Sunday, January 31, 2010

O HENRY

If you are thinking we are referring to poet William Sydney Porter by the title of our post, Oh Boy, do you have us wrong! Instead, when you say "O Henry" out loud, say it with a French accent and then you can catch our drift. We are referring to Henry, the collectible artistic jeweler designer who worked mutinously in a similar style of the legendary decorative artist Line Vautrin, creator of "Talosel" or cellulose acetate. We don't often find many pieces of Henry (or Line Vautrin, for that matter), but the hammered gilt metal pieces, often in Etruscan style are quite popular and special. The four necklaces below are all signed Henry and although information we have acquired about Henry is a bit erratic, we date these pieces to be circa the late 60s or early 1970s. These pendant necklaces are what we call "Bohemian Chic" and unusual for the lover of anything not ubiquitous. UPDATE: Our dear friend Sally Rosen sent us this 411 on Henry: Henry made jewelry around mid-century in Lyon…he used resin, metal and faux stones in most of his work.
He used neutral tones set off against jeweled colors. Some of his necklaces are made with chains…others use rope to intensify the earth tones. Some are signed on a tortoise like backing…others are not. But his style is very identifiable. He worked at the same time as Line Vautrin…but impossible to know how they might have influence each other.




Henry gilt necklace with green glass pendant, c. late 1960s. 20" chain + 4" pendant SOLD
Henry gilt necklace with long faux amethyst bead pendant, c. late 1960s. 18" chain + 6" pendant SOLD
Henry gilt necklace with split pendant on chain and smaller amethyst pendant, c. late 1960s. 18" chain + 5" pendant
Henry gilt necklace with intricate turquoise bead pendant, c. late 1960s. 22" chain + 4" pendant
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