1942 Crown Trifari “Ming Turtle” Clip Set
United States · Rhinestone, Rhinestone
$2,849.95
- Maker
- CROWN TRIFARI
- Origin
- United States
- Era
- Alfred Philippe · 1942 · One of a kind pairing
- Materials
- Rhinestone, Rhinestone
- Provenance
- Quite possibly the only Ming Turtle set offered in both sizes anywhere — Philippe’s 1942 design in faux pearl and rhinestone, large and small together. A collector’s white whale.
On this piece
Very possibly the only Trifari Ming Turtle set in both sizes offered anywhere on earth. That’s not sales language — these are that rare. Alfred Philippe designed the Ming Turtle for Trifari in 1942, and here are both the large and the small, a matched pair: gold-plate turtles in jet-black enamel, each shell a creamy baroque pearl, the large embedded with emerald-green rhinestones and the small with crystal, both finished in pavé crystal throughout. They received the highest possible rating from Brunialti, the standard authority on American costume jewelry. To find one Ming Turtle is an event; to find the large and small together, matched and complete, is the kind of thing that happens once. This is a set for the collector who already has the famous pieces and is hunting the impossible one. Signed Trifari, exceptional in every way — a genuine rarity, doubled.