Product Info

Marsh & Co. was a renowned San Francisco jewelry store and gallery famous for creating fine jewelry using matte-finished patinated steel set with diamonds, gold, pearls, and other gemstones. Founded in 1876, Marsh originally began as an importer of Asian antiques and art. In the 1930’s they began making the blackened steel jewelry for which they are now renowned. This jewelry shows the influence of the Art Deco movement in its design along with Asian origins of their gallery, particularly in its use of pearls, jade, and coral. Marsh closed their San Francisco store in the mid-1980’s.

This choker necklace is one of their classic designs, with a row of creamy white cultured pearls backed by blackened steel. The connecting links consist of diamonds set in white gold and the clasp echoes these links, creating a continuous ring around the neck. Marsh's attention to detail was superb; if you look at the underside, you can see that the white gold links are engraved with a zig-zag pattern and the sides of the links and clasp are engraved as well.

In their use of a non-traditional material like blackened steel for fine jewelry Marsh & Co. were ahead of their time, paving the way for contemporary high jewelers like Taffin and Hemmerle.  As a result, this necklace looks contemporary today, decades after its creation.

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