Chalcedony Flower Brooch

A flower worked in chalcedony and set in silver, this brooch is distinguished less by its form than by its stone. Chalcedony was used infrequently by Spratling, and although it is not an expensive mineral, the prices for objects incorporating it ran considerably higher than those using amethyst, which makes the choice of material itself the notable fact about the piece.

The brooch dates to Spratling's First Design Period, 1931 to 1946, when his palette of native and semiprecious stones was being established. That chalcedony appears only rarely in his work sets this floral brooch apart from the far more common amethyst and obsidian designs of the same years.

The piece is recorded in the literature, appearing in Phyllis Goddard's Spratling Silver: A Field Guide, which documents the relative scarcity of chalcedony in his output. A flower brooch in an uncommon stone is exactly the kind of design that field references exist to flag, and its inclusion underlines how unusual the material is within his early jewelry.