Jewellery
Jewellery auctions have always been one of the cornerstones for Pandolfini Casa d’Aste, Italian industry leader in the sales of jewellery and other precious items. Through traditional auctions, online auctions, and private sales, Pandolfini capably offers a complete service for the sales and purchase of jewellery, unique opportunities for acquiring sparkling and exquisite pieces, vintage and period jewellery, and rare precious stones. The Pandolfini jewellery auctions feature objects coming from the most prestigious high-end jewellery brands like Cartier, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Tiffany, Buccellati, and David Webb, just to name a few.
In addition to jewels signed by the most famous jewellery Maisons, Pandolfini auctions also offer period jewellery, vintage jewellery, and antique jewels. Capable of maintaining their appeal over time, while going beyond fleeting trends and passing fashions, period jewels tell their story in just a few grams of precious metal, recalling times gone by, as well as past emotions and creativity.
The charm of antique jewels goes well beyond appearance – something that undoubtedly makes them unique for those who own them. However, it’s not only a question of ownership, since wearing a period jewel means also enriching your very own look with a precious accessory that is one-of-a kind, unique, and original. Sometimes, jewellery is used as a status symbol, other times, jewellery is a cutting-edge fashion product through and through –engravings, settings, and bold colors, manage to express a style and fashion that spans across different eras and seasons. A jewel tells the tale of entire generations and becomes part of a family history; this is the case of jewellery that is handed down from one generation to the next, acquiring over time a symbolic value in addition to economic value.
The Pandolfini jewellery auction catalogs present selections of rare elegance and sophistication, rare, if not unique, jewels, and precious stones that come from private collections, all representing excellent opportunities for investing your capital, completing a jewellery collection, or giving someone an exceptional gift.
The global market Pandolfini operates in reserves a special attention for precious stones: diamonds and colorful gemstones, certified by internationally recognized Gemological Institutes. These precious gems reach considerable quotations during the jewellery auctions, thanks to a large public of collectors as well as investors, since they have historically represented and still now are a viable tool for financial diversification.
To satisfy all the needs of our clientele, we also present a selection of artistic jewels crafted by Masters of Art and Design, thanks also to the support of other Departments.
Historical Jewellery Highlights
What is the difference between antique jewellery, vintage jewellery, and period jewellery?
Jewellery is defined antique if it was produced around one hundred years ago. This is the case of Art Nouveau jewellery dating from the late 19th century, whose preferred subjects were often naturalistic, floral, and included insects, algae, serpents, and animals interpreted in a sensual and fluid key that was almost fantastical. This was followed by the era of the Belle Epoque, with a jewellery style that fully embodied the elegance of divas from the Twenties and Thirties and their leitmotif of splendor: garland-style jewellery made by famous Maisons like Cartier, Boucheron, Lacloche and Charmet.
Vintage jewellery, also known as cocktail jewellery, created during the 1920’s period of Prohibition in the United States, was worn by women at illegal underground parties held in clubs and private homes, expressing a certain spirit of rebellion typical of those times. Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Buccellati and Boucheron stood out for their vintage creations: flexible jewellery, models with large buckles, animal-print motifs, bows and knots, as well as a renewed exaltation of precious stones, identify an excessive ostentation in what was previously an especially bleak period.
Period jewellery, for years now, has maintained a charm all its own, representing miniature works of art that highlight in a unique way the aesthetic legacy, trends, and styles of the end of the last century. In fact, period jewellery depicts not only the art of making jewellery from the recent past, but also shows how events in the world are capable of transforming fashion, which goes hand-in-hand with the various cultural and social revolutions of the second half of the 20th century.
The valuation of antique, vintage, and period jewellery, criteria and parameters for assessment
Attributing a commercial value is the first step in selling jewellery in an auction. The valuation’s first purpose is that of expressing an initial estimate of the market value of the jewellery in question, and it accordingly includes an objective analysis of the jewellery’s condition and its features. Additionally, the valuation has the purpose of expressing an aesthetical opinion of the jewellery under examination, and this is the more subjective aspect of the estimate.
Multiple criteria is used in the valuation of the jewellery, with some of the most important criteria including: an analysis of the materials the jewellery is made from, the weight in carats, the period in which it was created and its conditions, the type and cut of precious gemstones, the purity of metals and of precious stones, the presence of engravings and brands, the kind of workmanship, the Maison or label, the origins, its originality, and the aesthetics.
Our Department experts are available all year round, by appointment at our offices in Florence, Rome, and Milan, or even at your own home, for free and confidential estimates and evaluations of your antique, period, and modern jewellery.
