Designer Rachel Gera Israel Attributed Sterling & Eilat Stone Modernist Brutalist HUGE Statement Necklace Circa Late 1960's-70s

Measurements: Pendant: 2.75"L x 2.5"W x .5"Thick (6.99cm x 6.35cm x 1.27cm)

Chain: 28"L (71.12cm) with a 14" Drop (35.56cm) 

Markings: 930 Partial Maker's Mark

Weight: 56g

Absolutely stunning and LARGE statement pendant and chain necklace. The craftsmanship is exquisite! Created in a modernist brutalist style with raised circular accents but the real showpiece is the large, polished Eilat stone. It is the most spectacular and beautiful stone I have ever seen! The necklace also features individually hand-wrought sterling links as the chain in an infinite style design (no clasp or opening). The detail, design and high-quality of this piece, along with my extensive research lead me to believe that only Rachel Gera could have designed it. 

Mannequin is a life-size torso representation

Rachel Gera, Jewellery designer, born 1936 in Tel Aviv, Israel to Polish parents was caught by accident traveling in Poland with her parents during the Nazi "Kristallnacht", and was saved by her mother pushing her onto a train of the "Tehran Children" and narrowly escaped the Holocaust. This is from the period of Maskit and the sculptural studio silver movement in Israel that included some wonderful designers and artisan craftsmen such as Hanna Behar Paneth, Ludwig Wolpert, Menahem Berman, Moshe Zabari, and David Gumbel. Education 1960-62 Oranim Art Institute, Tivon, with Marcel Janco 1958-60 Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, Jewelry Select Exhibitions Women in Art The Feminist Club, Tel Aviv-Yafo Women in Art The Feminist Club, Tel Aviv-Yaffo, 1977 Artists: Adi Aronow, Genia Berger, Miriam Bat Yosef, Ilana Goor, Ruth Zarfati, Rachel Gera, Rachel Shavit Bentwich, Sculpture Park Tzrifin, 1991 Against Violence against Women, Studio Aman, Hadera The Bar David Museum for Art and Judaica, Kibbutz Bar'am

The Eilat stone is a gemstone that derives its name from the city of Eilat in Israel, where it was once mined. It is characterized by a green-blue heterogeneous mixture of several secondary copper minerals, including malachite, azurite, turquoise, pseudomalachite, and chrysocolla. Eilat stone is the national stone of Israel, and is also known as the King Solomon Stone. When the waters flooded the mine in the 1970s, and the price of copper decreased around the world, it was not economically feasible to continue mining and it was closed and has thus since been designated as a National Park. Eilat stone is not considered a precious stone, but it is of high value due to being very rare.