Allan Adler Sterling Silver Articulated Fish Bones - Skeleton Modernist Pin - Brooch - Pendant Circa 1950's

Allan Adler (1916-2002) "Adler was a master silversmith who worked in the Arts and Crafts tradition, but expressed himself in simple clean lines of modernism. He was born in Missoula, Montana but spent his childhood in Burbank, California. He married Rebecca Blanchard (Porter Blanchard's daughter) in 1948. Since Porter Blanchard had no sons, he persuaded Adler to work for him and learn the fine craft of silversmithing. When Blanchard decided to retire from the retail business, Adler took over the store on Sunset Boulevard. In 1980, after a fire destroyed the shop, he opened a new workshop in the San Fernando Valley as well as La Jolla, Corona del Mar and San Francisco. Adler is known primarily for his designs in hollowware, but he added jewelry to his repertoire during World War II. The designs in jewelry, like his hollowware, are usually clean and modern. Adler's hollowware, jewelry and especially his flatware became popular among the rich and famous of Hollywood. He received many important commissions including a silver coffee urn made for John F Kennedy's Presidential campaign funding event. A set of flatware was made for California Governor Pat Brown and a silver hairbrush for Winston Churchill. Adler was one of the few latter 20th Century silversmiths to devote himself full-time to creating silver jewelry and objects for sale from his own shop. He considered himself a member of an endangered species. Adler was awarded a "Living Treasure" proclamation from the state of California legislature and a "Good Design Award" from the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. He designed the crowns for Miss Universe and Miss USA in 1953 and the famous silver "shoe" campaign pin for Adlai Stevenson's presidential race in 1959 as well as pins for the first 7 American astronauts in space." - Courtesy of the book, "Form & Function - American Modernist Jewelry, 1940-1970" by Marbeth Schon for Schiffer Publishing