Featured Head Scratchers and Other Items

Good evening peeps! The last couple of weeks have been good ones for carboot sales, and this week was no exception.
BUT, this time the pieces bring in more questions than answers, so its time for a little bit of show and tell and pick your brains.

To start off, I found this in a misc/junk bin, a Pierre Toulhoat ermine pendant in sterling. Its not marked silver, although there's a tiny stamp on the ring which might be trying to be that 925. Toulhoats work is stunning, so one to watch out for for sure in future! I love his rings in particular. He also fetches quite a bit, so even at 2.03g I've gotten back my 33 cents.
A link if anyone is interested, he did lots of work for his region of Brittany, including stained glass, regional, and religious pieces: https://www.toulhoat.com/toulhoat-histoire/oeuvre-pierre-toulhoat/




Also in the junk bin, this jumped out and landed in my bag! Silly earring, however it did stay there, despite being a solo. I think it'll make quite the pendant! Without marks of any kind its quite hard to pin down date wise, is this 70s? I do wish there were two because I tried it on and it makes SUCH a fun statement.



The final bin find was this sterling ring, which rather annoyingly has been cut through one of the marks. However the 925 mark remains, as well as a lozenge on the inside. The ring was cut and squeezed rather than rejoined. I do have a clear picture of the lozenge mark, 'ATE' but I can't find anything on it. The style is modern, perhaps too modern for online hallmarks?


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My last two are mystery items, the head scratchers if you will.

The first is this sterling and marcasite ring. Its sadly, but rather unnoticably missing a stone. Its got both a 925 on the inside, and a Minerva on the outside. As well as that, we have a lovely mystery mark that has no real cartouche whatsoever. The Minerva does not appear to have a lock of hair on her temple, so that would make it post 1973, however I thought the marks on the outside of the band more common in older jewelry? More common doesn't mean impossible I suppose, but the minerva is rather worn so its hard to say if she is the modern stamp or not.
It needs more cleaning but its lovely to look at, and thankfully fits!

How to clean tarnish without touching the stones?

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And finally, my wildcard. This is totally not my thing, but I googled it anyway and what I saw was good enough to risk 2 euros on. HOWEVER I can't find a thing more about it, the company, nothing.
What I saw originally was another necklace here: https://www.barnebys.fr/ventes/objet/niki-de-saint-phalle-1930-2002-nana-lpfynsp6ig
There's a few of these floating around for between $6-1500. But since it was the same company and its all costume, I took the chance, hoping more indepth research would bring up more. Nada.
The figure itself is a rendition of Modigliani's work. The best I can come up with is JNF Prod. do collaborations with artists (or their estates) to create pieces. But I can't find a thing on JNF. The closest match on google is the Jewish National Fund, but I've not seen pieces of the same kind on their website, nor can I see their mark.
There is absolutely zero on the necklace itself, google lens doesn't match it to anything, nor do any of my searches give me an answer (some brooches are similar, but from FLAMMARION, not JNF). Has anyone had a run in with this mysterious JNF Production?





Thanks for looking (and hmming and awhhing!)​

 

Lovely finds!
Is the ring ATB rather than ATE?
I have a very similar mask brooch, I must dig it out to compare as I can’t remember if mine is marked

 

I’d say ATB.
That Modigliani is fab. I’d be looking at a French or possibly Italian museum with those initials. F would be foundation. N might be national.

 

What a stunning handful of a haul! Tres riche!

 

You're both quite right! I looked at it again and its ATB for sure.

I did look into JNF museum but a quick search didn't turn up much. However, there was something I missed in an auction description of one of those brooches...'This necklace was made by Flammarion 4, now JNF Productions.' I've done some digging, and its still all a bit confused, but Flammarion is a renowned French editorial and publisher for the arts and sciences. It was bought by an Italian company in 2000, which fits in the timeline (the brooches are dated 98 or 99, then the Nana piece and mine are 2002). However I can't find anything on Flammarion 4, except Etsy listings with previous collaboration pieces, tshirts etc. The jewelry available there is all by Jean Couteau, and is signed Madeline Flammarion, but nothing comes up for her either.

