Posted 8 years ago
racer4four
(586 items)
A while ago I bought a little brooch for the Isle of Man, featuring an enamel view of Douglas and the Manx treskillion. My partners family were Manx so we have a liking for Manx things.
Recently I purchased another little enamel brooch, one I suspected may have been by Bernard Instone, mainly because of the Cornish pixie on it, a very Instone motif.
I compared them recently and am sure they are from the same blank, possibly the same workshop. The shape is identical, the pin and loop are very similar, and the enamel colours are close.
The pixie brooch, despite how it looks from the metal moulding, has no marks I can see.
The only marks on the Manx brooch are: PAT APPL FOR.
I don't know if they are silver; the pins certainly are just plated.
I am guessing them to be mid century, but really I don't know.
Any ideas team, on time or maker?
Interesting brooches Karen. I have a couple of the pixie brooches and I'm 99.9 percent sure it's Bernard Instone. The Isle of Man brooch is very similar. I have a souvenir spoon which is marked for him, there is every chance the Isle of Man brooch is a souvenir piece and it certainly could be his. He had is fingers in lots of pies.
Thanks so much Jean, I was hoping to hear from you. That's great info about Instone, and although I won't definitely attribute the brooches to him I will now think it's a good possibility.
Any ideas re age?
Beautiful and unusual!
Thanks so much VL!
Karen, I love them both, especially the Isle of Man brooch.
I have an almost identical Pixie brooch as yours......so cute aren't they!!! The Instone name is hovering in the back of the brain, but not too seriously, I just don't think the quality is there!!
Hi Karen, most of this type of work I suspect was his early pieces, so probably the 1930s.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252767626944
Hi Karen, I've seen a this ring on the U.K. eBay with the familiar pixie and it Looks like signed B. I
Thanks Judy. Instone seems to be one of those makers who can't readily be pinpointed.
Pixies are pretty cute! I have two brooches now , you should show us yours!
Jean thanks for the date range and the link to the Instone. It's all very interesting!
Check this out :
https://issuu.com/phillipsauction/docs/uk010117_catalog?utm_source=2017W8_subscribers&utm_campaign=Digest&utm_medium=email
The pixie brooches are very interesting the thing that does worry me is that there are so many of them around.. Bernard Instone must have been a very busy man.. I understand he had two shops one in Cornwall and one in Devon perhaps this is where the relationship between the pixie shell brooches and Instone came from.. Personally I dont think they are related.
Hi Lawton. Thanks for your thoughts on these brooches. Perhaps Instone had a hand in designing the Cornish one and the company that made it and the Manx one was the same. Perhaps they coped his pixie, or by basic design idea they ended up with similar. It's no big deal which ever way, just interesting!
I have other Instone pieces and these little brooches are nowhere near his craft level.
Thanks for the comment.