170
170
The long gold chain necklace, set with pear-shaped cabochon moonstone stations
18k yellow gold
With maker’s mark for Temple St. Clair
36 ½ ins; Gross weight 21.7 dwts
estimate: $4,000–5,000
result: $6,144
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Temple St. Clair’s namesake company was founded in Florence, Italy in 1986 and went on to become a firm widely recognized around the globe. Her pieces often combine luminous gemstones with bold gold work to create wearable eye-catching designs. A storyteller above all else, St. Clair’s collections evoke a sense of exploration through universal narratives.
St. Clair’s voyage into jewelry design was happenstance, as she originally studied art and literature. While her mother was visiting her in Florence, she was on the hunt to source an ancient coin with the intent to set it into a jewel. They found exactly what she was looking for in an antiques shop by way of a 4th century BC Carthaginian coin. St. Clair’s mother asked her to fashion the coin into a jewel, and while she explored how to do this she was exposed to the world of Florentine artisans, sparking a passion for jewelry design.
Temple St. Clair has been the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Hall of Fame Award for design in 2011 by the Accessories Council and the GEM Award for Jewelry Design in 2016. In 2017 she was honored to become one of only a few American jewelry designers to have work represented in the permanent collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts at the Louvre in Paris.
Whether in a pattern, a choice of gemstone color, or signature details, my jewelry seems to touch people in a subtle way, in a way that only a true jewel and keepsake can. It is hard to explain in words: it’s more ephemeral, a feeling, something familiar yet new. It’s our past and present all blended into a jewel.
Temple St. Clair
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