RARE SHERMAN SIGNATURE ON THIS SHERMAN BRACELET

When I first acquired this Sherman bracelet, I was thrilled with how lovely and unique it was. Then I turned it over and looked at the signature. My face flushed. My blood pressure shot up. Oh no! Had I been duped? Had someone sold me a Sherman with a counterfeit signature?

My concern was prompted by a couple of very noticeable things about the signature. For one, it was cut off! That's right. The signature was missing the "an" at the end of the name. Secondly, the slant on the signature seemed wrong: it was too upright. Most of the Sherman script signatures I've seen are slanted strongly to the right. Thirdly, the capital "S" in the signature didn't extend as far over the remaining letters as it usually does. Take a look at the photo below to see what I mean. It shows 3 pieces of my Shermans with their signatures. The difference is noticeable:

The signature closest to the top is from the bracelet I'm describing. The other two are from other Shermans. The differences are obvious.

Of course, I panicked. But then I slowed down and started to compare other elements of this Sherman bracelet: the silver rhodium-plate backing, the clarity and quality of the crystals, and the clasp itself. I'd seen that identical clasp on many older Shermans. So I got busy looking up Sherman signatures on the net. Lo and behold, I did come across the same kind of signature listed as a sample of Sherman's signature. It was more upright, the "S" didn't go as far over the letters and it even looked kind of shaky. I could only draw one conclusion: my bracelet is one of the very early Shermans stamped before the signature was perfected or the actual script of the signature perfected. The fact that the last 2 letters were missing might be indicative of wearing from age, or just improper placement on the clasp. If all that were true, I was holding an even more collectible Sherman bracelet from a historical point of view, not to mention that it is downright pretty!

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who may have come across this type of signature on other Sherman pieces. And if you are interested in adding this beautiful figure 8 design Sherman to your collection, you can buy it now from my SHOP AT RUBY LANE for only $150.

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY AN UNSIGNED SHERMAN?

I was recently very pleased to have Valerie Hammond, author of the book "All that Glitters", a reference and value guide to Sherman jewellery comment on one of my posts. In her post, Valerie reiterated her comments about the authenticity of unsigned jewelry that is purported to be Sherman. Here's what Valerie wrote on this subject:

I was recently assured during conversations with members of the family that there were absolutely, never, ever any unsigned pieces of Sherman produced by the company at any time. The family is most emphatic about this point. That means no unsigned earrings with signed brooches, no unsigned bracelets with necklaces. There are dealers who sell "unsigned" Sherman, believing that only part of a Parure may have carried that distinctive signature."

If that's truly the case, then how on earth do we explain sets that are obvious matches like the one shown in this post? The earrings are signed "Sherman". The necklace is not! Yet they are a match! I own this set. It's the only set I have where one piece is not signed Sherman since I make it a rule to never buy unsigned Shermans. I didn't realize the necklace in this piece wasn't signed until I got it. It came from an estate of a Sherman collector! And there's no denying the pieces are identical.

I've mentioned elsehwere in this blog that supposedly some Sherman sets came with a hang tag on one piece of a set. Could this be true? Many believe this is true. Yet the Sherman family has told Valerie Hammond that this cannot be. Who are we, the buyers and collectors to believe?

In her book, Valerie also states that conjecture is that "at some point during the company's life, designs, moulds and findings were removed from the building and used elsewhere for the manufacturing of copies." If this is true, then perhaps that "unsigned" Sherman is a copy and not authentic and is now coupled with a signed piece. Gee I wish someone besides Valerie knew more about this subject and could help us clarify this issue which is such a sore point between buyers, sellers and collectors of Sherman jewelry.



So while we're on this subject, on the left is another supposed set of Sherman currently being auctioned on eBay. (Click photo to visit the auction) The vendor states: "Earrings are signed Sherman, necklace is a definitive match (and is as expected, not signed)"

As expected??!! Oh boy! Now look what's happening: now we are having sellers claim this is "expected"! I don't think so! Quite honestly, this makes me mad. It's one thing for sellers to say one piece is signed and the other isn't but they're an obvious match. It's another to say we should expect that one of the pieces not be signed. Rubbish! We should expect both pieces to be signed if it's authentic Sherman. This auction will be very interesting to watch.

And by the way, do yourself a favour if you're serious about collecting Sherman jewellery. Buy Valerie's book!

HOW CAN YOU BE SURE IT'S JEWELRY by SHERMAN?

That's a tough one to answer. I used to be adamant on this subject: if it wasn't signed Sherman, I didn't buy it. And quite honestly, I still feel that way about Shermans and most designer vintage jewelry, especially since the vintage jewelry market is being penetrated by very authentic looking fakes.

It also doesn't help that in a reference and guide book titled "All That Glitters" by Valerie Hammond, she states emphatically that no Shermans were ever unsigned. She bases that statement on conversations she has held with the Sherman family who still reside in Quebec.

However, in conversations I've had with other Sherman collectors, there's quite a bit of disagreement on this subject since according to them, there were pieces with paper hang tags that came in the distinctive "Jewels of Elegance" box that Sherman used, shown in photo. Incidentally, if you come across a jewellery box like the one above, buy it! They themselves are collector's items. And if you can get Sherman jewellery in its original box, so much the better. We have only one like that: it's the stunning signed Sherman bracelet in its own box shown in this photo: But now back to the question of authenticity: as with all vintage designer jewelry, you need to learn to recognize the style and craftsmanship of a designer piece. Sherman was partial to slender navette stones. He liked alternating aurora borealis with clear swarovski crystals in similar shades. On bracelets, the clasp was usually hidden by stones so that the clasp became unseen when it was being worn.

As for his signature, he used either block lettering, often seen on the earlier earrings, or the very familiar script-style Sherman, with a big "S". Sometimes the signature was stamped right into a piece, but he also used an oval cartouche bearing that scripted signature. If you visit my SHERMAN JEWELRY SHOWCASE or OUR SHOP AT RUBY LANE and type in "Sherman", you'll see lots of photos of the Sherman signature on the back of our authentic Sherman jewelry.

Bottom line, for me at least, I still prefer to buy a signed piece anytime over an unsigned piece ... and given the cost of Sherman, you should too!