Auctiva Emporium: avamac410

We LOVE old Mexican silver for its bold, Art Deco design, its utter timeless wearability. Its incredible quality. When I began selling antiques and jewelry in the 60s, Mexican jewelry 'got no respect'...it was so under-appreciated that I actually bought pieces with the price tag carefully affixed to HIDE the Mexican marks. Obviously, this has changed as a new generation of knowledgeable collectors with a taste for good modern design has come into the market. And none too soon, as spot silver and gold prices rise, and once again, as in the '70s, jewelry gets sold off as scrap and goes to the melt.

This artfully carved fly whisk of the Boy Pharoah would have been sold to 1920s aristocratic tourists as they journeyed up the Nile to the Valley of the Kings. David Suchet's POIROT wields a similar one in the BBC series, as he visits an archeological dig.

Arnold Scaasi was THE American designer of the 60s, dressing all of the Beautiful People, as well as most of our modern First Ladies. He went totally against the economics of that time and this, by closing his thriving Ready to Wear Boutique on 7th Avenue and becoming a couturier, when couture was virtually dead. And to complement his clothing, he designed a very few very theatrical costume jewels. I've owned and traded multiple showcases of jewelry, but this brooch is the ONLY piece of Scaasi jewelry that has passed through my hands. ENJOY.