling for $4300 each.

WHAT?

I’m speechless. And she said the women from Paris are rushing over to New York to buy them because of they are taking advantage of the depressed dollar.The French finally put up a site. Look at the black and white tiara in the slide show of these couture pieces on this website. A more Barbara piece was never made, and I’m getting a price on it anyway, but there is probably no way I’ll ever be able to afford something from this store again. I used to pay $600.

Here are some of my pieces that I bought in the late 1990s, but for those of us who love modern hair art, we have to go to the superb artist Susan Maxwell Schmidt at Longlocks.




This is the way I combine my Alex pieces with Susan’s beautiful hairsticks:

Some Lovely Things on Ebay and Beyond

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There was an auction of gorgeous combs recently, which did very well. There was also a beautiful coral and shell comb I loved. Finally, on Ruby Lane, there was a drop-dead Peigne Josephine ivory comb in its original box, made by House of Kaldenberg in New York City (c.1840-1880) that I got to first. The dealer told me there was a storm over this comb, so I guess you can post your hate mail here. ;-) I also bought some real antique Chinese kingfisher oraments, which I love. So here they are!

This Chinese ivory comb was part of a beautiful collection. It has an elaborate floral center surrounded by a delicately hand-carved frame and sold for $260 on Feb 26. You may refer to auction #140208060513.





There was a stunning garnet tiara on a shell comb. I lost the auction, but I have the pictures. If anyone knows how much it finally sold for, please put it in the comments, and I’ll update this post.



This tortoiseshell Chinese comb with a dragon theme sold for $202.50 on Feb. 26. You may refer to auction #130198909196.





A celluloid art deco parrot comb sold for $46 on Feb 17. I have a bit of a weakness for parrots since one owns me. You may refer to auction #200199653557.



This beautiful English coral tiara hinged to a shell comb, c. 1880, sold for $257 on Feb. 28. You may refer to auction #160211215401.



And finally, the Ruby Lane ivory comb I grabbed because when I saw it, my brain exploded.





Here is what my collection box looks like. I have the 4 kingfisher ornaments I bought are in there. I love them. The butterfly pendant is in perfect condition and takes my breath away.



Spring is almost here! I hope everyone is planting. :-) 

Three Lovely Combs

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At Christies, they are selling a tortoiseshell and diamond hair comb, est. 400 – 600 UKP c, 1880 on Feb 27 in London.



Christies will also sell a gorgeous French art nouveau horn comb outlined in pearls, which looks like it was made by Louis Aucoc, the teacher of Rene Lalique. That’s estimated at 3000 to 4000 euros, c. 1900, and will sell in Paris on March 4. You can see the similarities to this Aucoc comb selling at the Tadema Gallery.



And then a lovely shell comb with pearls and 14K gold did not sell on ebay for a price of $295. Maybe all the serious collectors have their classic combs, but I thought this was a nice one.

Frieda Khalo

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When women have creative power so strong it borders on madness, their lives are full of sadness and pain — especially from the way the men who shape them, treat them.  Consider Suzanne Farrell-Balanchine; Maria Callas-Onassis; Camille Claudel-Rodin; Freida Khalo-Diego Rivera. But Frieda Khalo grabs you with her eyes. Her hair is original, beautiful, in reality and art, and I love her.



This is the Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.

Some Lovely Things on Ebay

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I’m going to start with a Spanish silver crown of thorns, c. 1890, which was offered by the same dealer from whom I bought my tiara, but sorry to say I lost the auction, and I don’t know if it sold. I am guessing the crown could have been worn on Good Friday, signifying the passion of Christ. Spanish Catholicism is dramatic and passionate, and I had never seen anything like this. I don’t see this piece as attempting to be beautiful, but rather to communicate suffering. Comments welcome.



The dealer thought this early Edo masterpiece was c. 1860. I disagree. The size, the fact that there is only one picture, and look at the plot of this picture, and the detail. There was one idea on each side, completely different. Both pictures were works of art in themselves, the way it is signed. I’m going to venture a guess that it’s c. 1720. Comments welcome by Japanese experts if you think I’m wrong. That it went for the ridiculous price of 75 GBP was probably because it was damaged. But for something that old, I guess if it survived in tact, it would be in a museum. Idiotically, I did not buy this.





This beautiful Meiji set of pearl berries and grape leaves just sold for $355 on Feb 10.



This gold makie kanzashi hair stick was beautiful. It sold for $255 on Jan 26.





Here is a modern comb I liked. It is made of buffalo horn and signed by the artist Genryo. It is accent with mop and inlaid gold.



This late Edo tortoiseshell comb with coral beads, ivory and brass flowers decorating a brass top is beautiful, and sold for $355 on Jan 20.



