Object of the Day: A Silver Sagittarius Stickpin

This stickpin of silver comes late in the popularity of gentlemen’s stickpins and just before they were replaced overall with tie pins. Here, we see a low-relief, silver figure of the astrological sign Sagittarius. Such figures were quite fashionable in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s especially in England and the United States.

I’m fairly certain this stickpin comes from England. It shows the sort of stylization which was the fashion of the time. These almost-abstracted astrological figures were depicted on a variety of objects during this period—everything from architecture to ashtrays.

The figure is quite large compared to the sorts of decorative tops which graced earlier stickpins. It was mean to be worn on a necktie. While the smaller Nineteenth Century stickpins were meant to be tucked into the folds of a scarf or cravat, this armed fellow was designed to be front-and-center on the rather narrow neckties that were the fashion of the era.