M.S. Rau Acquires Rare Ruby Ring By Alexander Calder

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PinkDiamond
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M.S. Rau Acquires Rare Ruby Ring By Alexander Calder

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This is a beautiful ring with an interesting story behind it and its creator. You can see the size and scale of it in the second photo and appreciate how it looks worn. Check this out. 8-)

M.S. Rau Acquires Rare Ruby Ring By Alexander Calder
By Amy Elliott | April 19, 2021

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"The renowned New Orleans–based antiques dealer M.S. Rau somewhat regularly places advertisements in The Wall Street Journal. And, to its sheer delight, one ad recently caught the attention of someone in possession of a one-of-a-kind jewel by the famous artist Alexander Calder (1898–1976).

Best known for his sculptural mobiles, Calder was also a maker of jewelry, favoring spirals, concentric circles, and amorphous discs in hammered metal. With this in mind, the jewel in question—a custom ruby engagement ring from the 1960s (pictured at top)—encapsulates Calder’s aesthetic but also stands out in the best possible way as a bit of an outlier.

“The great body of Calder’s jewelry output was entirely metal work, with only a scant few pieces having set stones of any kind,” says Coles Loomis, sales associate at M.S. Rau, “and most pieces with a gold appearance were crafted of gold wire as opposed to hammered gold, such as the hammered gold spiral ring the artist designed for his own wife. Since this ring we have acquired was designed as an engagement ring, the artist obviously pulled out all the stops. This meant sourcing the finest material—18k gold—as opposed to inexpensive and malleable materials like copper scraps and silver wire as he did for many of his other jewelry pieces.”

The story behind the ring is that Calder offered to design it for Albert Fenner Milton, to commemorate the occasion of his engagement to Catherine Higgs in 1964. Milton was the son of Albert Fink Milton, who was Calder’s close friend and neighbor in Litchfield County, Conn. M.S. Rau acquired the ring through a member of the Higgs family.

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The Milton-Higgs engagement ring designed by Alexander Calder uses 12 Burmese cabochon rubies from a Milton family heirloom.

“The piece is special in many regards. First, Calder repurposed roughly 15 carats total weight of cabochon Burmese rubies from a Milton family heirloom to incorporate into the one-of-a-kind piece,” says Loomis. “Secondly, the great majority of his jewelry designs were bracelets, necklaces, and brooches. Rings accounted for only a small percentage. The gold still bears a small mark where his pliers tweaked the spiral into the right configuration!”

Further contributing to the ring’s stature and appeal is ... "

https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-art ... er-calder/
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crazy8s
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Re: M.S. Rau Acquires Rare Ruby Ring By Alexander Calder

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Wish I had 138,000 dollars.
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Re: M.S. Rau Acquires Rare Ruby Ring By Alexander Calder

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Thats hot. The solitaires on a dainty ring leave one wanting for a more bold statement. I figured they figured the women needed to be working & a big ring would slow them down. The red sure does jump out of gold.
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