I've got no idea if this is the same Flammarion, there is nothing at all on who or what this actually is, just references for things in the Publisher's collection etc.

The only JNF/Flammarion connection I can find outside the jewelry is this wikipedia article (in french): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Éditions_de_l'Amateur

Thank you very much! I was very happy, everything but the ring was at the same place about 4 stalls in so I was in a good mood. A sheep's leather blazer for 10 euros sweetened the deal later on haha!

 

I'd be too busy wearing that Modigliani to worry about where it came from.

The ring may have snapped at the solder joint if it wasn't done correctly. If it was cast flat, that's not unknown.

The easiest way is just to wear it. Skin oils remove tarnish just fine. No chemicals required. Otherwise I'd use pink silver polish and a sponge, or a sunshine cloth or similar.

 

Some progress is being made: "...a new lease of life was brought in the 1970s, with the creation of stores in new living spaces, on the initiative of Jean-Noël Flammarion and his brothers. From 1974 to 1977, the bookstores at Porte Maillot, Place d'Italie and the Center Pompidou in Paris, and La Part-Dieu in Lyon were open. Flammarion 4 (fourth generation) unites these new brands. The Maison Rustique and Arthaud bookstores joined this network in 1977, followed in 1980 by La Hune, the famous Saint-Germain-des-Prés brand. The network continued to evolve in the 1990s, with the creation of points of sale (Cité des Sciences, Museum of Decorative Arts, National Library of France) and the sale of other stores.
In 1999, Flammarion contributed its regional bookstores to the Librairies du Savoir, in return for an entry into the capital."

So its a bookstore? I'm going to need to look into the Museum and the National Library...

 

Its growing on me I have to say!

Good to know on the ring, thank you!

Okay thanks Evely! The photo made me realize how black it was between the stones, I'll see what I can do with it.

 

Spot ON!

 

The black between the stones may be there by design, to make the stones "pop". It's a common thing in jewelry design.

 

AH good to know! I wont be too rough with it then haha

 

Lo and behold, everything one needs to know (in french): https://viadeo.journaldunet.com/p/juliette-gourlat-4417885

This lady was in charge of production of items in collaboration with artists, including jewelry, between 1992 and 2000. In 2010 onwards it mentions that 'each project..has no more than 100 pieces produced'.​

I also found this in a Cannes auction house's catalog from this year:
Not sure what it ended up going for, but promising!
With the Maggy Rouff necklace I put in the finds thread a few weeks ago, I seem to be growing a nice collection.​

 

Dingdingding.

 

Thanks for sharing. Great group. Mad about the sterling pendent-love it. JNF obviously do artist’s estate costume and IMO they pick terrific pieces to offer at a price. You could contact the auction house that sold the Niki and see if they have any other info on JNF. Prob long since out of biz since those pieces were 2002 and there’s not a whole lot surfing.
David Nordmann, Xavier Dominique
Auctioneers - SVV 2002-448 - 3, rue Favart 75002 Paris

 

Interesting TY but wonder what happened to the company. Sounds like she started the art licensing…100 pieces an item? Did I misread that?

 

Its honestly rather odd. Flammarion was bought out in 2000, and then again in 2012. They are still around today. Flammarion 4 was the name for the 4th generation of bookstores opened by the company, 3 in paris and 1 in lyon. That's all I've really been able to ascertain. I've not been able to find an JNF Editions so far, nor is there any mention of the name in connection with Flammarion explicitly, except on auction listings.

The only pieces I've seen date from 95 to 02, a couple of collaborations with 3 artists, and thats it. I have just found this on wikipedia: 'In the 1980s, the Flammarion 4 bookstores were opened and offered, in addition to fine books, editions of limited-edition design objects.'. That then turned into JNF and then was never heard from again apparently.

It does look like it was limited to 100 pieces an item, or collaboration I don't know.