ANTIQUE JEWELRY, LIKE LOVE, IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING

 

 

Pat Novissimo of Lowther Antiques told me about her love of Georgian jewelry when we first met. She’s one of the foremost antique jewelry dealers in London, and that’s saying a lot, as England is a treasure trove for the collector. Pat, who has a coterie of loyal customers, regularly crosses the pond to appear at jewelry shows around the U.S. It’s easy to spot her booth; it’s swamped. Just look for a small crowd vying to peruse and acquire her latest finds.

 

Antique jewelry is having a moment now, though it has had centuries of moments that came before. Maybe it’s the recent period pieces streaming on screen—viewers are exposed to the sartorial and jewel bedecked fashions of a time when life seemed simple (though it never is) and clothes were complicated. To name a few, we can time travel to different eras in The Gilded Age, Bridgerton, Gentleman Jack, and let’s not forget the refined glamor of Downton Abbey. The most recent period series, Mary and George, is a foray into the Stuart era — and yes, Stuart era jewelry is scarcer, but available — and the life of the unfortunate King Charles 1, who like Louis XVI was executed by his people. (As a poignant aside, Louis XVI was reading a book on Charles 1 while imprisoned before being guillotined.) 

 

Another factor in the popularity of antique jewelry is the influence of avid collectors like Miuccia Prada, Alessandro Michele (formerly of Gucci), the late Karl Lagerfeld, Kate Moss, Rihanna, Nicole Kidman, Anna Wintour wearing her stacked Georgian rivière necklaces, and  members of the British royal family who undoubtedly have one of the deepest jewel caskets of all. 

 

Genuine antique jewelry was made by supremely skilled craftsmen with an artistry that’s nearly impossible to come by today. The pieces have a certain feel, often surprisingly delicate and lightweight, yet solid and sturdily constructed. Jewels, whether real or paste (always reminding me of Mauppasant’s famous story “The Necklace ” which, by the way, wasn’t just any necklace but a paste rivière), still glow and glisten two or three hundred years later, as if  they were made yesterday. Giardinetto rings flower in a basket of colored gems, Grand Tour Italian micromosaics forever capture tourists’ memories of the Pantheon or Colosseum, and miniature portraits that may have once been tucked into a lover’s bodice or waistcoat, look out at us in posterity, as though they stepped out of Keats’ poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” 

 

One day, out of the corner of your eye, you might see something sparkly or indefinably mysterious and romantic, or perhaps find a piece that calls out to you from a dusty bin. It can happen at an antique show, a vintage stall, an outdoor market. Before you know it, you too are in love, having fallen under the spell of jewels once worn in the age of carriages and candlelight. 

 

Pat found some time at the end of a busy afternoon at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Pavilion to talk antique jewelry. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did you start collecting? 

 

My mother-in-law collected lots of Victorian things — anything a Victorian lady would use and that got me into antiques. I started off actually buying china and objects, and looking around the antiques markets I saw jewelry and fell in love with the 1820s era, because that was the era of the china I was doing. 

 

 

The first piece you bought?

 

It was a garnet and pearl Georgian ring, a garnet in the middle with a row of pearls around it and then a row of garnets around the outside. A bit like a bullseye, but it was flat along the finger and just wrapped itself around. I realized that kind of jewelry was what I really loved.

 

I like the 1600s, the 1700s, and the 1800s. They each have their own style and they’re all wonderfully made because they’re handmade and made with love. You can see that in the style and the feel of the piece. It’s always lovely. 

 

 

Favorite travels? 

 

I’ve traveled to Ethiopia, Australia, the foothills of the Himalayas, Nepal. I spent a lot of time in India. I had a friend who had a school in Varanasi and I used to go there twice a year. I love India. 

 

 

Where are you from in England?

 

I was born in Dorset, a town called Sherborne which has got a very ancient abbey.

 

It’s the country of Thomas Hardy and D.H. Lawrence and a lot of good people have come from Dorset, so we’re very proud if we’re Dorset people.

 

 

What do you think of jewelry in period pieces streaming on TV?

 

Some of those shows are not awfully accurate. I do let out jewelry to some films so at least I know it’s accurate. When you look at something like Bridgerton, the whole thing is very extravagant and it does let people view things that are a bit out of the ordinary.

 

 

Films that used your jewelry?

 

A few are Portrait of a Lady, Far from the Madding Crowd, Bright Star.

 

 

Where’s your London shop?

 

Central Gallery, 125 Portobello Road. Open Saturdays only, 7am to 1pm.

 

 

Best place to source antique jewelry?

 

It is hard to find real antique jewelry, but England is a good source, as is France, Holland and Germany. But the UK is definitely the best!