Featured Makers mark on silver enamel brooch

Suppose it could be, honestly reminds me of a spoon, but that's likely just my spoon obsession (though I have Scandinavian spoons with pointy handles), have seen the shape before and thought perhaps based on some Scandinavian motif that eludes me...


Here is a lovely older Holmsen piece of similar shape, filigree and enamel:





And another Holmsen Modernist piece, with elements of similar shape:




~Cheryl

 

The first one is also a Halley's comet type of design, & construction, with those little coils of wire, looks right for the time. The second one looks to me more like it was inspired by horseshoe nails, but you can have spoons if you want. I do not see any comet influence in that one. Different eras, different inspiration.

 

Me too. Beautiful.

 

Hard to tell on the age, those scenic enamels were produced by numerous makers, and were very popular in the mid 20th century, a good number of the makers were not even in business before that, but they were definitely produced much earlier. Below are some designs from renowned designer and maker Gustav Gaudernack's 1900-14 sketchbooks - you can see the motifs on later items were based on his work:

















One of my Viking ship brooches, by Ivar T. Holth (founded in 1943), fairly large at 1-5/8" in diameter:




~Cheryl

 

Thank you @DragonflyWink; those sketchbook images are fantastic and I love your brooch too!

 

That is stunning! I love Viking ships, must be that drop of Viking blood I have (from Normandy), and this must be the most beautiful Drakar brooch I have ever seen.

 

Cheryl, are the photos of Gustav's work from the museum in Alesund Norway?

 

Yes - I explore them every so often, Gaudernack was so talented...

~Cheryl

 

Yes Gaudernack's workshop had 1 great enamellist and 2 very good enamellists. Gustav was in a class by himself. But his son Finn and his friend Olaf Lindrup were also very good. I believe some of the photo drawings at the museum were done by Finn.

 

BTW, Cheryl are you Scandinavian?

 

Here is a very interesting Facebook post... https://www.facebook.com/jbhudsonjewelers/videos/208020663605077/

 

Good to know, Swede - thank you for the additional information.

Though long gone by my birth, both of my father's grandmothers were Danish emigrants, but I was fortunate enough to know one of my great-grandmother's younger sisters, my great-great-aunt Karen (born in 1885). Have always been interested in Vikings, and attracted to Scandinavian design, both traditional and modern - have been a silver collector since my teens, a picker/dealer since the '80s, and enjoy research.

Thanks for sharing - nice pieces shown, and she clearly loves her subject, we could probably discuss a few things (the book she referenced looked interesting, but wouldn't be willing to pay the price it goes for). Did find the narrative on the Hjortdahl brooch a bit odd, not sure why a Norwegian enamalist would depict a Minnesota mosquito, but of course it's not a mosquito anyway (they only have two wings), it would be a dragonfly, or perhaps a wasp (though apparently a mutant 8-legged insect)...



~Cheryl