The Fales collection of jewelry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Magazine Antiques, April, 2002 by Janet Zapata, Beth Carver Wees

By the 1850s, enameling had become more widespread and is evident on all types of jewelry, including belt buckles. On one such example, made by the California Jewelry Company (Pl. VIII), contrast is provided with champleve enamel, black in the corners and blue for the floral motif at the center. In this process, the design elements are cut into the metal and enamel is fused in the hollowed spaces and then polished flush with the surface. This produces the strongest enamel-to-metal composite and is the most suitable for flat or shaped objects. Since the enamel does not protrude above the metal, it is better protected from damage--a major reason for using it for buckles.

The black-enameled hinged balls shown in Plate XII were used to cover the diamond solitaire earrings also shown. These balls are known as coach covers; their purpose was to male the earrings as inconspicuous as possible while the owner was traveling in a coach, when safety was a paramount concern.

Perhaps the most ingenious method of enameling in the late nineteenth century was plique-a-jour. In this technique, the areas to be enameled (commonly referred to as cells) are either pierced from a solid piece of metal or constructed independently of twisted wire. If a cell is less than one-sixteenth of an inch wide, capillary forces in the enamel mixture will hold the enamel in place during firing. Larger cells are normally backed with a copper foil to serve as a support for the transparent enamel, and, after firing, the backing is removed. The resulting effect is similar to that of stained glass. At the time, only a few American jewelers made jewelry using this technique. (9) A fine example is the watch pin in Plate IV, which is made in two sections riveted together. The front plate depicts a heron on a field of lily pads and cattails. The backplate depicts a sunset in red and yellow on a background sky of green and blue, all in plique-a-jour enamel. The multicolored cells represent quite a tour de force i n this type of enameling for the period.

During the last half of the nineteenth century a plethora of patents were granted to inventive jewelers for jewelry findings and techniques, as well as imaginative designs. The underside of the buckle in Plate VIII is marked "W.CUMMINGS PATD. AUG. 1868," indicating that William Cummings, an employee of the California Jewelry Company, received a patent for the addition of rings to keep the prongs in place. (10)

Clasps for bracelets were patented by several American jewelers. Charles E. Mason of the Attleboro, Massachusetts, firm of Mason, Draper and Company, received a patent on May 3, 1881, for a concealed hinge to make the bracelet self-closing (P1. X). (11) The lion's-head terminals on this bracelet are based on those adorning a bracelet in the Curium site treasures unearthead in Cyprus by Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832-1904) in 1876. Tiffany and Company reproduced several pieces from this collection, including an armlet with lion's-head terminals that opened with a hidden-spring hinge. (12) This spawned an interest in the style and in new developments for easier use.