The Vesper Spray

Look closely and the figural brooch gives itself away as Belle Époque: sapphires, carrying a soft royal blue that seems to come from inside, held by fine millegrain. It is the kind of work that took a bench jeweller a full week, and it has survived a century without a loosened stone. A dealer we trust brought it down from a family near Lyon, kept in a bank drawer far longer than it was ever worn. Where it came from, such a piece is simply 'grandmother's' — to the rest of us, it is extraordinary.