Alexander CALDER (1898-1976)

Silver Initial Brooch, c. 1968

Unique brooch hand-hammered from a single trip of silver wire to create the letter H and a diamond, riveted together in two places to keep it rigid, and with a steel fastening pin secured in a loop around one side of the diamond.

Marks: unsigned, but recorded in the archives of the Calder Foundation

Dimensions: H. 10.0 cm; W. 12.0 cm

Provenance: gift of the artist to Hester Diamond

This brooch was made one evening by Alexander Calder in the later 1960s for Hester Diamond, the wife of one of Calder's art dealers, after a particularly difficult meeting a a means to lighten the atmosphere. Mrs Diamond [pers comm.] related that ti took around 15 minutes for Calder to made the brooch.