Hancocks London has named a pair of circa-1950s Harry Winston convertible diamond chandelier earrings its Jewel of the Month for September.
Carrying a provenance as exceptional as its carat count, the earrings are set with approximately 28 cts. t.w. of diamonds in platinum: marquise-cut clusters and scrolling baguette loops at the top, with articulated cascading baguette rows finishing in graduated marquise clusters below. They are convertible with detachable lower drops, leaving the upper clusters as a more restrained daytime piece, while the full chandelier configuration suitable for occasions. The price is available on request, and the original insurance appraisal accompanies the lot.
The Harry Winston pieces were worn by Hazel Brooks, the actress and model who appeared opposite John Garfield in the 1947 boxing noir Body and Soul—a critical and commercial success still regarded as a genre classic—and who married Cedric Gibbons in October 1944.
The Irish-born Gibbons was arguably the most powerful art director in Hollywood history: He joined MGM at its founding in 1924 and remained as supervising art director for 32 years, his name appearing on nearly 1,500 films. He defined the glossy, art deco–inflected MGM aesthetic that shaped the studio’s golden age. He was also one of 36 founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927 and the following year designed the Academy Award statuette itself (the knight standing on a reel of film). His own record with the award he created stands at 39 nominations and 11 wins for art direction—both figures unmatched by any nominee in any category to this day.
“An eleven-time winner of the very award he created, with an eye trained on design at the highest level, he would have known exactly what he was looking at in a pair of Winston earrings this exceptional,” said Amy Burton, creative director at Hancocks London, in a statement.
Harry Winston’s guiding principle—that the stone should lead and the metal merely support it—is on full display here: the platinum all but disappears beneath the diamonds it carries.
The Harry Winston earrings are available now at Hancocks London, 62 St James’s Street.
(Photos courtesy of Hancocks London)
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