Charm has covered ambition for centuries.

A smile appears, the terms improve, and someone else realizes too late what game was being played. Civilized on the surface, excellent instincts underneath.

Created in the interwar years, when jewelry still understood codes, sport, and beautifully disguised status, this 14k Essex crystal brooch says far more than it first admits. Reverse-carved beneath crystal with a fox hunting horn motif, it carries old-world craftsmanship with surprisingly modern wit. Pin it to a lapel, collar, knit, or blazer and let good manners do what they’ve always done best.

Details

• Era: Interwar period, c. 1920s–1930s

• Metal: 14k gold

• Technique: Essex crystal (reverse-carved under quartz rock crystal)

• Motif: Fox hunting horn

• Size: Approx. 7/8 in. tall x 1 1/2 in. wide

• Hallmarks: Marked 14k

• Condition: Clean vintage condition with light surface wear consistent with age

Please Note
Jewelry box, chains, styling props, and any additional items shown in photos are for display purposes only unless specifically listed as included.

Arrives in RetroStarr packaging, ready for gifting, collecting, or changing the terms politely.

Curated by Dana Sednek, GIA trained jewelry professional and founder of RetroStarr, where each jewel is hand selected for its past lives and future attitude.

Heat, held at the center.

Everything else forced to orbit. A red point of pressure with gold radiating like an argument you cannot interrupt. Pearls keep it civilized. The rest of it does not.

Crafted in 10K gold, this postwar French brooch-pendant features a radiant starburst form set with seed pearls and a synthetic ruby at its core. The construction reflects late 1940s to early 1950s French design, balancing optimism and control through bold geometry and restrained detail. Designed to be worn as either a brooch or pendant, the reverse reveals clean, era-correct mechanics that support both modes with intention.

Details

• Era: Postwar French, circa late 1940s–early 1950s

• Origin: France

• Metal: 10K gold

• Gemstones: Seed pearls, synthetic ruby (tested)

• Size: Approximately 1 1/2 inches

• Weight: 6.19 grams

• Style: Convertible brooch-pendant

• Hallmarks: French eel import stamp

• Condition: Clean vintage condition with light surface wear consistent with age

Chain shown for styling purposes only and is not included. Your piece ships in RetroStarr’s branded packaging with care instructions included.

Curated by Dana Sednek, GIA trained jewelry professional and founder of RetroStarr, where each jewel is hand selected for its past lives and future attitude.

A golden orbit paused mid-flight.

A small study in midcentury lift-off. The spiral curves like an orbital path, while three slender rods rise in clean vertical motion. It carries that 1950s belief that the future could be engineered — a little ambition shaped in gold.

Handmade in Israel and marked with the lyre hallmark, the brooch blends sculptural confidence with small, deliberate bursts of color. Each stone sits like a signal light, echoing the early synthetics favored by Israeli workshops of the era. The result is crisp modernist geometry with an unmistakably optimistic posture.

Details

• Era: Midcentury 1950s to 1960s

• Origin: Israel, lyre assay 585 hallmark present

• Metal: 14K yellow gold

• Gemstones: Multicolor round stones, likely synthetic ruby, sapphire, pearl, and emerald, consistent with era

• Size: Approximately 2¼ in x 1⅛ in

• Hallmarks: lyre assay mark and 14K stamp

• Weight: 4.56 g

• Style: Modernist brooch

• Condition: Clean, crisp vintage condition. The faux pearl shows light wear to the nacre consistent with age. Structure solid. Original finish present.

Your piece ships in RetroStarr’s branded packaging with care instructions included.

Curated by Dana Sednek, GIA trained jewelry professional and founder of RetroStarr, where each jewel is hand selected for its past lives and future attitude.

It must have felt impossible to miss at gaslight distance.

This brooch plays with direction and contrast. A crescent moon curves inward while a shooting star cuts across the composition, its gold rays flaring with confidence. The silhouette is light but intentional, designed to read clearly even at a restrained scale.

Crafted in 10K gold and set with seed pearls, this antique celestial brooch dates to the late Victorian to early Edwardian period, when crescent moons and stars appeared throughout jewelry as symbols of guidance, longing, luck, and protection. The open crescent form, elongated rays, and restrained use of pearls give the piece a remarkably graphic silhouette that still feels strikingly modern more than a century later.

Details

• Size: 1.75 x 1 inches

• Metal: 10k Rose Gold

• Stone: Seed pearls

• Era: Late Victorian to Early Edwardian, c. 1890s–1910s

• Condition: Clean vintage condition with light surface wear consistent with age. Tube and wire hinge and steel pinback shows mild waviness from age and use.

Your piece will arrive carefully packaged in RetroStarr presentation wrapping, ready for gifting, collecting, or immediate wear.

Please Note: Jewelry box, chains, styling props, and any additional items shown in photos are for display purposes only unless specifically listed as included.

Curated by Dana Sednek, GIA trained jewelry professional and founder of RetroStarr, where each jewel is hand selected for its past lives and future attitude.

Small, sharp, and dressed for a better lapel.

This 14k gold seed pearl bar brooch has the sleek little silhouette that made early 20th-century jewelry so useful: polished enough for a collar, scarf, lapel, or chain conversion, but still delicate enough to layer without making a scene.

