Collection: La collection Tiffany

Reading the Marks

Tiffany and Company marked its jewellery consistently, which makes the stamp a genuine starting point provided it is read properly. A signature will usually appear alongside a metal standard, whether that is 925 for sterling, 750 or 18K for gold, or PT950 for platinum, and on later pieces a copyright symbol accompanies the name. The stamp itself is the most informative element: authentic marking is crisp, evenly struck, correctly spelled and consistently spaced, and it sits in a logical position for the form, most often inside a shank, on the reverse of a setting or on a clasp. Imitations tend to give themselves away in the letterforms, in uneven depth of strike, or in spacing that is slightly too wide or too tight. A stamp that looks etched or engraved rather than struck warrants close attention.

Where a piece was designed by one of the firm's named designers, the designer's signature normally appears with the house mark rather than instead of it, and the two should agree with the period and the style of the piece. Marks alone are never sufficient. They should be read alongside the weight and colour of the metal, the crispness of the setting work, the finish inside the piece where it is not seen, and the quality of the stones and their cutting. The firm worked to a consistently high standard, so a piece where the concealed work is rough or the finishing is careless is telling you something regardless of what the stamp says. It is also worth knowing that original boxes, pouches and papers are widely reproduced and circulated separately from the pieces they came with, so packaging supports an attribution but does not establish one.

We are explicit in every listing about what has been established and what is attributed, and where a piece has been independently assessed by an external specialist we say so and describe the basis of that assessment. Our team is available to discuss the evidence behind any piece in this collection before a purchase is made.

Caring for Your Piece

Store each piece individually in a soft pouch or lined compartment, since the most common damage in any jewellery collection is one piece marking another. Fasten clasps before putting a piece away so they cannot catch. Put jewellery on after fragrance, hairspray and cosmetics have dried, as alcohol and oils dull stones, leave residue in fine settings and accelerate tarnishing on silver.

Sterling pieces will tarnish, which is a surface reaction rather than damage. A treated silver cloth is sufficient for routine care, used gently and kept away from the marks, since repeated polishing over the marked area is the surest way to lose the stamp that identifies the piece. Gold and platinum can be cleaned with warm water, a drop of mild soap and a very soft brush, then dried thoroughly, though this should be avoided entirely on anything with enamel, closed back settings or porous stones such as opal, turquoise and emerald. Do not use ultrasonic or steam cleaning on antique and vintage jewellery, which loosens grain and claw settings and can damage stones. Have claws and clasps inspected periodically by a jeweller experienced with period work, particularly on anything worn daily, and ask that any repair avoid the marked areas and that a written record of the work be provided.

Periods and Designers Worth Knowing

The firm was founded in New York in 1837 and had established itself as a serious jeweller by the second half of the nineteenth century, working in the prevailing Victorian idiom with a distinctly American clarity of design. The introduction of the six claw solitaire mount in 1886 changed the engagement ring internationally and remains the form most associated with the house. Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the founder, led the firm's artistic jewellery work in the early twentieth century, bringing an interest in colour, enamel and naturalistic subject matter that sets those pieces apart from the mainstream of the period. Art Deco output through the 1920s and 1930s is among the most disciplined the house produced, with strong geometry and precise calibre setting. From the mid twentieth century the firm worked with a series of named designers, beginning with Jean Schlumberger, whose sculptural and often whimsical work in gold and enamel is collected in its own right, and later including Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso, whose designs defined the house's output in the closing decades of the century.