About this lot

Description

Cartier - an antique case for opera glasses by Cartier, with associated pair of enamel and mother-of-pearl glasses, the green leather case with gold tooled swags and lines, hinged lid with carrying handle, signed 'Cartier' in gold on the base, the interior of cream silk and with gold Cartier laurel wreath logo and addresses 'Paris 13 Rue de la Paix, London 175 New Bond St, New York 712 5th Avenue'; the opera glasses with eye pieces and focus wheel of mother-of-pearl, the barrels of pale blue guilloche enamel with overlaid lines of gold leaflets, the barrels extending from 3.2cm to 3.9cm (2)
Other Notes: The addresses inside the lid enable us to date this case to sometime between 1909 and 1917. Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847, opened a modest London store in 1902 in New Burlington St, but moved just seven years later to 175 New Bond Street. Pierre Cartier decided to open in New York in this era too, finding offices and a salon in 1909 on the fourth floor of 712 Fifth Avenue. However, in 1917, a famous move came about and Cartier opened their flagship store at 653 Fifth Avenue, on the corner of 52nd St. This end of the road was at that time residential, the preserve of extremely wealthy families, and this building was owned by Morton F Plant who had married his second wife, Maisie, thirty years his junior, in 1914. She fell in love with a fabulous pearl necklace at Cartier - two rows of graduated large natural pearls, priced at $1m. The six story mansion, built in 1905, was at the time valued at $925,000. A swap was arranged, and Cartier remains at that address - as at the Paris and London addresses - to this day.

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