TIFFANY & Cie New York, signée. - Lot 167

TIFFANY & Cie New York, signée. 750 thousandth yellow gold brooch featuring an orchid, the petals entirely enameled white and mauve, the stem set with a line of round rubies, the pistil partially enameled red set with rose-cut diamonds. Circa 1890-1900. (Pin and setting stamped ET). (The enamel is slightly missing). Height: 6.2 cm. Length: 4.7 cm. Gross weight: 38 g. George Paulding Farnham, artistic director of Tiffany & Co from 1885 to 1908. For the Paris World's Fair in 1889, he proposed a set of twenty-four brooches featuring extremely fine and realistic enamelled orchids, all of which sold out on the second day of the fair. Such was the success of these brooches that some forty new brooches were subsequently offered in the New York store between 1890 and 1896.