Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Lucky, Gentle Giants: Collecting Elephants

The blog has moved!
Visit us at www.ninecarolineantiques.com for updated blog content
View this blog entry on the updated Nine Caroline Antiques website

Large Royal Dux Amphora Porcelain Elephant Sculpture

What is it about elephants that we love so much? Is it their gentle gaze, their intelligence, their capacity for love? Many cultures see elephants as a symbol of luck, the love between a mother and child, knowledge, and protection. The principles of feng shui include several different ways to incorporate elephants into your home decor to bring good luck, love, academic success, work success, fertility, and protection. Perhaps it's no wonder that elephants are memorialized in fine art, decorative art, folk art, and jewelry. Collecting elephant items has been a passion for many people for ages.

We recently purchased a very large, very wonderful collection of elephants from an upstate New York estate. A locked, hidden door was discovered that no one could recall ever having been opened. How many years had it been sealed shut? No one was sure. Once the door was finally opened, this find was revealed: a collection of over a hundred different types of elephant sculptures, figurines, jewelry, and decorative objects. Each piece had been carefully wrapped in 1940s-era newspaper and appeared to have never been touched after that initial wrapping.

Below is a small sample of the varied types of elephant collectibles found in this hidden space. The entire collection can be found in our online store.

Vintage Figural Elephant Sewing Tape Measure

Schafer & Vater Porcelain Gaping Mouth Vase

Japanese Gilded Lacquer Elephant Netsuke

Scottish Sterling Silver Elephant & Castle Cane Topper

German Majolica Smoking Elephant Humidor Box

Mughal Moonstone Silver Elephant Pendant

FGW Ferdinand Gerbing Pottery Elephant Cigar Humidor

Austrian Cold Painted Bronze Elephant on Skis Figurine

Antique Bisque Porcelain Elephant Nodder Figurine

Antique Folk Art Carved Wood Elephant

Orientalist Elephant & Girl Porcelain Smoking Stand

French Silver Figural Elephant Snuff Box

Cast Iron Elephant Still Bank

Mughal Jeweled Silver Elephant Perfume Bottle


Bradley & Hubbard Cast Iron Elephant Doorstop

Bradley & Hubbard Bronze Elephant Doorstop

Schoenhut Carved Wood Circus Elephant Toy

Antique Carved Coral Elephant Pendant

Antique European Porcelain Elephant Coin Bank

Asian Carved Wood Elephant Sculpture



Intrigued by this group? So were we!

Check out the entire collection in the Nine Caroline Antiques store.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Jewelry by Louis Comfort Tiffany

The blog has moved!
Visit us at www.ninecarolineantiques.com for updated blog content
View this blog entry on the updated Nine Caroline Antiques website

 Here are a beautiful pair of unmarked 14k and citrine cabochon cufflinks that recently came from a local estate. They arrived in a Tiffany & Company box that the cufflinks appear original to. Stylistically, these cufflinks appear related to the decorative motifs in Tiffany objects from the early 20th century. However, original pieces of jewelry designed and made under the direction of Louis C. Tiffany are uncommon, under-documented, and, we would typically expect such pieces to be clearly marked as made by Tiffany in some manner. There were also other firms such as Marcus & Co. during the same period making similar designs. Are these by Tiffany? Maybe, who knows? The only markings are a miniscule 285 (or 582) inventory mark scratched into each one. Whatever their origin, they are a beautiful and striking example of early 20th century craft and design.

Take a closer look at these cufflinks at the Nine Caroline Antiques store.