Posted 10 years ago
kiwipaul
(117 items)
Many years ago an online antiquing buddy introduced me to the London Bus Effect – "You never see one, then two come along at once". Well it has struck again.
A few days after Jewels1900 and BelleEpoque showed their Amy Sandheim pieces on Collectors Weekly, this turquoise necklace popped into one of my saved searches.
It's clearly by Amy, you can see the same handmade chain design on the chalcedony heart necklace from a recent Treadway Toomey Auctions sale (June 1st, 2014) and on the amethyst and rose quartz cross, courtesy of Tadema Gallery (item 6558). Also as Jewels1900 pointed out, her silver casting work is quite distinctive.
Information on Amy was a bit scarce so I put together the little bio below.
Amy Alice Sandheim was a prominent British Arts & Crafts and Art Deco jeweller in the 1920's and 30's.
She was the daughter of Amy Alice and Julius Wolfe Sandheim. Julius came from a family of watchmakers, and in 1902, at the age of just 19, he became a jewellery designer under his teacher, W. Augustus Steward, the chief instructor in gold and silversmithing at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where Steward also taught Henry George Murphy.
Julius and his brother Adolph entered the mark of Sandheim Bros gold and silver workers in 1908. By 1915 the family had a shop at 130 Notting Hill Gate in West London. Here Amy developed her personal style of Arts and Crafts jewellery using silver castings set with semi-precious stones. She had a preference for moonstones, which she often foiled after the Georgian method of foiling pastes, to produce striking and colourful effects.
Amy labelled her work as "Artistic & Peasant Jewellery" (printed inside the lid of a fitted case, 1935). This invokes the origins of Arts & Crafts jewellery, for C. R. Ashbee was named "Among pioneers of the artistic jewellery movement" by The Studio in 1902, and peasant jewellery "was very popular among the Pre-Raphaelite painters, who included it in many of their paintings" see: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O382815/necklace-unknown/
She was prominent in the second wave of inter-war Arts & Crafts and Art Deco jewellery designers, that included Sibyl Dunlop and Dorrie Nossiter, and apparently the three women were friends. Amy and Dorrie did not sign their work, which is often mis-attributed to Sibyl Dunlop, the best known of the three.
Amy sold her jewellery at Arts & Crafts exhibitions, and through the family shop, which finally closed in the early 1980s. An article on her work in The Times, dated 20 April 1931, can be seen here: www.manfamily.org/PDFs/Amy%20Sandheim%20article%20Apr%2016%201931.pdf
Great information, thanks.
Wonderful necklace... and many thanks for putting together the Sandheim's bio!
Wow! The turquoise's setting is also quite georgian (as in your writing the foiled moonstone part) She certainly studied the construction of antique jewels.
The London Buses theory is a very good one ;-))
Yes quite a bit of the jewellery of the period was in a Neo-Georgian style, and they would have had lots of old Georgian jewellery to study. If London Bus Effect is working please let me find an H G Murphy piece soon!
Have an eye on that ;-)
Kiwi, any idea on these? (Sorry, from now to become my expert!)
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/120582-unknown-style-and-maker-necklace-arts-an
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/120822-silver-and-garnet-pin-marked-gj-early
Have a great day!
Cheers Kyratango, I have answered on those pages, but I wasn't really able to help.
You are so adorable even to have a look! Cheers Kiwipaul :-)
Added this snippet above:
Amy labelled her work as "Artistic & Peasant Jewellery" (printed inside the lid of a fitted case, 1935). This invokes the origins of Arts & Crafts jewellery, for C. R. Ashbee was named " Among pioneers of the artistic jewellery movement" by The Studio in 1902, and peasant jewellery "was very popular among the Pre-Raphaelite painters, who included it in many of their paintings" see: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O382815/necklace-unknown/
OMG I can't believe I missed all this beautiful and amazing jewelry!!! This turquoise is highly desired too...
I can't wait to see what you have next to post! Awesomness!!! :)
Two related questions re the Sandheim family. Do we know when Amy was born and when she died? Secondly, after her death someone called Fernand Haville seems to have taken over the Sandheim family business producing more small silverware (spoons &c) but using his own FH sponsor mark - who was he?
The info above on Amy was compiled from the Internet, and I can't add much more. I wasn't able to determine her DOB or DOD.
However if you want to investigate further I did get some of my information from a related family genealogy site, and you may be able to get more info via that source, the link is: http://www.manfamily.org/about/other-families/reis-family/samuel-family/hannah-samuel-1823-1879/
Many thanks for that. Typically there is mention of the dates of almost everyone except Amy! But she appears to have been born c. 1905 ish and died perhaps c. 1980?
Those dates sound about right. If anyone knows her actual dates of birth and death would be keen to know, Cheers
Yes please to Amy Sandheim's death date. I am still trying to find out about Fernand Haville, about whom nobody seem to have heard. His F.H mark first seems to appear about 1926 and he produced exact Sandheim spoons whether by the Brothers or Amy. Amy ceased production in 1939 for some reason...?
Any help here would be greatly appreciated.