Art Deco Engagement Rings
                                            Nelson Rarities, Inc.

Two Monument Square, Box 453, Portland, ME 04112

The world's largest source of Antique Estate Engagement Rings. We carry Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Edwardian, Victorian, Estate, and custom diamond engagement rings and wedding bands. 


A magnificent Art deco ring.  This ring is set with a center European cut diamond surrounded by a dramatic ring of black onyx and further surrounded by a ring of rose cut diamonds with diamond shoulders all set in a hand made platinum mounting with French hallmarks and makers marks.  Circa 1927.

About Art Deco Jewelry


Art Deco jewelry lasted from the 1920's up to the Second World War.  Its zenith was during the roaring twenties and in particular the "jazz age".  Reacting against the classical mores of the Edwardian pre World War I era and embracing the avant garde designs of the Bauhaus school in Germany and the Cubism movement in France, a new style of jewelry emerged.  Sleek, fast, industrial, geometric, and severe were the adjectives of Art Deco designers.  In jewelry the great houses of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron,  Mauboussin and Tiffany among many others used contrasting colors (diamonds against black onyx or red coral next to rock crystal), harsh severe geometric angles and an extravagance of composition to create this new design.  New cuts of diamonds emerged such as emerald cuts, Asscher cuts and the use of baguette cut diamond to accent important diamonds.  Rubies, sapphires and emeralds not only were used in more traditional manners, but were carved into leaves and flowers and set in "fruit salad" or "tutti Fruitti" (these terms derived from the unconventional use of carved colored gemstones in jewelry) pieces of jewelry.  The term "Art Deco" is derived from the title of the great worlds fair in Paris called L'EXPOSITION DES ARTS DECORATIFS"  in which the world discovered the commercial application of this artistic movement.  As the world became "smaller" after the first world war,  jewelry embraced different ancient and historical styles from Chinese, Japanese, Indian and most importantly Egyptian.  With the stock market crash of 1929, the exuberance of Art Deco jewelry waned and the second world war was its death knell.

1-800-882-3150

Engagement
Rings
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