Gustave Sherman made some incredibly beautiful bracelets and what I've found hard is trying to acquire them. For one thing, while you'll find tons of brooches, earrings and necklaces by Sherman, bracelets are much harder to come by. Valerie Hammond, in her book "All that Glitters" states that while bracelets were popular when Sherman was making them, they weren't as prolific, and hence today, they are somewhat scarce. Again, how accurate that statement is is anyone's guess. What I have found though to support her statement is that when someone is auctioning off Sherman bracelets on Ebay, there's always lots of interest and the price sometimes is unbelievable.
Take the one in the photo above. It sold on July 9, 2008 for just short of $1600 US! Ouch! Mind you, it's a rare bracelet with its rigid cuff construction and it's huge size i.e. about 2 1/4" large and 2 1/2" in diameter.
Apart from their beauty, Sherman bracelets have much attention to detail e.g. his use of the "butterfly" clasp closure in such a way that the clasp was nearly invisible. Sherman placed interlocking crystals over the clasp so you couldn't easily tell where the bracelet started or ended except for the little safety chain found on all Sherman bracelets.
Unfortuately, I don't have too many Sherman bracelets in my collection but I do have the magnificent 3-piece set (parure) above. This photo is good but it just doesn't do it justice. The blue color is fantastic. The bracelet is 6 3/4" long with alternating rows of swarovski crystals and aurora borealis. The triangular brooch is about 1 3/4" in diameter. Please click the photo above to see more views of this fabulous Sherman set. Remember, when you're buying designer vintage jewelry, sets and parures are more valuable to a collector than single individual pieces. And you'll be pleased to know you can purchase this set from my RUBY LANE SHOP for 1/4 of the price that person paid for just the bracelet mentioned in this blog!
