Pretty and Petit Vintage 1940's Hobé selling Sterling Silver Floral Bow Brooch in Sterling Silver with Purple/Lavender Stone - Beautiful! 1955
This is a lovely vintage mid-1940's signed Hobé Sterling Silver floral selling bow pin made of solid sterling silver. The bezel-set stone is in great condition for its age. The closest matching patent is 138,933 which instead of a solid silver rose at the center, this brooch has the additional stone (inside the rose) at the center and no baby's breath on the surround. It also has one less bow as the sketch has three. The patent was filed in 1944 by W. W. Hobé - see last two pictures for the original sketches of the design by Hobé. There are many variations of these brooches all differing in the number and color of stones, the presence (or not) of baby's breath and budding flowers (and the number of them). What is common amongst all of them is that the style is a floral, double/triple bow made of ribbon with an 'applied raised leaf' design. The bows could be simply sterling silver with no unfoiled bezel-set rhinestones or the addition of the vermeil finish.
The brooch measures 2-3/8" x 1-1/2" and weighs 21g - it is stamped "Hobé Sterling" in a triangle on a raised round silver plate/"cartouche".
The brooch is in good vintage condition with lots of lovely patina and has a slight kind in the pin but does function properly.
This is the perfect addition to your collection, Hobé or not!
I thank you for your visit and please check back with RhinestoneCafé - I will be adding new Hobé items regularly! Also feel free to ask questions, and make an offer!
Please note that the international shipping cost listed is an estimate and could be LOWER or higher than the $13.95 listed, depending on the country it's going to - happy to discuss.
About Hobé From Collectors' Weekly:
"Hobé Cie was founded in 1887 by goldsmith Jacques Hobé, but when costume-jewelry collectors think of Hobé, they picture the tasselled and beaded necklaces made by Jacques' son, William, who established an American offshoot of the company in 1927. That put Hobé at the beginning of the American costume-jewelry boom between the two world wars. In fact, some scholars believe that Hobé actually had a hand in the phrase “costume jewelry” itself. After the younger Hobé landed in New York, but before he started his company, one of the his first assignments was to make costumes and jewelry for the "Ziegfeld Follies." According to some historians, Florenz Ziegfeld described the jewelry that accompanied Hobé's costumes as costume jewelry. Hobé's showbiz origins served the company well. By the 1940s and '50s, Hollywood stars such as Bette Davis and Ava Gardner were wearing Hobé. Especially prized today are the floral pins of that era, which featured tight clusters of vermeil petals. Earlier Hobé pieces that remain popular with collectors include filigreed bracelets and pins, some of which featured Victorian-style portraits or Japanese netsuke-like figures as focal points."
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/costume-jewelry/hobe