Calder Jewelry With A Woodbury Connection

By W.A. Demers

WOODBURY — When Woodbury Auction conducted its sale of fine and decorative art and American and Continental furniture on June 17, the event was led by a couple of Alexander Calder jewelry pieces with a local provenance: two original pieces of silver jewelry by the renowned local sculptor Alexander Calder (American, 1898-1976), whose workshop was in Roxbury.

Calder’s classic silver concentric spiral hand hammered brooch had a 2¼-inch diameter. A silver hand hammered ring had been executed in the form of the initials of the owner/consignor. The spiral brooch and ring had never been offered for sale, having been given by the artist to the consignor, a local Woodbury resident, in 1953. According to Thomas Schwenke, Woodbury Auction’s owner and auctioneer, the items were discovered as a result of the firm’s consignment event this past April.

The story behind the pieces was as compelling as the items themselves. Mr Schwenke explained that both had been acquired directly from the artist —in that they were a gift from Calder to the consignor’s mother for her birthday in May 1952 and a subsequent gift to the consignor. A notarized document describing the gift of the brooch to the owner/consignor’s mother, her friendship with Mary Calder, daughter of the artist, and her many visits to the Calder residence in Roxbury were provided to the successful bidders.

“It’s full of emotion,” said Mr Schwenke, citing a description by the consignor, who in 1951 went with her friend Mary to a high school dance, where, later in the evening, Alexander Calder himself showed up to convey the girls home.

“I remember one night I had a dance with Mr Calder,” she wrote. “It was in the fall of 1951. Mary attended school in Roxbury and I was invited to a dance there. Mr Calder was to pick us up at 10 pm and I was staying overnight at Mary’s.

“I cannot remember how many boys I danced with — if any.  It was a typical boy-girl dance, boys on one side of the dance floor and girls on the other side. The music was okay, the records were playing music of the fifty’s, which we all enjoyed. At about 9:45 the front door opened and there was Mr Calder dressed in his informal attire, wearing a full length raccoon fur coat. His white hair was wind blown, as he always drove his convertible with the top down all year.

“Mary threw her hands up to her face and said, ‘Oh no, my father’s early,’ and she turned and ran to the girl’s lavatory. There I was standing alone. At that moment the music was playing the last song of the night — it was a waltz. M. Calder came up to me and asked, ‘May I have this dance?’ What could I say?  ‘Yes, I would like to have this dance with you.’

“Out on the floor we went, Mr Calder was a large man, but he was so light on his feet. And a wonderful dancer, we danced together until the song ended. It was such a wonderful experience. I was so glad my mother made me take ballroom dancing lessons the year before.”

The jewelry ended up going to two separate bidders, totaling $76,200 for the two lots, after three phone bidders and two in the gallery vied for the pieces. The brooch is going to England and the ring to New York City, according to Mr Schwenke.

(W.A. Demers is an assistant editor for Antiques and The Arts Weekly, sister paper of The Newtown Bee; this story originally appeared in A&A.)