Sometimes its hard to say just what it was that drew you to a particular thing. Sometimes it’s a look, something about the design, or maybe the way something’s been made, the construction of it shouts quality. And sometimes its just a feeling that it’s unique, handmade by a craftsman whose name we may never know. So what drew me to this particular piece of jewellery? Probably a bit of all of the above.
Firstly the design. The first thing it brought to my mind was a Celtic art and the more particularly I found myself thinking of the white horse carved into the hillside at Uffington. But maybe that’s more of an overall impression. Looking more closely at the brooch the way the metal has been shaped reminds me of the designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, with sweeping curves ending in sharp angular bends. Lastly that sense that this was a unique piece. There’s nothing mass produced here, its all been made by hand, the gold has been shaped, the stone (which I’ve yet to identify) bezel set.
There’s no makers mark which is a shame but if it did have one, especially one for a known and respected maker I doubt very much that I’d have been able to afford it. A name can add a lot to the price of a piece but affects its quality not at all. And personally I’d rather have a great thing made by someone unknown than a mediocre thing by a great name.
One of the best bits of advice I’ve ever had about buying things about which you don’t know a great deal was to look at how it’s been made, the quality of the construction. That holds true regardless of what your looking at – it could be a piece of furniture, some studio pottery or, like here, a piece of jewellery. If someone took real care in the making of a thing then its a thing worth giving a second look.
