Mastery of Design: The Andrew Grima Brooch, 1967-68

Brooch
Andrew Grima, 1967-1968
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A masterful work of lapis lazuli, turquoise, diamonds and gold, this brooch is the work of Andrew Grima. Rough, staggered gold rays radiate from a central cabochon-cut stone of lapis lazuli. These theatrical, decorative rays are set with cabochon turquoise and seven brilliant-cut diamonds set in platinum.

This is a perfect example of the revolution in jewelry design that occurred in London in the 1960s. Andrew Grima was among the jewelers who championed this revisioning of the jeweler’s art. Grima (1921-2007) was born in Rome and trained in Nottingham. He exhibited in the celebration of contemporary jewelry which was organized by Graham Hughes at the Goldsmiths' Hall in London in 1961. There, he won a series of prizes in the Diamonds International Award competitions, and, in 1966, he was awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Prize for Elegant Design.

Also in 1966, Grima opened his London shop in Jermyn Street where he enjoyed the patronage of the Queen, Princess Margaret and Jacqueline Onassis.

This particular brooch was bought in December 1968 by the director Roman Polanski for his wife, the actress Sharon Tate, to mark their first wedding anniversary. Tate, as we know, was one of those who was murdered by Charles Manson and his so-called “family.”