1068
Grima, Andrew
1921 Rome - 2007 Gstaad.
Amethyst pendant brooch from the Omega «Jeu d'Or» collection.
London and Biel 1972. Yellow gold 18k. Oval pendant intertwined into an eight with textured gold frame, centrally set with one natural amethyst crystal weighing approx. 57 carats (47,0 x 25,5 x 13,6 mm). Hallmark, artist's signum, manufacturer's mark «Omega», Ref. «AA 503» and inscribed «36».
Can also be worn as a brooch.
H 7,8, W 3,6 cm. 49,1 g.
Andrew Grima was the most popular jewellery designer in the fashion metropolis of London during the «Swinging Sixties», the time of the miniskirt and Beatlemania. Popular with the jet set and appointed purveyor to the court by the British royal family, his unusual organic creations rapidly conquered post-war fashion. He turned away from the decorative bow and floral designs of classic jewels and chose huge crystals and roughly worked gemstones that look like «objets trouvés». Grima's precious individual creations were colourful, modern and, above all, bold. After the hardships of the Second World War, they represented a new beginning and showed the jewellery scene the way to modernity.
The time was obviously ripe for the outlandish creations of the enfant terrible of jewellery design. So ripe, in fact, that in 1966 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, presented his wife Queen Elizabeth II with a ruby brooch by Grima, which she wore again and again at official appearances throughout her life.
In 1969, the Swiss watch manufacturer Omega commissioned Grima to design their «About Time» watch collection. 55 watches and 31 pieces of jewellery originated in collaboration between Grima and Omega the likes of which the world had never seen before. After the great triumph of «About Time», the «Jeux d'Or» collection followed in 1972.
In the meantime, Grima's miniature works of art have become sought-after collectors' items. Since his death in 2007, his wife Jojo and daughter Francesca have continued the tradition of the house.
We would like to thank Ms Francesca Grima, daughter of the designer, London, for the kind remarks via E-Mail, based on photographs, 26.09.2022.
Literature: William Grant, Andrew Grima, The father of Modern Jewellery, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2020, p. 48 - 49, p. 132 and p. 137 (cf.).

Condition report