Finally, I’m going to feature a Chinese claw comb. I had a hairstick once with a claw and a blonde tortoiseshell ball that I sold to “best friend” Myrna who tells me things like I “there are products to get rid of the frizz Barbara,” when she sees my pictures, lol, but the edge of this comb has the same claw art, which I think is gorgeous and very Chinese.

I bought this French tiara

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I have been working so hard lately, it’s been ridiculous, but for my treat, I bought this 1880 gilt French tiara, with paste stones original to the piece, and I got it today, tried it on, and I just leapt to the ceiling with joy.

My hair is a bit frizzy, and I am looking up at my James. Imperfections make the human being? :-) I’m wearing my grandmother’s costume jewelry that I kind of put together to make my own parure. C’est la vie, world. You may refer to auction #160199874611. I have never had a tiara like this. I am just so happy!

Brooch Barrettes

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Sotheby’s is having a sale of important jewels, and there are no formal combs or tiaras.

But then I started looking at what they had, and thinking about Christian Lacroix and how he just threw hair fashion up in the air, saw what came down, and had the courage to create something new. I thought there were brooches that were so gorgeous in this sale you could easily wear them in your hair. In fact some had barrette and two-pronged hairpin backings.

So today, I’m going to do a collection of magnificent pieces that can double as barrettes. I chose the ones with imagination. I’ll do a post with diamond broaches from 1850 to 1950 at another time because the design changes are quite significant, but for today, we toast imagination of the artist.

This butterfuly brooch/barrette is set with orange, yellow, and pink sapphires, rubies, amethysts, citrines, green garnets, and black diamonds. It’s mounted in 18K yellow and black gold. There is no maker’s mark and no year, but I thought the creativity of this piece spoke volumes.



Carved wood forms the trunk of this tree, with branches of gold set with yellow and pink-hued diamonds. The leaves are emeralds and pink sapphires. Maker: Nardi. No year, but gorgeous.



This broach has a barrette backing. Its ruby and emerald leaves, outlined by diamonds, overlap. It’s mounted in 18-karat gold and platinum and was made by Van Cleef and Arpels in France in 1969.



This gold, diamond, coral strawberry brooch sit on a branch of textured gold with a flower leaf set with 59 round diamonds. No maker, no year.



The back of this gold, diamond, pearl, and enamel necklace can be detached so the front part can be worn as a tiara. The piece is c. 1850. The center portion is composed of 5 interlocking plaques designed as floral clusters and ribbons with a link of gold scroll links at the back. I fainted when I saw this. I’d wear it all day, never taking it off until I died. :-)



This Renaissance Revival brooch by Carlo Giuliano would also look beautiful as a barrette. Made in 1870, it is a geometric pattern with cushion-shaped diamonds and small pearls anchored by a pearl drop.



This carved lilly of the valley hardstone brooch has pistels of diamonds, leaves of adventuine quartz, and stems bound by a ribbon of diamonds.



And so we’ll end today with the king of beasts. The back of this coral lion with emerald eyes also has a two-prong hairpin form. The lion wears a crown set with diamonds and emeralds and is wearing a diamond necklace. Signed Tiffany & Co, numbered 17710.

Fainting from Christian Lacroix

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Well, it’s haute couture show season in Paris — I’m sure we are all booking our hotel rooms at the Ritz and getting our invitations in order — after we clean our cats’ litter boxes and make sure our rose leaves are chemically protected from blackspot during their sleeping period in February, so when they bloom in March they will be beautiful, ;-P, but…

Fortunately we can see the mind-blowing ideas from the greatest artists in the world, which are gracing the Paris runways through the miracle of the Internet.

This year, Lacroix did head pieces that made me faint. Unique crystal beaded creations sewn into mesh head bands that were worn on the side of the head, combined with huge fabric flowers, sometimes ornamented with butterflies, and a huge black satin bow in the back. The beading work by the attelier who created these necklaces is at a masterwork level from another century. Lacroix called his collection “An Angel Passing By.” My world has changed.











And I couldn’t resist showing 4 dresses from his Spring 2008 haute couture collction that made me die.









I was so inpsired by these ideas of how to ornament your hair, that I actually tried it at home! I guess this next picture goes with the “don’t try this at home, PLEASE.” ha! But I used my grandmother’s costume jewelry with this Hawaiian flower thing I bought on ebay for $15 about a year ago. I think when I go to Wal-Mart in South Georgia to get groceries, this would be the perfect outfit to wear! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!



Maybe I should get a stylist. ha ha ha, lmao. I’m sure his services will be of great use when I’m painting my picket fence blue and the larger fence wall aqua green this summer. :-)