The elongated form is set with rows of seed pearls across the front, giving it a soft glow against the warm 14k gold frame. It reads Edwardian into early Art Deco, with that useful bar pin shape collectors love because it can go classic, clever, or completely unexpected.

Details
• Era: Edwardian to early Art Deco, c. 1910s–1920s
• Metal: 14k gold
• Markings: Marked 14k
• Stones: Seed pearls
• Weight: 3.36g
• Measurements: 1.5 in. long
• Closure: Pin back with safety catch
• Condition: Good antique condition with age-appropriate surface wear; seed pearls appear intact; clasp functions as intended

Please Note
Jewelry box, chains, styling props, and any additional items shown in photos are for display purposes only unless specifically listed as included.

Arrives in RetroStarr packaging, ready for gifting or keeping for yourself.

Curated by Dana Sednek, GIA trained jewelry professional and founder of RetroStarr, where each jewel is hand selected for its past lives and future attitude.

An entrance disguised as courtesy.

Flashbulbs start somewhere behind you. Heads turn one by one. Someone immediately regrets underestimating you. For the person who never mistakes manners for surrender, they do exactly what great jewelry should: change the room. Bright enough to start rumors, sharp enough to finish them.

Born in the late 1930s to early 1940s, when jewelry understood scale, spectacle, and the usefulness of timing, this matched pair still makes the case beautifully. Crafted in 14k gold with tested rubies and diamonds, each piece functions as both brooch and pendant, which means the drama is entirely up to you. Together they read like a private collection. Separately, they still outrank most things in the room.

Details
• Era: Retro Moderne period, c. late 1930s – early 1940s
• Material: Solid 14k gold
• Stones: Tested rubies and diamonds
• Form: Matched pair of starburst brooch pendants
• Functions: Each piece may be worn as a brooch or pendant
• Size: Approx. 2 1/4 in. diameter each
• Condition: Excellent vintage condition with age-appropriate wear consistent with fine jewelry of the period

Please Note
Jewelry box, chains, styling props, and any additional items shown in photos are for display purposes only unless specifically listed as included.

Arrives in RetroStarr packaging, ready for gifting, collecting, or making an unforgettable entrance.

Curated by Dana Sednek, GIA trained jewelry professional and founder of RetroStarr, where each jewel is hand selected for its past lives and future attitude.

That was usually the hour the truth slipped out.

By that hour, the formalities of the evening had usually worn off. The opera gloves were folded onto the table, the conversation had grown quieter and far more honest, and nobody still awake was interested in performing for the room anymore. Paris after midnight belonged to a different kind of elegance entirely.

Crafted in French Titre Fixe, a high-quality French gold-filled process popular during the late 19th century, this brooch reflects the era’s fascination with symbolism, celestial motifs, and close-worn ornament. The central seed pearl star sits within an open circular frame that feels both structured and delicate, while the warm gold finish and fine detailing capture the restrained elegance that defined much of late-century French jewelry design. During the period, stars were often used as symbols of guidance and constancy, adding another layer of meaning to pieces worn close to the collar or heart.

Details

• Era: Late Victorian, circa 1890–1900
• Origin: France
• Metal: French Titre Fixe (18k gold filled)
• Gemstones: Seed pearl
• Size: Approximately 1 inch diameter
• Style: Sentiment brooch
• Hallmarks: Titre Fixe
• Condition: Good vintage condition with light surface wear consistent with age

Your piece ships in RetroStarr’s branded packaging with care instructions included.

Jewelry box, chains, styling props, and any additional items shown in photos are for display purposes only unless specifically listed as included.

Curated by Dana Sednek, GIA trained jewelry professional and founder of RetroStarr, where each jewel is hand selected for its past lives and future attitude.

The shortest distance was never the point.

There was usually a cleaner, more obvious route available. She ignored it almost immediately. The angle, the timing, the silhouette of the thing mattered more than arriving quickly ever did.

Crafted in Taxco, Mexico and marked TM-72, Mexico, 925, this substantial midcentury modernist brooch pairs sculptural sterling silver with a polished black onyx cabochon in a composition that feels simultaneously architectural and kinetic. The elongated asymmetrical form creates striking movement across a lapel, collar, or structured garment, while the dark onyx anchors the piece with a sharp graphic contrast characteristic of Mexican modernist silverwork from the period. Large enough to command attention without overwhelming, it carries the kind of confident restraint that made Taxco design so enduringly influential.

Details

• Era: Midcentury Modern, c. 1960s–1970s
• Origin: Taxco, Mexico
• Material: Sterling Silver (.925)
• Stone: Black onyx cabochon (tested)
• Hallmarks: TM-72, Mexico, 925
• Size: Approximately 2 x 3 3/4 inches
• Style: Modernist sculptural brooch
• Condition: Excellent vintage condition with light surface wear consistent with age. Onyx remains beautifully polished and intact. Pin assembly functions securely.
• Styling Notes: Striking worn vertically on a blazer lapel, horizontally at the shoulder, or pinned to structured outerwear, scarves, or bags

Please Note: Jewelry box, chains, styling props, and any additional items shown in photos are for display purposes only unless specifically listed as included.

Your piece will arrive carefully packaged in RetroStarr presentation wrapping, ready for gifting, collecting, or immediate wear.

Curated by Dana Sednek, GIA trained jewelry professional and founder of RetroStarr, where each jewel is hand selected for its past lives and future attitude.