79 - AN 18K GOLD AND DIAMOND 'GRAIN DE CAFÉ' DEMI-PARURE, CIRCA 1955-65 Comprising a necklace designed as a series of reeded coffee bean links, each set at the tip with a brilliant-cut diamond, a bracelet of similar design with two rows of overlapping articulated coffee beans, and a pair of earclips, each designed as a cluster of three coffee beans, mounted in 18K gold, (one earclip signed Cartier Paris, numbered, with maker's mark for Société Anonyme Cartier and French assay mark), diamonds approximately 6.00cts total, necklace length 37cm, bracelet length approximately 22.5cm, earclips length 2.2cm

AN 18K GOLD AND DIAMOND 'GRAIN DE CAFÉ' DEMI-PARURE, CIRCA 1955-65 Comprising a necklace designed as a series of reeded coffee bean links, each set at the tip with a brilliant-cut diamond, a bracelet of similar design with two rows of overlapping articulated coffee beans, and a pair of earclips, each designed as a cluster of three coffee beans, mounted in 18K gold, (one earclip signed Cartier Paris, numbered, with maker's mark for Société Anonyme Cartier and French assay mark), diamonds approximately 6.00cts total, necklace length 37cm, bracelet length approximately 22.5cm, earclips length 2.2cm Condition Report: Diamonds: bright and lively - approx. 6.00cts total (approx. 0.36 for earclips, 2.24cts for necklace and 3.2cts for bracelet) Bracelet & necklace: unsigned, unmarked. Earclips: for non pierced ears, both with good tension One earclip signed Cartier Paris, numbered (2007 or 2097), with maker's mark for Société Anonyme Cartier and French assay mark Necklace: one coffee bean with dent on the reverse Necklace & bracelet: Unmarked, tested by the jewellery department to be approx. 18K gold Clasp on necklace and bracelet close securely Normal signs of wear, overall in good condition Total gross weight approx. 124.3g Bracelet: approx. 68.6g, Necklace approx. 44.2g, earclips approx. 11.5g Adam’s Auctioneers does not guarantee the standard of gold or platinum unless an item bears an official hallmark. In certain instances, metal content may be tested using a Thermo Scientific Nitron Handheld XRF Analyser. This device examines metal to a depth of approximately 8 microns only, and any results obtained through electronic testing must be regarded as indicative rather than definitive, as inaccuracies may occur. Where catalogue descriptions or condition reports refer to marks denoting metal fineness, or include an opinion as to metal content, such information is provided for guidance only. All statements contained within the catalogue represent expressions of opinion. Prospective purchasers must satisfy themselves as to all such matters prior to bidding. Platinum and diamonds had defined much of Cartier’s Art Deco jewellery, however, when Jeanne Toussaint took charge of jewellery design in 1933, she brought yellow gold back to the forefront of various designs. Her interest in Indian jewellery helped shape that change, and gold lent itself to the more sculptural forms she drew from nature. Cartier made palm trees bearing fruit fashioned from gemstones, laurel leaves worked in fine gold and bouquets of coloured stones. In 1938, Toussaint added something altogether more familiar to that repertoire. A coffee bean is easily overlooked, yet its rounded outline and central crease gave her a form distinctive enough to build an entire jewel around. The motif may also have been a play on words. In Amazing Cartier, fashion and jewellery editor Nadine Coleno suggests that it might have been a nod to New York’s Café Society, the fashionable circles that gathered in restaurants and nightclubs and at private parties. One of its best-known hostesses, Elsa Maxwell, liked guests who were ‘full of beans’, an expression for people brimming with energy and good spirits. Cartier’s jewellers scored the gold with fine ribs, carved some beans from coral and accented others with diamonds or coloured stones. On an early bracelet, clusters sat at either end of a braided gold band, with rubies and diamonds tucked between them. In designs where the beans were mounted to move, a turn of the wrist sent light across their curved surfaces and produced a faint sound as they brushed against one another. It was in the 1950s that the ‘Grain de Café’ acquired its most familiar associations. In October 1956, Audrey Hepburn wore the earrings for Richard Avedon’s cover of Harper’s Bazaar. That same year, Grace Kelly received a necklace, earrings and bracelet on her marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. She wore the jewels often enough for them to become part of her public image. The necklace appears in her portrait on the Monaco stamps issued in 1957 to mark the birth of Princess Caroline. She also wore a Grain de Café necklace when she and Prince Rainier visited the Kennedys at the White House in 1961. In 2023, Cartier relaunched Grain de Café with Elle Fanning as the face of the collection, reissuing the necklace Kelly wore in 1956 alongside new designs. In some of the new designs, polished black obsidian alternates with rose gold, recalling the colour of a roasted coffee bean. The lot presented in this sale brings together a necklace, bracelet and pair of earclips in the Grains de Café design. Although only one earclip is signed Cartier Paris, the suite follows Cartier’s original design, from the reeded gold beans tipped with diamonds to the bracelet’s overlapping rows of articulated beans. A comparable bracelet and pair of earclips, both signed Cartier and dating from circa 1955, sold for $190,500 at Christi