Story
During the Edwardian years whimsical subjects were often used as the main motif for brooches. Jeweled pins displayed frogs, snakes and even lizards in quirky positions. Among the more popular were doves and swallows.
Symbolic of love and loyalty, swallows mate for life and year after year return to the same place where they met. Graceful in flight, this 14k yellow gold avian is depicted in mid-flight.
The piece is delightfully painted in hues of olive green and russet red enamel as its realistic rendering of details, such as feathers make for a true item of art jewelry. Within its beak the loyal little bird grasps a .02 carat diamond (I-J color; SI1-2 clarity)…perhaps to present to its lady love.