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Miriam Haskell was born in 1899 in Tell City, Indiana. After studying for three years at Chicago Universtity she moved to New York in 1924, allegedly with $500 in her pocket, and opened a jewellery boutique in the old McAlpin hotel, with premises on 57th Street following that same year. 1924 also saw the designer Frank Hess join her business and the two immediately worked together on innovative jewellery designs with Hess continuing to work for the company after Haskell’s own departure in the 1950s. Commentators disagree on whose contribution was the greatest but their combined efforts produced a range of pieces which rapidly enjoyed enormous popularity. The business relocated to Fifth Avenue in the 1930s and later opened shops in Miami and London.

Haskell’s clients were a glittering assemblage from the world of American entertainment and high society. Florenz Ziegfield, Gloria Vanderbilt and the Duchess of Windsor were patrons and Joan Crawford is said to have owned a set of almost every Haskell piece produced from the 1920s through to the 1960s. A wide variety of materials was used, notably baroque pearls, but ranging from beads in wood and glass to leather, plastic, rhinestones, shells, bone and semi-precious stones. Perhaps, though, the most famous feature of a Haskell piece of jewellery is the metal filigree base, the iconic gold plated and lacquered filigree style plate being introduced in the late 1940s.

Haskell’s health deteriorated after the war and in the 1950s the business was bought by one of her brothers, Joseph. Living at first in an apartment on Central Park South with her widowed mother, in 1977 she moved to Cincinnati where she was cared for by her nephew, Malcolm Dubin, until her death in 1981.

Miriam Haskell pieces were not signed at first which makes identification of her earlier work rather difficult. The first tags, a semi circular ‘horseshoe’ shape, were introduced in the late 1940s but these were replaced in the 1950s by an oval tag, stamped ‘Miriam Haskell’ with the stamping coming through to the reverse. This was changed to a ‘flat back’ tag, where the stamping does not come through, in the late 1970s. This is what we have here and an additional indication of dating is the slide clasp marked ‘Miriam Haskell’ on the front and with the patent number ‘3,984,900’ on the reverse, which was introduced in 1975 and discontinued in the 1980s.

The ‘Egyptian Line’ was a product of the designer Larry Vrba who became head designer in 1970 and stayed until 1978. Vrba greatly admired the Haskell pieces of the past and used them for inspiration in his new designs, but he also introduced completely new ranges, the most famous of which looked back Egyptian art and have become some of Haskell’s most collectible pieces, highly stylised and elaborate creations with an emphasis on blues, reds and golds.

All the hallmarks of Vrba’s work can be found in this necklace. The bold central pendant has a mask head of an Egyptian Goddess with bead work in turquoise, blue and red and an elaborately incised border with detailed gilt filigree work to the reverse. The pendant has drops in red and blue, the latter with incised designs of Egyptian Goddesses and the necklace itself combines blue and turquoise beads with gilt metal, again with red drops. The opposite of understated, this baroque creation is an example of the finest costume jewellery from one of the most famous costume jewellery makers. Acquisition will allow the new wearer to emulate Joan Crawford herself!