Accompanied by two GIA reports: No. 5211609963 dated April 14, 2021 stating that the diamond weighing 5.18 carats is J color, VS1 clarity.

No. 2211609967 dated April 14, 2021 stating that the diamond weighing 5.50 carats is K color, VVS2 clarity.

The ring offered here is distinguished not only by its exemplary, high Art Deco design, but by also by its possible association with two celebrated jewelry houses.

The ring is stamped with the maker’s mark “AT”, which likely is that of the Tillander firm, originally established in 1860 by Alexander Edvard Tillander in St. Petersburg, Russia. With the outbreak of World War I, followed by the Russian Revolution in 1917, the business closed and moved to Helsinki, Finland, where it still is today. By the 1920s Alexander’s son, Alexander Tillander Jr., after having achieved success in the export and pre-owned business, took over the helm of the firm.

The accompanying box appears to be of the same period as the ring, yet it is stamped “Oesterreicher, Wein”, a jeweler registered in the 1905 Vienna directory as goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jewelers to the royal civil service under the Emperor Franz Josef. It is possible that the ring had been retailed by Oesterreicher at some point in time, but certainly before 1938, when Oliver Oesterreicher and his wife Marianne moved to the United States and changed their names and that of their company to Ostier. Many may be familiar with the jewelry designed by Marianne Ostier from the 1940s-1960s, but one of her most notable jewels was conceived while working for Oesterreicher, before her arrival in the States: a tiara created for the for the marriage of Queen Geraldine and King Zog I of Albania.

While the exact provenance of this exquisite Art Deco jewel may never reveal itself, the marks on the ring and its box point to a journey worthy of exploration.