We sat in dumb amazement at one point when the bidding skyrocketed on a 3-carat diamond ring set in a 14-karat yellow gold Florentine band. Bidding started at $3,000. Then it gradually increased as the auctioneer waited patiently for bids via the phone. $4,750. $5,500. $5,750. $6,500. $7,000. $7,250. $7,500. The bidding ended, and the auctioneer moved on.

 
A little later, the owner of the auction house hurried to the auction floor. The buyer of the diamond ring, an absentee phone bidder, had bid on the wrong piece of jewelry. He thought he was bidding on the David Webb 18-karat fur clip with diamonds, coral and onyx. The bidder was very very angry, said the owner. The winning bid was rescinded.

The David Webb clip - total weight of diamonds= about 1-carat, 54.6 pennyweight, with its original suede pouch - had been sold a few minute before. “David Webb, need I say more,” the auctioneer had announced just before the bidding started at $3,000. The clip went for $4,000. The poor phone bidder could have had it for less than the $7,500 he paid for something he didn’t want.

I had never heard of David Webb, which wasn’t unusual since I learned later that his jewelry sells in the high thousands of dollars. I felt sorry for the phone bidder. The fur clip, which looked like an early piece, was a bargain compared to some of the prices for Webb’s jewelry that I found through Google.

David Webb was one of the foremost American jewelry designers of the 20^th century, and is best known for his enameled animal themes. His elegant jewelry is and has been worn by the rich and famous, including Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner, Princess Grace, Jackie Kennedy, the Duchess of Windsor and Doris Duke.

Actor Morgan Freeman wore Webb’s diamond and crystal shirt stubs and cufflinks when he accepted his Oscar for Supporting Actor in “Million Dollar Baby” in 2005.

Webb, who was born in North Carolina, died in 1975 of cancer. The company he founded in the late 1940s with Nina Silberstein filed for bankruptcy this year. David Webb Inc. has stores in New York and Beverly Hills.

Webb’s jewelry is highly collectible. Carol Elkins, senior vice president for jewelry at Sotheby, said in Washington Life Magazine earlier this year:

“Savvy U.S. collectors are looking at mid-20th century jewels ‘on trend’ with current tastes for fashions from the 1950’s through the 1970’s. David Webb’s signature enameled animal bangles and textured gold jewelry have re-emerged as the ‘look’ for a new generation of collectors, for example, a coral and diamond elephant bangle bracelet by Webb brought $95,500.”

Sotheby had a sale last week of what it called “important jewels” that included designs by Webb. Here’s a sampling.

Abalone pearl, cultured pearl, diamond and emerald brooch, $41,250.

Ruby, diamond and green enamel frog bangle-bracelet, $23,750.

Pair of gold and diamond earclips, 6,250.

White enamel, emerald and diamond leopard bangle-bracelet, $32,500.

18 karat gold and coral pendant-necklace, $31,250.

Cabochon ruby and diamond ring, $33,750.

18 karat gold platinum and diamond ring, $4,375.

What I found most interesting about the Sotheby auction and the one at my auction house is that the bad economy is not hurting everyone. As I whispered to my auction buddy, “Somebody has money.” Those who do still invest in their collectibles, perhaps knowing that paying a recession price now may bring a big profit in the end. Or maybe the Webb jewelry was purchased to be worn: Some of the pieces are magnificent.

As for my auction buddy and I getting lucky, we didn’t. She had her eye on a set of four 19^th century miniature bronze figures, no more than ½” to 1” tall. They were a Black Americana black boy, a Black Americana dancing couple, a hen on a nest and a devil on a pig. They went for $160. At our regular sales, she probably could have gotten them for $20.

For me, I wanted the 18k Wedgwood abolitionist pin, which sold for $325.

Related posts:

1. The glow of aurora borealis jewelry
2. The jewelry of Art Smith
3. A costume-jewelry necklace hidden away

But it’s always interesting to see what tony items will be up for sale and how much people are willing to pay for them. As I perused the photos in the flyer, my eyes stopped on an item to be auctioned on the second day:

 An 18k Wedgwood abolitionist pin in a lovely blue velvet case.

I recognized that pin. It was a white Wedgwood cameo with a black male slave kneeling in supplication, his hands outstretched, pleading to be free. Around the edge was inscribed: “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?”

I had first seen the symbol in the movie “Amazing Grace” about two years ago during a screening at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The movie, released in theaters in 2007, told the life of abolitionist William Wilberforce, who led a campaign in the 18th century to force Parliament to end the slave trade in the British Empire.  

The movie was as amazing as its title, and one of the things that stayed in my head was that symbol. The piece at the auction was a reproduction, and the auctioneer guessed that it was produced in the early 1900s. It was inscribed with the word Wedgwood on the back, along with a few other details.

The sole bid on the pin was from an absentee bidder, and it sold for $325.  The starting price was too high for me. Hopefully, another one will come around or I’ll find one hidden away in some junk item I get at auction.

The original Wedgwood piece was a black and white Jasper medallion, created around 1787 by renowned potter Josiah Wedgwood. An abolitionist, he created it to serve as a symbol for abolitionists fighting the slave trade and to garner support for the anti-slavery movement, according to my Google research. The medallions were used in various ways as political statements: Men had them inlaid in snuff boxes, women wore them as hatpins, brooches and neckaces. They could be found on milk jugs, sugar bowls and tobacco boxes.  

Some medallions were sent to Benjamin Franklin, who was then head of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. The kneeling figure was modeled after the seal of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, formed in 1787 in London.

Interestingly, in 1830, another abolitionist, writer and poet Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, adopted a female version: a kneeling female slave woman (“Am I not a Woman and a Sister”). Years later, Sojourner Truth would make famous her speech in 1854 at the Ohio Woman’s Rights Convention with the same inquiry: “Ain’t I A Woman.”

I love auctions because they are the place to get in touch with history. This one small pin, which measured only 1 ½” x 1 ¾”, opened up a past for me just by being here at this auction. You can find some of the most valuable artifacts in museums, but auctions are among the non-museum sites where you come face-to-face with the day-to-day pieces from people’s personal lives.

After an auction, when I’m going through boxes at home, I wonder about the person who owned these items, who touched them and who used them. And I ask myself: Did they ever wonder if  these fragments from their lives would be held years later by someone else? And by whom?

Related posts:

1. Man & woman anti-slavery tokens
2. An anti-slavery token with a personal history?
3. A fun anti-depression kit to perk you up