Spilling emeralds - emerald and diamond clips by Paul Flato, circa 1935-36

 

Pair of emerald and diamond clip-brooches mounted in platinum, circa 1935-36. Not identical, each brooch features three undulating pavé-set diamond leaves with baguette-cut diamond trim - together weighing a total of approximately thirty carats - with each suspending articulated clusters of diamond-set emerald drops and boules of old Indian material, many parts set en tremblant. Each brooch is approximately 3 1/2 inches long.

Based in New York City from the mid-1920s to the early 1940s - he also opened a second location in Beverly Hills in 1937 - Paul Flato is often considered the first celebrity jeweler, and was well known for important jewelry, dramatic, often whimsical, pieces which are still eagerly collected today. His impressive list of clients included wealthy socialites - Doris Duke, Gloria Vanderbilt - and film stars - Marlene Dietrich, Merle Oberon, Vivien Leigh, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, even Garbo - with many of the latter actually wearing his pieces on screen.

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Paul Flato (1 September 1900, Flatonia, Texas - 17 July 1999, Fort Worth, Texas), American jeweler. The son of a prominent Texas cattleman, he moved to New York City in the early 1920s to start medical school - or business school, depending on the source - but quickly changed course. After several years of apprenticeship with a Swiss jeweler, he opened his own business on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Due to his marketing savvy and personal charm - he navigated high society with ease - success came quickly, and his very imaginative work was soon considered to be on a par with the great European jewelers. But despite the success of the business, there were frequently problems with its cash-flow, not helped by his lavish lifestyle. In 1941, the Beverly Hills store endured a devastating armed robbery, and with the bombing of Pearl Harbor the same year, severe losses forced him to close it down. Then, in 1943, he was arrested for fraudulently pawning $100,000 in jewels that had been entrusted to him on consignment, using the cash to keep the business afloat. He maintained his innocence but was convicted and served sixteen months in the Sing Sing Penitentiary. On his release, he moved to Mexico City and started a business with his daughter, but in 1952 he was again accused of fraud and escaped to Central America. Caught, he served prison time both in Mexico and then again in the United States. In 1970, he returned to Mexico City, opening a jewelry store in the fashionable Zona Rosa area, which he operated in relative anonymity until 1990, when he returned to the United States, spending his final years surrounded by his family in Texas. He died there at the age of ninety-eight.