The age of Costume Jewelry as “The Vogue” is gone. Today … when we
say jewelry … we think gold …diamonds … platinum … rubies
… sapphires … emeralds … etc. But for sheer brilliance …
for the utmost expression of fantasy … costume jewelry of the 40’s
has no parallel.
I bring you Marcel Boucher … his Fish … and its mouth filled
with blue. Marcel was no slouch. He was born in France and
apprenticed under Cartier. In the 20’s he emigrated to the US of A
and so began his designing career. He produced his own costume
jewelry and came to be considered one of the greatest costume
jewelers of all time. He was meticulous in his craft … and it was
not without good reason that he became as insanely popular as he did.
As costume jewelry goes … Boucher’s was High End … and often
difficult to differentiate from the “real” thing. He set his
rhinestones as carefully as Cartier set his diamonds. He was a
craftsman with more than a touch of creative brilliance. And so we
come to his Fish.
His Fish? Well … maybe and maybe not. It’s not signed. It’s
attributed to him because of its style and offbeat subject matter.
It’s attributed to him because of the manner in which it was
rendered. It’s attributed to him because of its grace and
lusciousness in design. It’s attributed to him because. I can think
of no better reason than this last one.
Our fish … his fish … reminiscent to some perhaps of a
big-mouthed bass … is a fantastical creature. A marquise-shaped
stone of intense blue with a rosy gold-plated body and fins and
tail set with rhinestones. Can not tell what the eyes are made of
folks. My source does not mention them. Seems a little fishy to me.
Heh heh. Couldn’t resist. Sorry about that.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Tidbits…and then click on the link that says: Fish … where you
will see a graphic of our brooch…inspired by a brilliant artist
of our age.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all
next week. Benjamin Mark
-- http://www.tyler-adam.com --