Sotheby's October 28, 2026 Fine Jewelry and Watches sale in Milan featured a sapphire and diamond necklace dating to circa 1965. The piece is built as two intertwined ribbons, with roughly 35 carats of sapphires set into a design that folds and loops rather than hanging in a straight line. Sotheby's lot description records a partial maker's mark for Jacques Senez, French assay marks, and platinum and gold construction. Milan is the auction location, not a stated place of manufacture. The Italian workshop traditions discussed below provide a comparison, not an attribution of this necklace to an Italian maker.
What the Ribbon Design Was Actually Solving
A ribbon or bow motif in a necklace is not a decorative flourish on top of a flat band. It is a structural decision. To make metal read as fabric, the goldsmith has to build articulation into the piece so it drapes against the collarbone instead of standing away from it, and then hide that articulation under the surface so the eye reads one continuous curve.
Italian houses in the late 1950s and 1960s were unusually good at this. The postwar generation of Roman and Milanese workshops leaned into volume and movement rather than the rigid platinum geometry that defined the 1920s and 30s. Gold came back as the primary metal, often yellow, and color stones were used in quantity rather than as a single centerpiece. A necklace from that period is typically heavier in the hand than a modern equivalent and lies flatter on the body, because the weight is distributed across many hinged sections rather than concentrated in one drop.
Why Sapphires Carried So Much of That Work
Sapphire is a corundum, second only to diamond in hardness among the stones used routinely in jewelry. That matters for a design where stones sit across a curved, moving surface and knock against each other and against the wearer's clothing for decades. Rubies share that hardness. Emerald, which is softer and typically included, is far more vulnerable in a piece that flexes.
Blue sapphire also did something specific for the period's palette. Against yellow gold, blue reads cool and formal, which balanced the warmth and scale of mid-century Italian goldwork. The same logic holds today in smaller pieces: a Buccellati two tone Capri Macri bangle set with sapphires uses the stones as punctuation across a textured gold ground, not as the entire story. The green emerald version of the same Capri Macri design, the emerald set bangle, shows how much the color changes the temperature of an otherwise identical piece of goldsmithing.
What I Check on a Piece From This Period
When something from 1960s Italy comes across the bench, the tells are mostly on the back.
- The reverse finish. High jewelry from serious workshops is finished behind. Gallery work, openings under the stones, clean solder joints. A piece that is polished on the front and rough behind was made to a different standard.
- How it articulates. Lay the piece flat and then curve it. The sections should move independently with no gapping at the seams and no stones lifting out of plane. Stiffness usually means a repair, a replaced section, or a later reconstruction.
- Hallmarks and maker marks. Italian pieces commonly carry a fineness mark along with a registered maker's mark, often inside a lozenge. The marks should sit consistently with the wear on the surrounding metal.
- Setting style. Stones of that era were typically set by hand into cut seats. Look at prong tips under magnification; original prongs show even wear, while later retipping shows brighter metal and often a slightly different gold color.
- Stone matching. In a necklace using dozens of sapphires, the color should be deliberately graded or deliberately uniform. A random scatter of hues usually indicates replacements over the years, which is not disqualifying but is worth knowing before you buy.
Why an Auction Headline Matters to Everything Underneath It
A single necklace at a Geneva or Italy sale does not set the price of every mid-century estate piece, but it does move attention. When a mid-century necklace features in a major catalog, collectors and dealers revisit the period, and the pieces one tier down from the headline get looked at more carefully. That is usually where the interesting buying happens.
Beyond this auction necklace, Italian workshops also made bracelets, pendants, and chains for regular wear. A Bvlgari Monete necklace built around an ancient coin reflects a Roman interest in combining heavy gold with something historically specific. The Parentesi bangle in yellow gold and hematite is a later expression of the house's interest in architectural repetition. And a piece like the Van Cleef & Arpels lapis and coral necklace shows the broader mid-century appetite for hardstone color set into gold at length.
Wearing a Piece Like This Now
The common worry about 1960s high jewelry is that it will read as costume. In practice the opposite is true, because the construction is honest and the scale is considered. A ribbon necklace worn with a plain high neckline does the work of an entire outfit. A wide gold bangle with color stones works under a pushed sleeve during the day in a way a delicate chain bracelet never will.
The rule I give people is to let one period piece lead and keep everything else quiet. Pair a substantial estate necklace with simple studs. Pair a heavy bangle with a watch on the other wrist and nothing else. More of our pieces from this period sit in pre-owned and estate jewelry, and the larger statement pieces are gathered in high jewelry pendants and necklaces.
Sixty years on, what holds up about this work is not the stone count. It is that someone solved the problem of making gold behave like fabric, and then finished the back of it anyway.
Frequently asked
Are sapphires in a vintage necklace usually heated?
Most blue sapphires in commercial and high jewelry from the mid twentieth century onward have been heat treated to improve color and clarity, and heating is an accepted, stable, permanent treatment. Unheated sapphires of good color command a premium and are generally documented by a gemological laboratory report. For a vintage piece set with many stones, the stones are rarely all tested individually, so the honest position is that treatment status is unknown unless a report accompanies the piece. Ask whether any stones have been reported on, and treat silence as unknown rather than as unheated.
How do I tell an original 1960s Italian piece from a later reproduction?
Look at construction before you look at the signature. Period pieces show hand-cut stone seats, individually finished gallery work on the reverse, and hinges that have worn evenly over decades. A reproduction often has cast rather than fabricated sections, uniform machine-set stones, and a back that is noticeably less finished than the front. Hallmarks should sit flush with surrounding wear rather than looking freshly struck, and the gold color at any repair or retipping should be examined under good light. A piece that passes on construction and marks is far more convincing than one that passes on signature alone.
Can a vintage color stone necklace be shortened or altered?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on how the piece was built. A necklace made of repeating hinged sections can occasionally have sections removed cleanly, though doing so affects both the balance of the design and the resale value, since an altered high jewelry piece is no longer in original configuration. A piece built as a single graduated ribbon or bow generally cannot be shortened without rebuilding the design. Clasp replacement and safety catch additions are far more common and much less invasive. Any alteration on an important period piece should be assessed before purchase, not after.