Measures: 3"L x 3"W x .5"Thick (7.62cm x 7.62cm x 1.27cm)

  

  

All I can say is wow! This is one of the largest brooches I've seen from Mary Gage! Positively stunning craftsmanship, it is exquisite. Features a flower shape with raised 3D pistons that have been oxidized in the center giving them great depth and drama. It's in excellent condition and has recently been professionally polished. Included with purchase is an adapter, so it can be worn as a pendant if preferred. A rare treat for the avid collector. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE STEM PART OF THE PIN BACK MAY NOT BE STERLING SILVER.

       

"Mary G. Gage died March 13 [1993] in Portland, Maine on the eve of the 'Great Blizzard.' She was born August 16, 1898 in St. Mary's (Township) Indiana.
"During her life, she had been a medical technician, a silversmith, a breeder of French poodles, a used-book seller, and an antique's dealer. After serving as a nurse at the time of World War I, she moved to Chicago where she studied and worked at St. Luke's hospital. 
She learned silversmithing and set up in business in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the 1920's. She owned a row house in Greenwich Village and had a workshop in SoHo where she was a regular at Fanelli's Bar. Her jewelry was sold in uptown shops and at exhibits throughout the country.
"In the 1940's, she lived in an old mill on the river in Westport, Connecticut, raising poodles. Following that, she moved to Hartland, Vermont, where she salvaged an elegant old brick house, which, after she left, became the Hartland Antique Center.
"In the '50's, Mary Gage moved to Maine, spending a number of years in Waldoboro, working as a silversmith, antiques and used-book dealer, and poodle breeder. At some point she also had a cat that did well in commercials. The citizens of Waldoboro didn't much appreciate Mary Gage (She was different, and her place did reek of dogs). In turn, she loathed Waldoboro, which she referred to it as 'that puss pocket.' Her last years were spent in a Portland apartment where she continued to make jewelry and occasionally bought and sold antiques.
"Throughout her life, she had a series of interesting friends and acquaintances: from Henry Ford when she was a girl in school, to gum magnate Phillip Wrigley, whom she met in India, to Isamu Noguchi in New York to James Thurber in Connecticut, Maxfield Parrish in Vermont.
"In her latter years, her jewelry enjoyed an increased interest as The Arts and Crafts movement has come to the fore. Auction houses have begun to feature her pieces and collectors have actively been seeking her work."

Her work is fairly rare and highly coveted today by collectors.