James H. Winn
14K yellow gold pendant necklace on an original chain with black opal, seed pearls, and chrysoprase
The Fine Jewelry & Timepieces Department offers antique, vintage, modern, and contemporary fine jewelry and timepieces in many of its auctions. The department has a particular interest in early 20th Century Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau jewelry and has sold many items bringing record prices in this collecting category. Vice President and Senior Specialist John Walcher has lectured on Chicago Arts & Crafts Movement jewelry, focusing on The Kalo Shop and its contemporaries.
As part of the former Treadway Toomey Auctions partnership, the Fine Jewelry and Timepieces Department helped curate two single-owner auctions in 2016 entitled A Passion for Collecting: Fine Timepieces, Erotica and Decorative Arts from the Estate of Candice B. Groot, Parts I and II. The two sales combined realized over $2M, with an 18th-century pocket watch by the celebrated English watchmaker James Cox selling for $73,200.
On May 5, 2019, Toomey & Co. offered items from The Paul & Terry Somerson Collection of 20th and 21st Century Metalwork and Jewelry. This carefully curated, single-owner catalog sale drew on the largest private collection of American Arts & Crafts metalwork and jewelry. The auction achieved over $650K in 500 lots of a relatively niche collecting category with an astounding 93% sell-through rate. Among several highlights, a pendant necklace (pictured) by Chicago’s renowned Kalo Shop made of 14K yellow gold, blister pearl, and dog tooth pearl realized $20,000.
