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Miriam Haskell | Bib Necklace
Miriam Haskell | Bib Necklace
. . . . Exquisite!
Miriam Haskell
Miriam Haskell Bib Necklace - A gorgeous circa 1940 Signed Miriam Haskell bib necklace! Cobalt blue glass stones and faux agate stones are a showstopper as they drip from the book chain necklace accompanied by shiny rondelles. The faux stones are dotted with explosions of color which have the look of abalone and bits of colorful sea glass. All stones and rondelles are suspended from Haskell's ever familiar gold plated book chain. eautiful Haskell demi, but I do find Haskell used a good deal of the red glass in her designs in the 40's.
The necklace is in beautiful condition. There is only one thing to report: The original closure (left in tact) was a "sister hook closure" albeit not working. I have installed a vintage spring closure which matches so well that it truly looks like it is original -- dates to the same era. I left the non-working sister hook closure as it is not in the way and I didn't want to compromise the original integrity of the necklace by removing it. I have spent a good deal researching this piece and can't find another like it. So many outstanding pieces have gone into private collections and we may not see them resurface for decades to come.
Not only is this a uniquely beautiful necklace but most certainly a conversation piece. It is definitely a jewel to to add to your Miriam Haskell collection or maybe your very first piece as a new Haskell collector.
Measurements:
Necklace — Approximately 18" in length (from end to end) and the drop is approximately 13⁄4".
Miriam Haskell Jewelry History —
Haskell was born on July 1, 1899, in Tell City, Indiana, a small town across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. After high school in nearby New Albany, where her Russian Jewish immigrant parents ran a dry-goods store, she studied for three years at Chicago University. Moving to New York City in 1924 with $500 in her pocket, she opened a jewelry boutique in 1926 in the old McAlpin Hotel, and a second outlet within the year at West 57th Street. Frank Hess joined her business the same year. Despite some controversy concerning the extent to which the jewelry designs are Haskell's or Hess's (Ellman quotes Haskell's nephew's claim that she designed a great deal; Pamfiloff and others give the lion's share of credit to Hess), the two worked together until Miriam left the company; Hess continued to design for many years afterwards. In the 1930s, the company relocated to 392 Fifth Avenue; their affordable art glass, strass, and gold-plate parures were popular throughout the Great Depression, and the company went on to open boutiques at Saks Fifth Avenue and Burdine's, as well as stores in Miami and London. The Saks shop also offered pieces by Chanel.
Miriam Haskell jewelry was worn for publicity shots, films, and personal use by movies stars Joan Crawford and Lucille Ball, as well as by Gloria Vanderbilt and the Duchess of Windsor. Crawford owned a set of almost every Haskell ever produced, from the 1920s through the 1960s.
Watercolors used for advertising, by Larry Austin and others, showing models wearing large Haskell pieces are also collected and a Florida dealer found many in a set of steamer trunks around 1978; Haskell's family sold her archives and samples to defray the costs of her nursing home.
Her vintage pieces can command high prices from collectors. However, her jewellery was seldom signed before 1950, it was her brother Joseph Haskell who introduced the first regularly signed Miriam Haskell jewellery. For a very short time during the 1940s, a shop in New England did request all pieces they received be signed by Miriam - this signature being a horseshoe-shaped plaque with Miriam Haskell embossed on it. Pieces with this signature are rare.
Haskell's clients included Florenz Ziegfeld, who decorated the chorines of his Follies with her designs; Bernard Gimbel of the department store chain; and John D. Hertz, Jr., scion of the car-rental company. With Hess, she traveled in search of materials to Paris, Gablonz, Venice, and Wattens, home of Daniel Swarovski's crystal factory. She built a mansion that she called Sainte Claire Cottage on the Hudson River near Ossining. When the Ohio flooded in 1937, Haskell sent boxcars full of relief materials to New Albany, and traveled home to assist during the disaster. In World War Two, she contributed most conscientiously to the war effort, and asked Hess to create new patriotic metalfree jewelry designs, using natural materials and plastics.
The horror of World War II affected her health and emotional stability; in her fifties, she became ill, despite an adherence to health food. In 1950, she lost control of her company to her brothers. Living in an apartment on Central Park South with her widowed mother through the next decades, she became increasingly erratic in her behavior. In 1977, she moved to Cincinnati, under the care of her nephew Malcolm Dubin, and died in 1981. It was a sad ending for an exceptional life, but, as Pamfiloff writes, "Obviously, the legacy of her dream has filtered on down through the decades. It was a man's world. Designers were men. The owners of companies were men. The staff was men. The salesmen were men. It was all men. And then you had Coco Chanel, who just jumped right out there, and a couple of other women who carved out their own niche in the world. Haskell did that, too."
Wikipedia: Miriam Haskell: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Haskell]: [Sept 15, 2016]
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The ladies were smaller than the women of today.
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The ladies were smaller than the women of today.
NO Problem, be sure to check out our necklace extenders.