Posted 4 years ago
Newfld
(1311 items)
This 2 1-2"W goldtone panel brooch has a fancy art deco white rhinestone on silvertone center piece supporting three rhinestones, a square cut ruby red next to a sapphire blue and emerald green pear shape. By multi-talented jewelry designer (1938-1943 timeline) McClelland Barclay, a US Navy lieutenant commander in the naval reserves during WW2, who was lost at sea aboard a torpedoed ship in the Solomon Islands during the war. A fascinating renaissance man who was also an artist, sculptor & magazine illustrator, he made many war posters including the sailor with shoulder roll in pic #4.
NOTE: No connection to vintage design co Barclay
What a fascinating brooch. The shapes are all so different, the backing, the jewels.
It’s unusual isn’t it to not have symmetry with the jewel colours?
Interesting man, interesting design.
Some people are so fascinating being so artistic on so many levels and this beautiful brooch has 100% marks on design !~
Beautiful brooch, love the colored stones in the center!
Ditto to all the comments!!!
Many thanks everyone for the love
Karen
Phil
Lauren
Adele
Nicefice
Pascale
bobby
Thomas
Michael
aura
Maureen
Watchsearcher
fort
MrsT
Mary
Trey
Vet
Purvis
share
Ken
Thank you Karen for the fabulous praise, you are absolutely right it is unusual to have mismatched colors in a brooch like this, most of Mr Barclay's pieces have monochromatic large stones but I just thought the different colors here show you the best of his various stone colors and it was more unusual. Yes he has always intrigued me as a most interesting fellow, I really wonder when someone has his hands in so many different fields, that perhaps deep down they know they won't have a long life & want to experience as much as possible in a short time
Phil that's exactly how I feel he was a true artist and did such excellent work, here on CW there are a couple examples of his sculpting talent. Before the war he was primarily a magazine illustrator and made beautiful drawings of gorgeous ladies, and I think he fell in love with some of his subjects as he had four or five wives lol! Thank you for your wonderful comment
Many thanks MrsT for the lovely compliment, glad you loved those pretty center stones as I do, and he enhanced them with that contrasting silvertone deco "frosting" as their framework which I think is really cool and original
Mary I'm totally grateful for your super comment, Mr Barclay was an endlessly fascinating person, you can wiki his life and it really blows you away, reminds me of a Hemingway character - and his jewelry line was just awesome, the v-shaped necklaces are particularly beautiful maybe someday I can afford one (being all his jewelry was pre-1943 it's rather costly)
Thanks so much share for the great comment, it's always nice to find a different designer once in awhile and bring some awareness about them, you might say this is an 'oldie but goodie' lol
Ken I was so hoping you would enjoy this piece, all McClelland Barclay jewelry has a sort of shield or crest look that I guess you could call statement pieces and I was really psyched to find this. Love your fantastic compliments as always they're so kind
Thank you Gudrun for the kind love, it is greatly appreciated and glad you liked this piece
The love is super appreciated Sean, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness
Thank you Daisy for the kind love, so glad you enjoyed this piece & always appreciate the thoughtfulness
Thanks Jenni, I appreciate that info on artist. It reminds me of an illustrator who did a cig cartoon and the wife says to husband on phone that the baby swallowed a cigarette and the husband says did you give him a light !~
Phil what a cute & funny cartoon, has to be retro when things weren't so PC lol. You're welcome about Barclay, found another piece of his recently at a great price, his stuff is amazing
Thanks Malkey for the very kind love, I'm so glad you enjoyed this Barclay piece and am always grateful for your thoughtfulness
Many thanks Lori for the love, I am so pleased that you enjoyed this deco brooch from M. Barclay
Many thanks everyone for the kind love
vcal
Maureen
Phil
rhineisfine
Wonderful and very distinctive brooch! At first glance I thought those were 2 emerald stones flanking the red centre one, and was thinking it would be perfect to wear for Christmas. I like the asymmetry of the colours, rather unusual! The biographical information on its creator is fascinating and adds even more interest; definitely a Renaissance man, as you said. Just a fabulous piece with a unique Art Deco vibe.
Thank you so much rhineisfine for your fabulous comment & love, I am so glad you enjoyed the info about Mr Barclay and the unusual brooch, think it has held up well for its age & I will definitely be trotting this one out for the holidays this month