1942 Crown Trifari “Ming Dragon” Brooch
United States · Enamel, Rhinestone
$3,495.95
- Maker
- CROWN TRIFARI
- Origin
- United States
- Era
- Alfred Philippe · 1942 · Brunialti 4★
- Materials
- Enamel, Rhinestone
- Condition
- Pre-owned - Good
- Provenance
- One of Alfred Philippe’s rarest conceits — a coiled Ming dragon worked in black enamel, baroque faux pearl, and pavé, signed and patent-pending on the reverse (Patent 131,426). The Brunialtis rate it four stars in their canon of American costume jewelry. Pieces of this design surface perhaps once in a collecting lifetime.
On this piece
Some pieces you find; this one you wait years for. The 1942 Ming Dragon is among Alfred Philippe’s most coveted designs for Crown Trifari — patented under number 131,426 and rare almost to the point of legend. A great faux baroque pearl forms the dragon’s body, encrusted in emerald-green rhinestones and jet-black enamel, the whole thing alive with crystal fire and coiled as if mid-turn. It carries the Crown Trifari mark and “Pat. Pend.” on the reverse, and it earns its place in the literature: Brunialti’s American Costume Jewelry pictures it on page 120 and rates it four stars of five. There is honest age here — a little enamel softened, a whisper of crazing to the pearl — the marks of eighty years lived, not flaws. What you hold is a designer’s masterwork most collectors only ever see in a book.