Artistic Birds - Vintage Signed 'Boucher' Gold Plated Crystal Rhinestone Marcel Boucher Brooch (VBR230)

Artistic Birds - Vintage Signed 'Boucher' Gold Plated Crystal Rhinestone Marcel Boucher Rhinestone Brooch.  This rare brooch is crafted from a gold plated metal, signed Boucher, and numbered 8443P.  The lovely brooch is designed in a modernistic abstract style, in the form of two interlocking birds, which showcase wonderful detail and hand-set rhinestone crystals.  The Pin and secure lock mechanism is in perfect working order.  The Vintage brooch would make a perfect addition to any jewelry collection. 

Note: This brooch is not often seen on the market today. A rare and beautiful example of Marcel Boucher. 

History: Marcel Boucher is one of my favourite jewelry designers. He came to the United States from Paris to work with Cartier making fine jewelry in around 1920. He left Cartier to work with the Mazer Brothers and then in 1937 opened his own business.

Rhinestones which are also known as diamantes or paste date back as far as the thirteenth century where they were first made from Czechoslovakian or Bohemian hand blown glass. The term rhinestone came along later, when rock crystals were discovered in and around the shores of the river Rhine in Austria.

Joseph Strasser could be credited with the precursor to our present-day Rhinestone, but it was really when Georg Freidrich Strass in 1760 invented the first ever rhinestone (artificial gemstone) from a special type of crystal found in the Rhine River that the stones we know today were born.

The process was invented in 1805 by Italian chemist Luigi Brugnatelli who plated a very thin gold layer on top of silver. Since then, it has become commonplace in the jewelry world, with many base metals covered in gold, silver, or rhodium.

Measurements: Brooch 70.00 mm x 36.00 mm 

Stone Size: Crystal 4.00 mm -1.00 mm 

Weight: 21.20 grams 

Condition: Very good     Note: Very slight age related wear to a few areas, which do not take away from the beauty of the brooch. 

Origin: America, New York 

Date: 1962 -1965